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,...

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…