Old, Spunky and Spiritual

I started reading the article because it was about Sister Helen Prejean, the nun who wrote the book, Dead Man Walking, which was turned into a movie.  I met and spent a little time with this marvelous woman once when she was in my city doing some speaking.  Of course, she is famous for her long-time work trying to get rid of the death penalty.  I happen to agree with her.  But whatever one’s position is on this issue, the story of this woman---this nun---is remarkable.  She is old, spunky and spiritual.  I hope some day the same can be said for me!

The interviewer and author of the article, Moni Basu, opens the story about the 75 year-old nun by talking about the harrowing ride she had on the way to the Louisiana State Prison.  “She could rival NASCAR’s Danica Patrick on the gas pedal,” she writes.  She enters the maximum-security prison, the nation’s largest with 6,000 inmates.  She is there to visit a man on death row, Manuel Ortiz.  She has been visiting him for thirteen years.  It would be easy to question why she does this.  Is it not a waste of her time, etc.?

Basu gives us Sr. Helen’s rationale.  “She ministers to the worst of humanity because she believes in the restoration of life and that every human being deserves to be treated with dignity.”  I find that logic powerful, probably because it resonates with my own theology.  Her position is one of hope.  Often there is little basis for hope with this kind of population.  Everyone in that prison has done something heinous, unless of course, they were innocent and wrongly convicted.  But I don’t want to go there.

Sr. Helen’s spirituality is one of hope.  I think she has this hope, not so much because she is convinced all folks will turn around their lives.  Her hope is theologically grounded.  She hopes because she believes in God.  I am sure this is why she perseveres.  She believes in the restoration of life.  And she walks the talk.

She also believes that every human being deserves to be treated with dignity.  Again I find this compelling.  Of course, that is easy to agree with in principle.  However, in fact and in practice, it is not so easy.  I know it is difficult for myself.  It is hard to think about treating with dignity someone who has done dastardly things.  But I do believe this is what spiritual people are called to do.  Treating someone with dignity is not the same thing as ignoring what he or she did nor “letting them off the hook.”  This is not what she would be saying.

In her case, being spiritual is not some mental thing.  When she visited Ortiz, “The first thing Prejean does is order food for Ortiz from prison concessions; otherwise he will have to eat the normal slop that is served in the cells and never contains anything fresh.”  It reminds me of what I so often heard: first feed the stomach and then the soul.  She has spent a lifetime pursuing social justice.  And so often, social justice starts with real, practical things, like food, housing, and basic human things that can lead to more spiritual kinds of things.  She knows that people can’t get to the Kingdom without leaving hell.

It would be easy to rationalize our own way of going about spirituality by saying she is a nun and should be doing these kinds of things.  We are “normal people” who do things differently.  Actually, I do not think there is much difference between nuns and normal people when both are trying to be spiritual.  We are both called to make commitments to God and to neighbor.  Sr. Helen also takes some vows that I have not taken.  But the vows don’t qualify her to do things I cannot do.  Our core commitment should be to become activists for God’s dawning Kingdom. 

This leads me to the last point from Sr. Helen Prejean.  The author of the article describes it this way.  "People have such a wrong idea of activists. They think of these people as scolding, guilt-making personalities when it has been my experience that they are the most celebratory -- dancing, singing, partaking of food and wine in the biggest way possible. Craving for social justice is another craving they have and that doesn't mean they are closed off to other avenues."  If this is the nun’s way of being old, spunky and spiritual, I am ready to sign on to the same way of life.

It takes some courage to make this kind of commitment.  I am still working on my courage.  That is why someone like Prejean is such a wonderful model and encourager.  I did not spend enough time with her to count her as a friend.  But I would like to claim her as a friend in spirit.  I would like to claim her as a kind of big sister.  She has been there, done that.  And she will continue, I am sure, until she can no longer go forward.  I am not trying to catch up; I am trying to catch on!

Old, spunky and spiritual: the only one of the three that is a guarantee is getting older.  I don’t worry about that.  I am trying to nurture the other two elements.  I like the idea of becoming more spunky.  It is rather cool to have a nun as my role model!  And I want to become more spiritual.  I like what she has done.  Now I can find my own way.