My Editorial

Interruptions:Our real work

David Steindl-Rast once commented that we tend to be resentful when things interrupt our work until we realize that, often, the interruptions are our real work.
A.N. Wilson, the historian, in a biography of C.S.Lewis, describes how Lewis’s life as a teacher and writer was , during all of his productive years, interrupted by the demands of his adoptive mother who made him do all the shopping and house work and demanded hours of his time daily for domestic tasks. Lewis’s own brother, Warnie, who also lived in the same house refused to let his agenda be interrupted. He himself laments that Lewis could have been more prolific had he not spent countless hours shopping and doing the domestic chores. Lewis himself gives a very different assessment. Precisely because of the interruptions, he said, he was level headed unlike the other Oxford dons.
Just as steindl-Rast points out, the opposite also can happen. Instead of resentment there can be gratitude because we realize that the interruptions, so unwelcome at the time, were really salvific and, far from derailing us from our real agenda, they were our real agenda.
But we have to look always for the hand of providence in our interruptions. These often constitute the conspiracy of accidents through which God guides our lives. If we were totally in control of our own agenda, if we could simply plan and execute our lives according to our dreams with no unwanted derailments, I fear that many of us would slowly and subtly, become selfish and all too soon find our lives empty of the simple joys that come from our family and community.
As I begin my service as editor, I have myriads of things to say.
First of all, I must accept that I too had an interruption from the six years of pioneering work among the tribes of the Nilgiri Hills. It was hard to part from the beautiful landscapes, the resplendent forest cover full of grasslands and sholas and the six different types of tribal groups who became part of my life. All these enriched me with innumerable experiences. The much awaited interruption brought me back to my field as journalist and writer.
What does this interruption mean for the magazine and the readers? This again can be an interruption for the readers and the magazine. It can very well be a positive interruption that gives a change in layout, design, colour, content and perspective. I hope to make it positive for the proactive readers who point out even the failures.
Secondly, I just happened to note a piece of news that the Catholics in general have supported the reservation policy. This piece of information also has appeared in our news section. We know when sentiments are touched we make a hue and cry. Imagine the benefits this interruption of reservation policy is going to bring to the under privileged! Can we make a positive attempt to support reservation and bring about a conglomeration of multiple talents to emerge in the wake of globalisation and liberalisation threatening us at our doorstep?
Pope benedict XVI has made the following statement: “How can we not say that everywhere, even where there is no persecution, to live the gospel with coherence bears a high cost with it?” Yes indeed, to live the Gospel implies interruption that makes us pay the high, but sweet, price of loving people as they are, regardless of their faith, nationality or skin colour. Can we allow this interruption to begin from us instead of a thrust from the government?
Thirdly, Dan Brown’s issues interrupt our faith journey and charge us with frustration. At the same time, the quest for historical Jesus has been a fascinating and irresistible topic. It reminds us that there is no uninterrupted Jesus and that we are dependent on sources that historians find challenging.
For people of faith, the witness of the Gospels is more important than the historian’s Jesus or for that matter Dan Brown’s Jesus. Nevertheless, historical methods of constant interruptions can help us to see the basic reliability of the tradition about Jesus and to encounter Jesus emerging as the strong personality behind the Gospels and the traditions and truths contained in them.
We need interruptions. In fact, Interruptions are our real work. After all, Jesus interrupted the traditional system of his times. That is how Christianity came into being!