Just a Picture in a Magazine
By Roger Lovette
[Dr. Roger Lovette is Pastor of the Baptist Church of the Covenant, Birmingham, AL.]
It was just a picture in a magazine. I keep it close because it says a great deal to me about health in an unhealthy time. Preachers especially need reminders of wholeness in these strange times. The picture is a black and white photograph of Joseph Cardinal Bernardin. He sits in his robe in some sanctuary getting ready to preach or say the Mass. He is dying. He has only a few months to live. The burden of his condition seems to weigh heavily on him. His shoulders slump. His head is bowed in prayer. His hands are folded. Above him, on the wall, is a huge crucifix. The nailed-down Jesus has his arms outstretched. It is a powerful scene. I keep looking at the picture again and again. Why? I do not know. Except, like the dying Cardinal, we are all kept. And though the weight of the too-muchness makes all of us slouch from time to time, there is a power and strength that comes from outside us and that is enough to sustain.
Cardinal Bernardin, Archbishop of Chicago has written of his burdens and his faith in a memoir called The Gift of Peace. In a sense, it is his last will and testament. Thirteen days after finishing this book he died on November 1, 1996.
The book concerns three major events in his life. The first was the false accusation in 1993 of sexual misconduct. The second event was the diagnosis of pancreatic cancer in 1995 and a surgery that rendered him cancer free for fifteen months. The third event was a recurrence of that cancer in August of 1996 and his decision to discontinue chemotherapy.
This is a book for everyone. If we live long enough, we will all come to hard places in our lives. We lose jobs. Our children do not turn out as we wish. Marriages take wrong turns. Places like Lirtleton break loose close by. We are all victims of injustice and wrong.
The Archbishop helps me because of the way he moved through the crises of his life with dignity and grace. There is no bitterness or whining in this book. The Cardinal found the strength to rise to the occasion of the hard things he had to endure. He was not defeated by his pain, indeed he was ennobled by his difficult experiences.
He writes of being falsely accused of sexual abuse by a young man in his thirties who was very ill with AIDS. The man claimed that Bernardin had forced him into a sexual relationship in 1975 when he was a student in the Seminary. Later the Archbishop would learn that this charge was a set-up by people in the church to destroy his effectiveness as a leader in the church. In three months the charges were dropped and the young man had apologized. But not before enormous damage had been done to the Cardinal`s reputation. He dealt with the case by going public, by praying intensely, and by refusing to hate.
After the charges were dropped, Cardinal Bernardin decided to meet the man who had given him such grief. In that encounter the man apologized. The Cardinal told him he had prayed for him every day. The Archbishop offered to say Mass for this man who had tried to destroy him. The man shook his head. He said he was not good enough. The Archbishop took a hundred-year-old chalice out of his case. He explained to the young man it was a gift from someone who asked him to use it for Mass on a special occasion. He asked the young man a second time if they could say Mass and use the old chalice. The young man tearfully agreed. It was a moment of reconciliation and forgiveness. Months later, the young man died forgiven and fully reconciled with the church.
But the Archbishop`s harder battle was yet to come. On the heels of this experience where he was falsely charged, he discovered that he had pancreatic cancer. Like the sexual abuse charge, he went public with his problem. He asked for prayers as he made this new journey. He reached out to others who were battling cancer. They shared their stories. They helped one another. As part of the fellowship of the suffering, he discovered a whole new ministry. His decision to go public with his cancer sent a message to others that when we are sick we do not need isolation but the support of others.
He talked in the book about the importance of prayer. His prayers for healing were not answered. The Archbishop, would die of cancer. But he leaves us something profound to ponder before leaving. He said that he learned that death is part of life. And there comes a time when death is a friend and not the enemy. He ended the book by saying: "Today, while there is still breath in me, I offer you myself in faith, hope, and love as well as in suffering, dying, and peace." We have few teachers who take us all the way to the end of the road. Joseph Cardinal Bernardin has left us powerful lessons. Love is stronger than hate. The power of God is present even in times of great stress and difficulty. Faith can carry us all the way to the finish line.
I keep the picture on my wall. A little sick priest with his shoulders weighed down. His head is bowed in prayer-waiting to say the Mass. Above him hangs the nailed-down Jesus with the outstretched arms. As I talk to the troubled, I often gaze at this picture. As the phone rings, I remember this good man, Archbishop Betnardin. The picture helps keep me honest. I am reminded again of what truly matters.
