Yesterday was the birthday of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin. Born in 1881 he was plagued by suffering and difficulties. He was a Jesuit priest and a recognized scientist. During his lifetime he was forbidden by his Jesuit superiors and by church authorities to publish his religious writings. Before he died in 1955 he had named a laywoman friend his literary executor. She began publishing his work, which soon became known and influential in theological circles.
I've been trying to understand him since I read The Human Phenomenon in the seminary. I have not been very successful. So far I have had to settle for a quote here and there. One I came across recently struck me as helpful as we wait and hope for an end to the present crisis: "Above all, trust in the slow work of God. We are quite naturally impatient in everything to reach the end without delay. We should like to skip the intermediate stages. We are impatient of being on the way to something unknown, something new. And yet it is the law of all progress that it is made by passing through some stages of instability--and that it may take a very long time....Only God could say what this new spirit gradually forming within us will be....Accept the anxiety of feeling yourself in suspense and incomplete"
Teilhard never did see the powerful impact that his theological writings had on our world. We don't know what influence this time of the virus will have on our future. We put ourselves in God's hands.
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