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March 5, 2019 | The Valley Catholic
COMMENTARY
An Honorable Defeat
By Rev. Ron Rolheiser, OMI
Theologian, teacher, award-winning
author, and President of the Oblate
School of Theology in San Antonio, TX
In 1970, the famed British writer, Iris Murdoch,
wrote a novel entitled, A Fairly Honorable Defeat. The
story had numerous characters, both good and bad,
but ultimately took its title from the travails of one
character, Tallis Browne, who represents all that
is decent, altruistic, and moral among the various
characters. Despite being betrayed by most everyone,
he stays the course in terms himself never betraying
trust. But the story does not end well for him.
On the basis of his seeming defeat, Murdoch
poses the question: Where’s justice? Where’s fair-
ness? Shouldn’t goodness triumph? Murdoch, an
agnostic, suggests that in reality a good life doesn’t
always make for the triumph of goodness. However,
if goodness sustains itself and does not betray itself,
its defeat will be honorable.
So, for her, what you want to avoid is a dishonorable
defeat, meaning: Defeat you will face, your goodness
notwithstanding. Sometimes you cannot save the
world or even the situation. But you can save your
own integrity and bring that moral component to
the world and to the situation and by doing that you
preserve your own dignity. You went down in defeat,
but in honor. Goodness then will not have suffered a
dishonorable defeat.
That’s a beautiful stoicism and if you aren’t a be-
liever it’s about as wise a counsel as there is: Be true to
yourself! Don’t betray who and what you are, even if
you find yourself as unanimity-minus-one. However,
Christianity, while respecting this kind of stoicism,
places the question of victory and defeat into a very
different perspective.
Inside our Christian faith, defeat and victory are
radically redefined. We speak, for instance, of the vic-
tory of the cross, of the day Jesus died as “Good” Friday,
of the transforming power of humiliation, and of how we
gain our lives by losing them. Earthly defeat, for us, can
still be victory, just as earthily victory can be a sad de-
feat. Indeed, in a Christian perspective, without even
considering the next life, sometimes our defeats and
humiliations are what allows depth and richer life to
flow into us and sometimes our victories rob us of the
very things that bring us community, intimacy, and
happiness. The paschal mystery radically redefines
both defeat and victory.
But this understanding doesn’t come easily. It’s
the antithesis of cultural wisdom. Indeed, it didn’t
even come easy for Jesus’ contemporaries. After Jesus
died in the most humiliating way a person could die
at that time, by being crucified, the first generation
of Christians had a massive struggle with both the
fact that he died and particularly with the manner in
which he died. First, for them, if Jesus was the long-
awaited Messiah, he wasn’t supposed to die at all.
God is above death and certainly beyond being killed
by humans. Moreover, as a creedal doctrine, they
believed that death was the result of sin and, thus, if
someone did not sin, he or she was not supposed to
die. But Jesus had died. Finally, most faith-perplexing
of all, was the humiliating manner of his death. Cruci-
fixion was designed by the Romans not just as capital
punishment but as a manner of death that totally and
publically humiliated the person’s body. Jesus died a
most humiliating death. No one called Good Friday
“good” during the first days and years following his
death. However, given his resurrection, they intuited
without explicitly understanding it, that Jesus’ defeat
in the crucifixion was the ultimate triumph and that
the categories that make for victory and defeat were
now forever different.
Initially, they lacked the words to express this. For
several years after the resurrection, Christians were
reluctant to mention the manner of Jesus’ death. It was
a defeat in the eyes of the world and they were at loss
to explain it. So they remained mostly silent about
it. St. Paul’s conversion and his subsequent insights
changed this. As someone who was raised in the
Jewish faith, Paul also struggled with explaining how
a humiliating defeat in this world could be in fact a
victory. However, after his conversion to Christianity
he eventually understood how goodness could take
on sin and even “become sin itself” for our sake. That
radically flipped our conceptions of defeat and vic-
tory. The cross was now seen as the ultimate victory
and, instead of the humiliation of the cross being a
source of shame, it now became the crown jewel: “I
preach nothing but the cross of Christ.” That gave us
the passion narratives.
We live in a world that, mostly, still defines defeat
and victory in terms of who gets to be on top in terms
of success, adulation, fame, influence, reputation,
money, comfort, pleasure, and security in this life.
There will be plenty of defeats in our lives and if lack
a Christian perspective then the best we can then do
is to take Iris Murdoch’s advice to heart: Realistically,
goodness will not triumph, so try to avoid a dishonorable
defeat.
Our Christian faith, while honoring that truth,
challenges us to something more.
Letter to the Editor
I awoke this morning to yet another Catholic Church sex scandal. First pedo-
philia, then the rape of nuns, and today the Vatican’s internal documents on how
to handle priests who father children. I have struggled for years to remain in the
faith of my baptism but am finding it harder by the day to do so and remain faithful
to my truth. It’s past time for the hierarchy to make massive changes regardless of
the pain or discomfort it causes them. That pain pales in comparison to the pain
they have inflicted upon countless victims. The day of the “boy’s club” is over
and the Church must recognize the female species as their equal. It’s time to not
only bring them into the conversation but into positions of power and decision
making. To the Harvey Weinstein’s of the entertainment industry, the corporate
boardroom, factory floor, schools, Boy Scouts, and, yes, the Catholic Church I say
“the jig is up.” Ask yourself, “What would Jesus do?”
Becky Bell
Letters to the editor should be 200 words or less and may be submitted via email to
[email protected]. Deadline for the April 2, edition of The Valley Catholic is
Friday, March 15. Letters may be edited and are published at the discretion of the editor.