Reformátusok Lapja, 1972 (72. évfolyam, 1-7. szám)
1972-03-01 / 3. szám
4 REFORMÁTUSOK LAPJA Suffering can have various effects on the sufferer. It could make him bitter, resentful, full of self-pity, full of hate. This is the case with many of our pains and sufferings. People, even the ones closest to us„ try to get out of our way, giving us a wide berth to stew in our own bitterness. The same pain and agony have an entirely different effect on the Christ-like character. Personal pain deepens his compassion, sharpens his understanding, tightens his commitment. Albert Schweitzer in his book, “On the Edge of the Primeval Forest” calls these people “The Fellowship of Those Who Bear the Mark of Pain.” “Who are the members of this fellowship?” — he asks. “Those who learned by experience what physical pain and bodily anguish mean, belong together all the world over. They are united by a secret bond. One and all they know the horrors and suffering to which man can be exposed, and one and all they know the longing to be free from pain. He who has been delivered from pain must not think he is now free again, and at liberty to take life up just as it was before, entirely forgetful of the past. He is now a man whose eyes are open with regard to pain and anguish, and he must help to overcome those two enemies (so far as human power can control them) and to bring to others the deliverance which he has himself enjoyed.” The Lord in His final hours of agony becomes the prototype of the Fellowship of Those Who Bear the Mark of Pain. While in the throws of unbearable pain He tries to alleviate the suffering of others. And — what a miracle — it is not only evil that is contagious, but also compassion. The Roman soldier at the foot of the cross, the tough legionnaire is moved to pity. A few hours before he could have been one of those who drove the nails into the Master’s hands and feet. But now he engages in an act of compassion, he offers the sufferer a drink. A veteran of many battles, a fighter acquainted with wounds, pain and death, he now joins the Fellowship of Those Who Bear the Mark of Pain. In my mind the Fifth Word of our Lord on the cross is a rallying cry for all of us to join this blessed fellowship. There are hardly any of us who are not acquainted with pain: physical, mental, and spiritual agony. Suffering, grief, frustrations, shames and fears behind us . . . and a sea of human misery in front of us: hunger, sickness, poverty, oppression, cruelty, humiliation, hate, prejudice, indifference, inhumanity, group madness, violence, death — wherever we look. The agony of the Lord leaves no choice for the Church which is His body, but to join The Fellowship of Those Who Bear the Mark of Pain, of which He himself is the ever-blessed head. The Church is committed to the eternal fight, the practical fight, the unrelenting fight against any and all kinds of evil that torture God’s children, not because she is the company of such kind souls, not because she is the meeting-place of do-gooders, not because she is being pushed into the fight by the iniciative of the secular world, but because she has no other choice, because He who is the head of the Church left no other path for her to walk but the narrow path of Those Who Bear the Mark of Pain, the Master’s pain as well as their own pain, the path of those who found healing, life and hope at the cross — and were reborn to an undying compassion. The Church will be committed to the fight against all kinds of human suffering as long as these evils exist, because — being captive to the love of Christ — she cannot and should not do anything else, but think the thoughts, share the emotions, affirm the concerns, and carry out the actions of the Head of the Body, in Whom is our health and salvation, and the health and salvation of this whole suffering world. Amen. Andrew Hamza 12 Points of the 1848 Hungarian Revolution 1. Freedom of Press, abolition of censorship 2. Responsible Cabinet in Budapest 3. Yearly congressional sessions in Budapest 4. Religious and civil equality before the courts 5. National Guard 6. General taxation 7. Abolition of feudal dependency 8. Jury—equal representation 9. National Bank 10. The army to be sworn on the National Constitution, the Hungarian army not to be taken abroad, foreign army recalled 11. Free political prisoners 12. Union with Transylvania <y\fative ^Cdctnd THE HOUSE Fly, O my soul, and seek my native land! In the old house, hid by Venetian blinds, My mother’s melancholy mutes its voice — Grief with grey hair but with a child’s sweet face. Fly, O my soul, and seek my native land! It is indeed the room where I was born And which my eyes beheld the first of all. It is indeed the garden where I built My first fast-fleeting castles in the sand. All that my hands have built has been of sand: But solid there my grandsire’s house still stands, Waiting for me to seek a haven there, A refuge from my years, these stifling ruins. Mihály Babits Translated by W. Kirkconnell
