Pondering the World Today
by Jayne Helmlinger, CSJ – Past President
As I pondered what to write for this column, three converging experiences were happening within me. First, I had just mailed my ballot for the national elections and utilized BallotTrax to confirm that my ballot landed in the Orange County Registrar of Voters (do you hear the echo of LCWR’s emerging orientation of being “technologically astute”?). Second, the day before mailing my ballot I had just re-read the book, White Fragility by Robin Diangelo. Third, the day of this writing, I had finished reading Fratelli Tutti, Pope Francis’ latest encyclical. Does all this sound familiar to you as you navigate these dark, churning waters we find ourselves in at this moment in time?
My ponderings surfaced the image of the polyhedron referred to in Fratelli Tutti by Pope Francis Occurrences in the world, our nation, and religious life itself evoke so many thoughts and experiences and each has varying degrees of impact on all facets of life. As Pope Francis noted, this image, with all its various sides, represents a society where differences coexist -- complementing, enriching, and illuminating one another.
At first glance, the image of the polyhedron can inaccurately portray an ordered and rational world or state of being. This is not how I am experiencing this moment in time. What this image does is remind me that I need to pray, reflect, discern, and engage with others about all that is unfolding in religious life and in the larger world. (Continue reading by downloading the PDF document below.)
