"Little Gidding," the fourth of T.S. Eliot's Four Quartets, has as its fourth movement Eliot's famous Pentecostal invocation:
The dove descending breaks the air/ With flame of incandescent terror.
This verse sprang to mind when I read Jerry Ryan's riveting reflection in the current Commonweal: "Broken: The Life and Death of Ren Page."Page was the successor of the legendary Ren Voillaume as prior of the Little Brothers of Jesus. He emerges from Ryan's account as a man of singular gifts, holiness, and terrible affliction. The article is, I believe, remarkable for its compassion and depth. Here is a passage I found particularly moving and evocative:
Modern medicine might explain Rens deterioration as the result of damaged or diminished neurons; a psychologist might explain it as a manifestation of repressed instincts; a psychopathologist might understand the hostility observed in some mentally ill patients as the regression to a childhood state where one acts out uncontrollable emotional impulses. At one level, all these insights are valuable. But I believe such experiences can include other dimensions. The dynamics of grace and of evil can give ordinary experience another significance. While we cannot pretend to fully understand the dynamics, at times we sense there may be a deeper meaning than what science can tell us or we can initially grasp. The destruction of someones unique personality, for example, strikes me as a manifestation of the mystery of evil. Sometimes the effects of evil or of grace in a persons life have nothing to do with the particular goodness or badness of the individual involved. And beyond that, even recognizing the reality of the powers of darkness does not mean we can clearly name or define them.The Gospels attribute certain infirmities to the devils. We must not take this lightly, for we confront a mystery here: evil in all its crudity and depth. In his final state, Ren Page seemed to be at the mercy of the Evil One, who mocked and destroyed him. In some sense, this is apparently where the Holy Spirit was leading him. I dont want to propose or accept an easy answer to this; a real scandal is involved here. Jesus likewise was led into the desert by the Spirit. After his baptism and forty-day fast, he was tempted by the Devil who, according to Luke, had a physical power over him, transporting him to a high mountain and even the pinnacle of the Temple, mocking him for his pretensions to be the Son of God, and then leaving him, only to return at a more opportune time. On the evening of his betrayal, Jesus foresaw that Peter would be at the mercy of the Evil One and prayed that Peters faith would hold up. After the Resurrection, Jesus told Peter that in old age he would be led where he did not wish to go. In this, Peter would be following his master, the Wisdom and Word of God, the Giver of Life, who on the Cross was also taunted and physically destroyed. Through Jesus, God himself would become vulnerable.
Be sure to read the rest here.
