Friday Thought with Fr Chris Ferguson: Apparently I'm a millionaire

I can only guess what ‘Cyber Monday’ will be like. If your waiting on an important email, it can be a nightmare trying to find what you’re looking for among all the latest offers. In this respect I made the mistake of delving into my junk mail. I don’t know if you have checked your junk mail folder recently, but it’s never a job for the squeamish or the faint of heart. Apparently, I have won various lottos, and unknown to myself I’m actually a millionaire. This doesn’t include all the too good to be true offers of bitcoins, which are too good to be true. I even have random people offering me fortunes for no apparent reason, I simply have to get in touch.

Then I have emails relating to numerous offers of surgery based on the wonders of medical science.

Whatever about cosmetic surgery or enhancements, I do take exception to the cut price offers relating to slimming pills and weight lost cures. This is when I begin to wonder whose checking out my social media profile. As to the numerous offers of friendship from Eastern Europe, they obviously haven’t checked out my bank account. In the midst of these overwhelming experiences, it’s a stressful time for someone who can’t multitask. As I was deleting the numerous ‘Black Friday’ offers, I suddenly realised I had real shopping to do.

I’m on dinner duty this Sunday and the only experience tougher than cooking for one, is cooking for two. There is an added complication, the other diner is a Tyrone man. In truth, Fr Gerard had never heard of pasta or curry until he came to Derry. This means I have to try and cook a traditional Sunday dinner, I was going to cook roast beef, but Fr Gerard beat me to it last weekend, and I’m still digesting it. So, it has to be chicken; amid all the uncertainty we can still rely on a Tyrone chicken.

In the chaos of these days, one of our lecturers based in Maynooth sent an article by the Pulitzer prize winner writer Marilynne Robinson, entitled ‘America- A Nation out of Joint.’ Yet her analysis is one, which could be applied to many first world countries, including our own. Robinson warns against a form of politics, which proceeds from a contempt for history, supported by a religious prejudice based only on one form of piety, reinforced by sectarian agreement. In a deeply divided society, there is a danger in politics of criminalising the opposition. There are those in political leadership, who through opportunism, and factionalism, seek to distract from the real issues, by appealing only to their own supporters, rather than speaking candidly about the issues facing the country. Robinson argues, that in such a partisan atmosphere we readily witness the creation of public panics, by those bonded together by a shared sense of grievance, and who stoke resentments by means of conspiracy theories.

Where such hostility is inflamed, reconciliation and compromise are impossible, only contempt and outrage are acceptable. The American writer continues, a religion, which creates such a stark line between us and them, saved and other, accommodates this kind of thinking. When we dehumanise the other, where anyone of a differencing opinion is viewed as your enemy, whilst those who argue another point of view are demonised, can real, honest, and open debate in society be facilitated.

In the name of tolerance, there seems to be a real intolerance. Marilynne Robinson, asks, what channels are open where our differences can be negotiated, without losing respect for the other person or causing more division? Ultimately, fear is making it hard for us to trust anyone.

As one Church year comes to a close and a new year begins, how do we emerge from the mayhem and the fear?

Amid the bombardment of competing voices, can

we be wise, patient and open enough, to know where to find,

and be guided by the healing voice of God?