Timeless Virtues
By becoming aware of all the world has to offer us,
deepening connection with each other, and finding compassion in our relationships, we are able to reap the meaning of our lives to the fullest extent possible.
-The Miracle Collectors
It's the new year - a time for contemplation and change. The Greek philosopher Heraclitus is quoted as saying "change is the only constant in life." The events of this week show just how true his statement continues to be. This month Joan looks at change and considers how the three virtues of faith, hope, and charity can help move us forward in these times of change.
Collecting Miracle Moments One Story at a Time.
Joan and Katie (1/26/25)
As a child I was taught the value of faith, hope, and charity. Faith for many people is hard. In our materialistic world, believing without seeing is a big ask. And yet from Pascal's Wager of the 17th century (belief in God carried with it infinite gain, accompanied by only a finite amount of risk) to Indiana Jones of the 20th, faith plays a central role. In The Miracle Chase we describe a scene from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade where Indiana, in his quest to retrieve the Holy Grail and save his father's life, finds himself on a slim ledge overhanging an abyss. Trying to grasp the wall behind him in order not to fall forward, he finds nothing to hang onto and has no choice but to move forward to take a step into midair. Just as we think he's certain to fall to his death, a step appears and then another and another...it is as if the director took his cue from the words of Edward Teller: "When you come to the edge of all the light you know, and are about to step off into the darkness of the unknown, faith is knowing one of two things will happen: there will be something solid to stand on or you will be taught how to fly."
This January, I find myself having to take that leap of faith that Soren Kierkegaard first described as having trust in something despite it's lack of reasoning, logic, or rationality. Even so, I have faith in the world and in the mantra of St. Julian of Norwich where "all will be well and all manner of things will be well." I am not alone in needing to remember that I am not in charge and there is a higher power.
As I write these words, I think "we can only hope", which is as good a segue as there is for the next virtue: hope. As Martin Luther King Jr. wisely said, "Even in the inevitable moments when all seems hopeless, men know that without hope they cannot really live." And so, I am hopeful for the coming years that people will come together, will rise over their differences, that all hostages will be released sooner as opposed to later, and that we can continue dialogues to find our commonalities, and celebrate those, instead of a world that prefers to foment our differences.
This hope carries me to the third virtue and what I see as the solution to many of our ills. Charity. The famous words of Mother Teresa, "I can do things you cannot; you can do things I cannot; together we can do great things," remind us that when we work together the result can be astonishing. We are all called to do our best, to get involved, to treat others with generosity of spirit, and perhaps most of all to be a miracle for others in the simple things: a warm hug, bringing a meal for someone who is hurting, sending donations or giving of our time for those in need and reeling from the effects of natural disasters that surround us. Doing small things with great love is what each of us can do for one another.
And so I come full circle remembering our words from The Miracle Collectors that "Love is at the foundation of miracles because love, and the forgiveness it encompasses, is the language of the Divine." It is up to each of us to live that message in our own world, so that at the end of our days we can reflect as St. Timothy wrote, "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith." (Joan)