Unimportant Division
Posted by Arwen Mosher in Faith on Thursday, April 29, 2010 5:16 PM
“In nothing is the power of the Dark Lord more clearly shown than in the estrangement that divides all those who still oppose him.”
So says Haldir the elf about the feud between elves and dwarves.
Every time I read The Lord of the Rings, I notice this quotation. How could I fail to do so? I grew up in a home with a Catholic father and a Protestant mother, so disunity among Christians has always been a hot topic for me, and that’s obviously what Tolkien is referring to here. Right?
My usual course of action when I read the passage is to say a quick prayer for all God’s sheep to be gathered in one fold. Then I move on. Except this time, Haldir’s words stayed with me, niggling at me during quiet moments.
Maybe “divisions among all those who still oppose him” doesn’t mean what I think it means. Or maybe it does mean that, but it also means many other things, too.
It’s simple to believe that the visible divisions are the only divisions. We go to Mass on Sunday and across town there are people attending an evangelical church. We’re not worshipping together even though we love the same God. Clearly that division is destructive, because we’d be able to serve God much more effectively if we were under the same roof.
But at least we are united with the people who are kneeling next to us in Mass. At least we - Catholics who seek to live our faith - are working together to fight the evil one who yearns to drag us down to his level for all eternity.
Aren’t we?
There is important work being done in the Church. Ministry, thinking and writing, moving and shaking. Great ideas are conceived and defended. Truth is proclaimed. The Catholic Church stands against the world to defend the weakest of the weak.
I am with her 100%. No division here. Not in my heart.
Those words of Haldir’s nag at me. “In nothing is the power of the Dark Lord more clearly shown….”
Meanwhile, I read a story of another mother’s struggles with her three-year-old, and even as I show sympathy on my face, there is tiny voice inside me whispering pridefully, She wouldn’t have that problem if she handled things better. She should be more like I am.
Even as I am aware that I have failings as a mother, still I am secretly sure that my convictions are sound, that my opinions are superior. I let my pride get in the way of sympathy, of mercy, of love.
But these little topics are unimportant, I tell myself. On the big topics, we all agree. Look at me standing here in line for confession behind these other Christians whom I love. No division here. Not in my heart.
Or perhaps that is simply what the Prince of Lies wants me to believe. How convenient for him, if I am so focused on the details of my vocation as a Catholic that I begin to think the details of my other vocations do not matter.
The tasks must be done, of course. That is vital to the well-being of my family. But the manner in which I do them? How can that be important in the grand scheme of things?
It’s not important, until I have an interaction with another mother that leaves her filled with self-doubt and undermines her ability to fulfill her vocation faithfully.
It’s not important, until I become so sure that I am raising my children “correctly” that I forget to do so with gentle, humble love.
It’s not important, until the day that I realize that the woman kneeling the next pew at Mass is in complete agreement with me on all those “big” topics and in complete disagreement with me on all the “little” ones, but that the “little” ones have become so important to us that we have no way to reach across the gap. That despite the fact that we are both faithful Catholics, we are not on the same team in any meaningful way. All our tiny disagreements have added up to one big division, and we would not be able to fight the enemy together if we met him.
Which we do, every day, as he stands watching for ways to worm himself into our homes and our hearts. But he is so good at lying, we don’t even recognize him.
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