Joseph Cardinal Bernardin

Joseph Cardinal Bernardin The Gift of Peace by Joseph Cardinal Bernardin In his brief but illuminating text, The Gift of Peace, Joseph Cardinal Bernardin did not only outline the received theological truths regarding forgiveness, reconciliation and suffering to the Roman Catholic Church to which he belonged. He discussed his own personal experiences regarding these issues as well, specifically as to how they pertained to the then-recent events that gripped his own reputation as a Cardinal and the Chicago Catholic community to which he ministered.

Bernardin was accused of sexual misconduct by one of his parishioners, a young man dying of AIDS. Bernardin admits this caused him great personal difficulty, although he was eventually cleared of the accusations. He stated how one must always strive to admit God with "hospitality" into one's soul even though this may be a "struggle." (15) Bernardin also explains how he was able to forgive the accusing individual and also how he was able to see his own medical struggles illuminated in his accuser's condition.

Shortly after completing this book, pancreatic cancer took the Cardinal's life. Suffering, he said, helped lead him to forgive the man who falsely accused him of sexual abuse and to endure the pain of cancer. Even though the man's accusations were ultimately revealed to be groundless, Bernardin's own reputation was questioned and almost destroyed. Yet the experience of this kind of suffering, and the physical suffering of cancer, also enabled the Cardinal to live a fuller spiritual life, because it was instructive in nature.

Ultimately, Bernardin decided not to pursue all of the life-extending measures offered to him to treat his pancreatic cancer, because he wished to live as full and as useful a life as a spiritual advisor in the time he had left. He reminds himself that Jesus took the form of a "slave," stressing the importance of the spiritual, rather than the physical self of the divine. (16) Forgiveness formed the core of the Cardinal's ministering efforts. Bernardin was highly influential in his work in the Middle Eastern peace movement.

He went to Israel several times, to try to engage in negotiations and reconciliation attempts between the Jewish Israeli and ethnic Palestinians in the region. These efforts eventually won the Cardinal national recognition and thanks. They also helped him reach a greater spiritual understanding of his own legal plight, and helped him as a Christian forgive the accuser who eventually died, as he had seen the results of a lack of forgiveness in the lived, political reality of the Holy Land.

One of Bernardin's great strengths as a writer is his willingness to admit to his own spiritual foibles and struggles. He does not present himself as content and serene at all times in his relationship with God. Even after all of his years in God's service, he states that it is "unsettling to pray to be emptied of the self." (17) Bernardin is honest about the initial self-preoccupation and questioning that accompany the experience of a serious, ultimately terminal illness.

After moving past the initial crisis and denial that marks the life of so many cancer sufferers, he decided it was important to be realistic about his illness, and that the most important thing for him to do was not simply to survive in physical fashion but to try to finish and bring to fruition his.