A couple of days ago I received a late night (for me) phone call from one of my brothers who wanted to talk about a cover story GQ magazine wrote on Stephen Colbert.
I'm a big fan of Colbert's (from the Colbert Report), so I listened to my brother and then read the piece.
Buried within the main topic of Colbert taking over The Late Show were a few gems I'd like to share.
During his interview Colbert talked about returning to his hometown of Charleston, SC shortly after the massacre there to participate in a peace march across the Arthur Ravenell Jr. Bridge.
"Tragedy is sacred," said Colbert. "People's suffering is sacred."
What an amazingly compassionate and deeply spiritual thing to say!
Perhaps Colbert's take on what happened in Charleston was fueled by his own upbringing. He was raised a Catholic, the youngest of several siblings. He lost the two brothers who were closest in age to him along with his father when they died in an accident when Colbert was 10.
He said it was his Mom's faith that helped him through the process of coming to terms with the family tragedy.
He also talked about being grateful.
"And so that act, that impulse to be grateful, wants an object. That object I call God... That's my context for my existence. That I am here to know God, love God, serve God, that we might be happy with each other in this world and with Him in the next - the catechism. That makes a lot of sense to me."
The GQ piece also offered another gem. For years Colbert had a quote from Pierre Telihard de Chardin taped to his pc. It read: "Joy is the most infallible sign of the existence of God."
It turns out that Telihard de Chadin was a Jesuit priest, a philosopher and paleontologist who helped discover Peking Man. Here's another quote from Telihard de Chardin:
"Someday, after mastering the winds, the waves, the tides and gravity, we shall harness for God the energies of love, and then, for a second time in the history of the world, man will have discovered fire."
During this time of so much contention in the world regarding the Syrian refugee situation and a myriad of other events, I would offer that Telihard de Chardin and Colbert, are right.
There are strong links among joy, being grateful and faith.
Photo Credit: www.en.wikipedia.com
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