Journey to Peace: Reflections and Faith, Embracing Suffering and Finding New Life, The

Spiritual Life, Spring 2002 by Bowe, Babara E

The Journey to Peace: Reflections on Faith, Embracing Suffering, and Finding New Life. By Joseph Cardinal Bernardin. Edited by Alphonse P. Spiny, CPPS, and Jeremy Langford. Doubleday: 1540 Broadway, New York, NY 10036, 2001. Pp. 151. Hardcover. $17.95.

I was among the two hundred thousand people who prayed in Holy Name Cathedral in Chicago beside the body of Joseph Cardinal Bernardin in November 1996. I watched the constant flood of mourners processing by me to pay their respects: the police and firemen, the politicians, the wealthy from the "Gold Coast," the street people, the priests and religious, young and old-- all of Chicago was there. Like me, they had all come to say good-bye, to say thank you, to say a prayer of blessing for this extraordinary man who came to Chicago in 1982 and introduced himself to his priests with the words, "I am Joseph, your brother." The outpouring of love at his death was unprecedented.

This book is surely also a work of love coming from the editorial hands of two men who knew and greatly admired Joseph Cardinal Bernardin, Archbishop of Chicago. Spilly and Langford shared in different ways the Cardinal's final spiritual journey as he approached his death, and they have given readers a privileged glimpse into the heart and mind of this holy man. Ever the consummate pastor to the end, Cardinal Bernardin's words not only reveal his inner soul, but they also offer consolation and courage for all believers who find themselves, like he did, facing suffering and imminent death.

A brief introduction familiarizes readers with the central events of the Cardinal's life, his achievements and challenges as a leading prelate of the American Church and of the Church Universal. Readers are invited then to walk the final spiritual journey with "Joseph [their] brother." The power of this book is not only in the selected excerpts from Bernardin's many addresses and homilies but also in the very personal reflections and pondering that these words will evoke in each reader.

The editors chose the perfect framework within which to collect and organize Cardinal Bernardin's reflections about suffering and death-- namely, the fourteen traditional "stations" marking the journey of Jesus from his arrest in the garden of Gethsemane to his death on the Cross. These reflections on Jesus' passion arose out of the popular piety of the fourteenth century that stressed the humanity of Jesus as a model for our own human life. Cardinal Bernardin had indeed shared with Jesus many stopping points along this sacred "way," both literally and metaphorically, in his own final months and days. The interplay of the Cardinal's suffering enduring public humiliation in the false accusation of sexual abuse brought against him and in the slow ravaging of his body by cancer-with the suffering of Jesus allows Spilly and Langford to interpret both journeys in light ofthe other, a deft interpretive move.

For each station, there is a brief introduction by the editors to the meaning of the scene. Then selections from Scripture followed by two or three excerpts from the Cardinal's writings are juxtaposed as reflections on this scene from Jesus' passion journey. After each excerpt the editors have offered a brief prayer in simple, straightforward language, adopting a style similar to the Cardinal's own words. It is almost as if we can hear the Cardinal praying with us from his place with God.

Among the fourteen stations of Jesus' Way of the Cross, some offer more aptly than others do a context and analogy for the Cardinal's personal journey. Especially poignant is the opening reflection on the first station: "Jesus is condemned to death." Here, Spiny and Langford introduce the reflection with comments about false accusation and the public humiliation such an experience holds. They link this moment with the prophets of old and with the very public character of Cardinal Bernardin's prophetic statements that exposed him to opposition and false accusation. In this opening selection, as in all others, we learn the deep faith that sustained this great and humble man. His honesty about his own life experience and the suffering it brought is disarming. It invites both admiration and the urge to learn from and to imitate his faith.

The tenth station, "Jesus is stripped of his garments," offers another example of the faith and deep spiritual power of Joseph Bernardin's example. The editors again call our attention to the humiliation Jesus must have felt at this moment: to be stripped naked, exposed for the world to see and jeer. Then they remind us that humiliation can come on a grand scale or in very subtle ways. As a reflection on this station, the Cardinal's words recall a picture he had seen of a Nazi soldier cutting off the earlocks of an Orthodox Jew in the concentration camp. This image was almost more horrific for him than shootings or beatings because, as he noted, "it is within the realm of our own possibilities for cruelty." When any human being is stripped of dignity and honor, Jesus' passion is repeated. As if in the Cardinal's own words, this prayer follows: "I know what it means to have power over someone else. It is a human weakness to strive for power over others; it alienates us from our true selves and from others. Help me to cleanse this weakness from my life so that I can help empower others, not humiliate them" (p. 100).