Sustaining the Relationship
Author: Br. Robert Wotypka
Psalm 88 is the responsorial used at Mass today, and it's unique for being the only psalm that ends with a lament. While many psalms are lamentations, in every other case the psalmist always returns to hope and trust in God. This psalm breaks from the form and concludes, "My only friend is darkness" (Ps 88: 10). How did our ancestor who composed this psalm arrive here? How do we avoid such despair? We ought to be mindful of the penultimate line, too, which says "Because of you friend and neighbor shun me,” which reflects a Franciscan understanding that suffering and sin are fundamentally relational.
Sustaining the relationship – this is the Franciscan and the Christian challenge. The challenge is lived on a micro level, among family, friends, colleagues, and at the macro level, among neighbors, nations, and non-state agents. This week the Saint Joseph province is again engaged in sustaining relationships at the corporate level through its work in the CRI (Corporate Responsible Investing) movement.
The SJP is a founding member of the Seventh Generation Interfaith Coalition for Responsible Investing (https://seventhgenerationinterfaith.org/) and through SGI participates in the work of the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (https://www.iccr.org/). The CRI movement dates its origins to 1971, when a faith leader introduced a resolution at the annual shareholders’ meeting of a major industrial corporation calling it to divest its holdings in South Africa (https://www.iccr.org/about-iccr/history-iccr), then in the grip of the apartheid system. Decades later apartheid was brought down – and shareholder activism in the pursuit of justice was a key component of its demise.
The CRI movement aims to sustain the relationship between shareholders, corporate leaders, and the broader community. It recognizes and leverages the power that comes from the relationship, and seeks to forestall disengagement choices like boycotts and divestment. This week the JPIC office of the St. Joseph Province will be posting about the work of SGI and ICCR at the twice-yearly ICCR general members meeting. Please return here every day to follow our efforts.
