Thinking Anew:January takes its name from the Roman god Janus, who was said to be the keeper of doors and gates. He symbolised change and transition at key moments in the lives of individuals and the nation.
He was usually represented by a two-faced head, each face looking away from the other, which fits one's feelings as an old year passes and a new one begins, linking past memories and future hopes. Janus also represented the middle ground between barbarity and civilisation, standing for the tension between the two - and reminding people how decency and depravity compete for the same ground. Moral progress could not be taken for granted.
This was evident in the public humiliation and brutal execution of Saddam Hussein at the year's end. We can understand in some measure what was done and why, for he had been a cruel man with many victims crying out for vengeance. But many people were troubled by the event and turned away from the distressing images; perhaps there were some among them who would approve of capital punishment so long as it was done out of sight. But we cannot evade moral responsibility simply by closing our eyes or our minds in that way. Silence and indifference are no defence.
Some years ago an elderly priest was invited to preach in a Dublin church. Noticing that a particular hymn was listed for the service, he asked that it be changed; any hymn but that one would do. Afterwards he explained how 50 years previously, as a prison chaplain in England, he had ministered to a young man at his execution.
On the day before his death the condemned man had attended chapel service and had asked that the hymn in question, his favourite, be sung. The old priest had never used it since because the memory of that young man and what had been done to him haunted him.
Here was a man, strong in faith, but terribly damaged by what he had seen, convinced there had to be a better way. Iraq today, once a cradle of civilisation, reminds us again how far we have to travel to find that better way.
We are told that while Janus was being worshipped in Rome,wise men were travelling to Bethlehem - an event recalled today, on the feast of the Epiphany. The Gospel reading tells us they came from the east to honour the Christ child. Some will engage in discussions as to who the wise men really were or if the event took place at all, but its importance for us is that it is a declaration of the significance of Jesus Christ for all people and all nations.
Most of us relate to the Gospel in personal terms: what it means for us. But understood in its fullness, it is about a new world order. As we go deeper into the life and teaching of Jesus Christ we are pointed towards and invited to participate in the transformation of human society.
We find it difficult to embrace this vision because the Jesus of the Gospels doesn't have the same ideas as us, the same mentality, the same attitude, the same methods or the same priorities.
He tells us to deny ourselves; we prefer to be successful. He tells us to be the least of all; and we seek status. He tells us to be like little children; we demand power. He tells us to forgive; we demand revenge. He tells us to love one another unconditionally; we set boundaries. If the wise men of old teach us anything it is this: that we can only follow and enjoy the promise of Jesus by taking a new and radical path into the future of our own lives. The transformation of the world begins within each one of us.
Janus, the discarded Roman god of old times, was said to be the god of new beginnings; but it is the Jesus of the Gospels who today offers a real new beginning, a fresh start and hope as we enter a New Year.
"Human nature will find itself only when it fully realises that to be human it has to cease to be beastly or brutal.". - Gandhi.
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