Darts That Wound
by Fr. Gus Carter
2 /20 /05

Not long ago I read about a theology professor who liked to demonstrate in interesting and surprising ways particular points of his teaching. One day students walked into his classroom and discovered a large target posted on the wall. Beside the target was a collection of darts. The professor invited his students to draw on the wall a picture of someone they disliked or who made them angry. Then he allowed them to throw darts at the pictures they had drawn.

One person drew a picture of a girl who had stolen her boyfriend. Another made a sketch of his little brother. Others pictured someone who irritated them. Soon the class was filled with laughter as more pictures were drawn and darts were thrown. Some darts were throne with such force that they ripped the target. After a while the game stopped. Then the professor removed the target from the wall. Underneath the broken and torn target was a broken and torn image of Jesus. The professor then read the Scripture passage in which Jesus said, "Whatever you do to the least of my brothers you do to me."

The Feast of the Transfiguration reminds us of a marvelous truth about those who follow Christ. We are called brothers and sisters of Christ. In Christ we share divine life. St. Teresa of Avila lamented that so few people realize how beautiful their souls are. The apostles on the mountain with Jesus were allowed to see for a time the inner beauty of Christ. As we imitate Christ, St. Paul tells us, we are "being transformed into the same image from glory to glory." We are members of Christ's body. We are called to continue Christ's work in the world. As cells of the same body, our vocation is to support and give life to other cells of our body. Our vocation extends to all peoples. We are asked by our prayers and actions to bring healing and peace among groups and to individuals who do not believe as we do.

Lent is a time of reconciliation with God, our neighbor, ourselves. The prophets tell us clearly that fasting and prayer without love are useless before God. St. Paul writes that without love good works are in vain. The test of our sacrifices and prayers comes in the way we treat each other. One big obstacle to love consists in the darts we throw at each other. We make sacrifices and say prayers that we will be graced with insight into how we are wounding each other and what we must do to bring peace and love into the world.

As the professor illustrated, we do hurl darts that tear the fabric of human relations. Nasty and abusive remarks do wound those around us. These same remarks lead persons to degrade themselves. In their woundedness they tear into the fabric of other lives. We continue a vicious circle of unhealthy relationships. Gossip makes innocent individual targets of unfair judgments and unfair conduct towards them. Our own unjust judgments cause us to mistrust and be unfair to others. Among the saddest scenes I have witnessed are those in which husbands and wives are attacking each other. They are pledged to help each other grow as persons and in their power to love. Instead they tear each other through competition and power struggles.

It is not too late in the Lenten Season to begin examining our relationships to recognize how we may be wounding others, how we may be tearing down rather than building up, Our prayer and efforts must be directed toward knowing ourselves, learning to see and to accept the dark side of our own personalities. When we can admit peacefully to ourselves our faults, we are in a better position to correct what is wrong. Being angry and abusive to ourselves divides us against ourselves. We, too, have been wounded. The wounds of unfair treatment and abusive remarks can become scars of bitterness or a healing openness to the sufferings of others We pray for self-understanding of our own anguish so that we may begin peacefully a process of healing. We pray to learn compassion for the faults of others and compassion for ourselves