Saints and Successors

With much noise and expenditure and traffic confusion the ANC last weekend marked its centenary.  100 years ago the movement was founded in a small Methodist church in Bloemfontein; the current generation of ANC leaders gathered to celebrate in a large football stadium in Mangaung – what a difference 100 years can make.

I was very struck by the slogan that some advertising agency had coined for the celebrations: “100 years of selfless sacrifice”.  Having spent some time in advertising I know that what you don’t do is waste time on slogans to tell people what they already believe – a famous soft drink’s slogan is not: ‘It’s brown, its sticky, it rots your teeth!’.  Instead a slogan tries to reassure people of something that they don’t fully believe – if we say it often enough then they might.  History definitely shows that the ANC has a history of selfless sacrifice.  But perhaps ’82 years of selfless sacrifice and 18 years of Government’ would have been more truthful. 

Seeing the faces of ANC leaders blown up to giant size adorning the stadium was chastening: there alongside Walter Sisulu and Nelson Mandela we saw Thabo Mbeki and Jacob Zuma.  Of course, once people have died or retired gracefully we tend to remember the good parts of their ‘reign’ and air-brush out the more questionable aspects.  But even having taken that into account, we might be forgiven for thinking that the successors of the present leave something to be desired alongside the saints of the past.

This is not just a challenge for political leaders.  We see the same in the life of the church.  Jesuits in formation are constantly being reminded of the heroes who went before: Francis Xavier crossing continents, Aloysius Gonzaga dying of the plague as he tended the sick, Jean de Brebreuf being burnt to death by the native Americans he tried to convert.  Heady stuff designed to inspire.  But when we see their examples do we feel that we can stand alongside them?  Or just feel inadequate by comparison?

And the same happens with the Gospel.  There is a famous old book of devotion called ‘The Imitation of Christ’: as Christians we bear His name and are called to be like Him.  But what kind of successor are we to Christ and the early Saints?  All that forgiving of people, and loving your enemy, and giving up your possessions and tending the needy was fine in His day – but hardly realistic today.  Well, whether we like it or not, that is the challenge we have every day as Christians: to be Christ-like.  To approach each action with that evangelical thought in our heads: WWJD - What would Jesus do?

It’s certainly not easy.  We might be inclined to criticise political leaders who dress themselves up in the achievements and the morals of those who went before them.  But we should also pause to reflect on whether we also can lay claim to the heritage of the Christians who came before us?  Mahatma Gandhi was asked what he thought of Christianity and his reply was: “It’s a great theory; I hope that one day they will put it into practice.”