When watching the news in recent weeks I have found myself experiencing sadness, anger and perplexity as I watched stories of how people were treating each other. The actions and rhetoric in the descriptions of the events presenting a picture of disregard for life, respect and care for others. In my prayer and thoughts I found myself shifting from the emotional to contemplating perspective and what shapes our experiences.
Each of our perspectives is shaped by our experiences and choices. I think of how I have been influenced by my family, education, friends, my Benedictine community and many joys and sorrows along the way. Each person on the news speaks and acts from their perspective, from their experiences along the way. Their perspective, like my own, is influenced by significant people, joys and sorrows. Holding this thought, I found my anger and perplexity being tinged with compassion for the person, for the untold story …the sorrow and suffering which led to the actions and rhetoric seen on the news. 
Now what do I do with this tension between compassion and perplexity? Hans Urs von Balthasar offered me a thought this morning. “Even if unity of faith is not possible, a unity of love is.” There are many things in this world such as politics, faith or even differing priorities which create disunity in our world.We have a choice of actions which create unity or disunity.We can choose to act in a way that fosters love and compassion.We can work to build our capacity for compassion which allows us to broaden our perspective, to hold the story of another and to transcend our differences. May we each strive towards unity in love in our actions, thoughts and way of being with one another both near and far.
Sr. Kimberly Porter, OSB
Dear Sister thank you for this good word. News & media in general is in the hands of the bad, so that it must always be disbelieved. Someone with spiritual sensitivity and a capacity to be generous and loving should also avoid it because it exploits your goodness unfairly, slanting stories this way and that way without any true love. It is a place of warfare and only the strong (and hard) can survive. The desire for forgiveness and mercy to be shared, to build up friendship and love, and to step forward from blame and repeated recrimination -- this is not the media. It is the precious heart of Saint Mary. Perhaps it can only go forward through sisterly and brotherly trust and communication. How can we build such bridges of love and forgiveness? Perhaps it has to be one word at a time, one gift at a time. God bless OSB.
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