Chaos and order: they seem separated at times by only the slightest barrier. Walking in a big American city one is impressed by remarkable order and regularity: from block to block the red and green traffic lights function to control cars and surging crowds pretty well despite the occasional outlaw. A breath away is chaos: a power failure and the traffic lights give way to confusion or something scares all these people and there is panic.

The men wrapped in cardboard and gunny sacks sleeping in doorways at night suggest all is not well. Homeless people sleep in doorways steps away from opulent hotels. Order, health and sanity, prosperity are all limited, fragile. We are torn between thankfulness for the order and health there is and the chaos and suffering that are equally evident. Perhaps we can be more aware of the things that are right, take them less for granted, while being alert to opportunities to right what is wrong, to cooperate with efforts to heal and mend the broken and hurting elements in our world.

— Don Talafous OSB
dtalafous@csbsju.edu

Saint John’s Abbey
Saint John’s University