Mysterium Tremendum

Winston Churchill and America’s Franklin Roosevelt, separated by an ocean, singing from a common hymnal:

⁠Once to every man and nation
Comes the moment to decide,
In the strife of truth and falsehood,
For the good or evil side…
And the choice goes by forever,
'Twixt that darkness and that light.

Then to side with truth is noble,
When we share her wretched crust,
Ere her cause bring fame and profit,
And 'tis prosperous to be just;
Then it is the brave man chooses,
While the coward stands a side,
Till the multitude make virtue
Of the faith they had denied. 

Count me o'er earth's chosen heroes,
They were souls that stood alone,
Stood serene, and down the future
Saw the golden beam incline
To the side of perfect justice,…

Though the cause of evil prosper,
Yet 'tis Truth alone is strong…
And, behind the dim unknown,
Standeth God within the shadow,
Keeping watch above his own.
James Russel Lowell (1845)
“Verses Suggested by the Present Crisis”

With barely one-hundred hours remaining before the last polls close, the majority of American voters have already mailed-in or dropped-off their ballots or voted early. 

Now, no matter the outcome, it is “the moment” to decide “for the good or evil side.”

Asher Finkel was once described as combining “great intelligence with reverence.” Born in Jerusalem, his father, grandfather and great grandfather were all rabbis and he lived the New Testament definition of a rabbi – he was a teacher. He could also claim the distinction of being perhaps the first rabbi to serve on the faculty of a Roman Catholic seminary (Maryknoll Seminary) in the United states – preparing future priests and religious Sisters for their ministries around the world. While he specialized in New Testament studies, including “The Teachings of Jesus,” he also taught a course on “The Prophets.” 

The vocation – the “call” - of the Old Testament prophet, according to Rabbi Finkel, was always marked by the experience of the mysterium tremendum (“mystery that repels”) and the mysterium fascinosum (“mystery that attracts”) – reflected in Moses’ encounter with the burning bush. He was frightened or repelled by the burning bush and attracted to something he could neither understand nor explain – it was not consumed by the fire. From the moment of this encounter and through the rest of his life, the prophet would never – could never – be the same. It was his role to stand against and condemn injustice as he encountered it.

Once to every man and nation
Comes the moment to decide,
In the strife of truth and falsehood,
For the good or evil side…

With COVID-19 deaths hovering at the quarter million mark in the Unites States on Election Day and many predicting 400,000 before year’s end, the nation is facing its mysterium tremendum.

By the grace of God, nurses and doctors, first responders and teachers, courageous cleaning crews, truck drivers and delivery persons, grocery store and pharmacy employees everywhere have become our mysterium fascinosum – pointing individuals and the nation in the selfless and serving direction for which Governeur Morris and his companions aspired:

… to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice,
insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence,
promote the general Welfare, 
and secure the Blessings of Liberty for ourselves and our Posterity….

Perhaps (we can only pray) the history of the nation over the next four years will be in the hands of someone who takes inspiration from anonymous, yet truly great Americans like the neighbors of Crystal Conover or Boston College Class of ’23 transfer Gordon Wayne and the folks of Caroline County, Virginia and Germanna Community College.

Two years after 13-year-old Jayden Rathbone was killed by a driver who did not see him while he was trick-or-treating in 2011, Conover decided to go all out – decorating and passing out hundreds of glow sticks in honor of her son, whose favorite holiday was Halloween.

In 2020, because of the coronavirus and a powerful wind storm that damaged her home and cost thousands to repair, Ms. Conover decided she didn’t have the personal (or financial) strength to decorate – “I just wasn’t feeling it – I was mentally drained.” That’s when her small-town Uintah, Utah neighbors stepped in – “Pretty soon I had people showing up on my front porch telling me, ‘Absolutely not – you have to decorate this year and we’re going to help you…’ They told me, ‘You’ve given a whole new meaning to Halloween – it’s not just about the candy, it’s about keeping kids safe.’” 

This year, the entire neighborhood will be decked out to the max and hundreds of glow sticks will be distributed – to help kids safe and as neighbors and strangers pay tribute to Jayden and his mom.

Boston College’s Gordon Wayne has a passion about ending homelessness born of personal experience. After graduating high school with a 4.4 GPA, he was suddenly homeless. Despite having been having been enrolled in the University of Pittsburgh, he found himself living in his car and unable to afford the gas to get there. Working 10- to 12-hour shifts and living on one McDonald’s meal a day, he enrolled in Germanna Community College, carrying 18 and 21 credits for two semester and maintaining an almost straight A average. 

Working as a pizza delivery driver and other jobs, sleeping two hours a night in his car in “random parking lots” and making use of Germanna’s food bank, with the assistance of his Germanna academic advisor, Jordan Hewett, he applied for a transfer to Boston College. Gordon was awarded a full scholarship and BC even offered to fly him to campus. 

Instead, he decided to hoof the 500-plus miles in order to raise awareness of and funds for ending homelessness, carrying all of his belongings in a backpack that weighed about 50 pounds and with two pairs of shoes. “I feel like people generally think that homeless people are lazy or need a job, but a lot of the times you don’t even really have the chance to advance your position in life,” he said. “You have no real opportunity to do much of anything. You’re stuck and you have nowhere to go.”

Trekking an average 36 miles each day, his feet “basically destroyed – They are not an appealing sight,” relying on the kindness of strangers who sometimes bought food or payed for a hotel room for him, Gordon raised more than $100,000 for The National Alliance to End Homelessness. 

In a week or so, the family-, community- and nation-splitting election will end. But the wounds will remain and some scars may never disappear. We will have lived through one and will continue to live through another misterium tremendum. 

It is time to become the mysterium fascinosum.

While, as the hymn reminds us “the coward stands a side,” the multitude must “make virtue.” And virtue, like the mission of the prophet, is never made in an instant. To “make virtue” must become the task of individual men and women – the goal of the nation. 

The man who takes the Oath of Office on January 20 must commit himself to the Seven Cardinal Virtue of National Leadership:  Unity; Commitment to the common working man and woman and their families; Compassion for the most broken, fearful and struggling; Science dedicated to the Common Good; Courage to stand for the right and put aside personal advantage or party gains; and, Equality of opportunity in housing employment, health care, and education.

Anticipating the horrors of Hitler’s onslaught, Churchill promised his people, “We shall go on to the end… we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength….” As the nation fights a pandemic that continues to threaten life and life as we have known it, we must hear our nation’s leaders promising “We shall fight it in our cities and towns, from the plains to the mountains and from ocean to ocean; we shall fight in our classrooms and workplaces, as individuals and as families and communities. We shall fight with Science and a recognition that we are ‘one nation.’”

Suffering and torn asunder, a nation rent by one of the ugliest campaigns of modern times, let us pray to hear again Lincoln’s words:

With malice toward none, with charity for all,
with firmness in the right as God gives us to 
see the right, let us strive on to finish the work 
we are in, to bind up the nation’s wounds…
to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and 
lasting peace among ourself 
and with all nations.

At the same time, it is critical to remember that the prophets of the Old Testament always stood outside the courts of power – never fully allied or committed to a single party - and unceasingly crying “Justice!” 

In the few remaining hours before the polls close, in the days before the next inauguration, let us be mindful

Once to every man and nation
Comes the moment to decide,
In the strife of truth and falsehood,
For the good or evil side…
And the choice goes by forever,
'Twixt that darkness and that light.

And like the prophets of old, let us shout “Justice! Justice! Justice!”