Suchergebnisse

This past week,
Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak released the government's 2021 budget.
Included in the package was an announcement of a £1 billion Towns Fund and notification
of the 45 communities in
England to receive support for infrastructure improvements. This is part of
the Government's Levelling Up promise made in the 2019 Conservative Party
manifesto, which would shift money to the left behind, post-industrial
communities of Britain that have suffered job and population losses over the
past four decades.

Soon after the
announcement, the Chancellor came under withering assault from the Labour
Party, which accused the government of allocating money generously to areas
represented by Tory MPs at the expense of communities more deserving of
assistance. Labour MP Steve Reed charged "the government of using taxpayers'
money to 'shore up' Tory votes with 'cosmetic' projects in hand-picked
constituencies" in The
Guardian. Labour Leader Keir Starmer said it "looks fishy". The Guardian's own
analysis showed that 39
out of 45 areas receiving funds have Tory MPs.

Did Boris Johnson's government
dole out cash to communities for political purposes rather than sending aid to
communities with the most need? It has long been suggested that distributive
politics—derisively called pork barrel spending—is largely absent from the
British political system. The Guardian
and Labour's claims, however, suggests otherwise.

The problem with these
allegations is that alternative hypotheses are not examined. What if, for
example, the communities in the most need just happen to be represented by Tory
MPs? To unpack what's going on requires a multivariate analysis controlling for
both political and social need variables in the dispensation of aid from the
Towns Fund.

To test the claim that
politics—rather than community need—drove the decisions to give certain communities
Levelling Up funds, I collected data on all 533 English constituencies. First,
I simply noted which constituencies were represented by Tory MPs (indicated by
a 1, 0 otherwise). Next, I downloaded information pertaining to community need.
The
English government produces several measures on the deprivation of
communities, including data on health, education, and employment. Parliamentary
constituencies are then ranked from the most deprived ("1") to the least
deprived ("533") based upon an aggregation of these several measures of
deprivation. Finally, I pulled together information on the marginality
of each constituency in the 2019 general election, which is simply the
percentage point difference between the first and second place finisher.
Smaller values indicate more electorally competitive constituencies.

The dependent variable
for the analysis is whether the constituency received funds from the Towns Fund
in the budget announced last week—1 if yes, 0 otherwise. I then ran a logistic
regression with the aforementioned independent variables: Tory MP, Deprivation
Rank, and Marginality. The results appear below.Labour's claims have
merit: constituencies with Tory MPs are significantly more likely to have
received funds from the Towns fund as compared to constituencies represented by
the opposition parties. And, the more marginal the constituency, the greater
the chance of getting money from the fund as denoted by the negative sign on
the marginality variable and its significance (p <.049).

However, there is also
evidence that deprivation matters—so the decision to dispense cash is not only about
propping up Conservative party electoral fortunes. The deprivation variable is
negative and significant, meaning that better off communities are less likely
to receive Levelling Up funds. Money is flowing to communities in need, but
poorer communities have an even better shot if they elected a Tory MP in 2019
and did so in a tight election. For those of you interested in how well this
simple model operated, 92 percent of cases were correctly predicted.

Now that we know that
politics and need matter, how much do they affect the process and which factors
are most important? Looking at the marginal effects of the variables, it would
seem that marginality and having a Tory MP dwarf deprivation in the decision to
give communities infrastructure assistance. Having a Tory MP alone increases a
constituency's chance of getting money from the Towns Fund by twelve percentage
points while shifting from a completely uncompetitive seat to one that was
essentially even electorally accounts for an increase of 14 percentage points
in the chances of getting money from the Fund. Similarly, moving from the least
deprived constituency to the most deprived constituency increases a
constituency's chances by 21 percentage points. In other words, having a Tory
MP has the single largest effect on whether a community received a Towns Fund
grant.

To illustrate how these
factors work in tandem on the probability of a constituency receiving financial
assistance from the Towns Fund, I've created a few scenarios.

Let's assume, first, a
constituency where the winning party won by only 5 percentage points that is
ranked 100th in deprivation. This constituency is represented by a
Labour MP. The probability that constituency receives a grant is only 7 percent,
which I calculated using Stata's margins command based upon the logit results
reported above.

If we simply drop a
Conservative MP into that constituency, the probability of getting a grant
increases to 33 percent (with the point estimates outside the confidence
intervals).

If we take the same
scenario above but make the constituency more deprived—moving from 100th
in deprivation to 50th—there is scant change in the probabilities:
10 percent if a Labour MP represents the constituency, and 40 percent if a
Conservative MP does (again, the confidence intervals do not overlap).

Finally, marginality has
important effects as well. Again, looking at a Labour represented constituency
that's 100th in deprivation where the MP won by 15 percentage
points, the probability of receiving a grant is only 6 percent. With a Tory MP,
that increases to 28 percent.  Compare
that to the first set of probabilities. The probability of receiving a grant
hardly moves at all for the Labour represented constituency. It declines for
the Conservative represented constituency by 5 percentage points, however.

Taking all of this
together and the patterns are clear: The Department of Treasury seems to have made
its grant allocation decisions based primarily on political factors and not on the
clear social needs of communities. Tory MPs in marginal constituencies were far
more likely to benefit from the Towns Fund scheme than Labour MPs representing
areas with higher levels of deprivation.

Гамова О.В., Донець О.С. Концептуальні основи проведення аудиту розрахунків за виплатами працівникам на підприємстві. У статті проаналізовано роль оплати праці, що формується в умовах ринкового розвитку України. Визначено законодавчі, нормативні й первинні документи організації аудиту оплати праці. Розроблено аналіз досліджень і публікацій стосовно аудиту та розробкам його програм з оплати праці, що висвітлюють вітчизняні та зарубіжні вчені. Наведено визначення поняття аудиту розрахунків з оплати праці на підприємстві. Проведено літературний огляд питання аудиту розрахунків з оплати праці. Викладений ряд методологічних прийомів для проведення аудиту розрахунків з оплати праці. Розглянуто питання перевірки незалежними аудиторами розрахунків з оплати праці, методичні прийоми перевірки та її послідовність. Пояснено суть особливо чіткої перевірки утриманих із заробітної плати сум єдиного соціального внеску та податку з доходів фізичних осіб, наведено велике значення надання на підприємстві лікарняних та функціонування режиму забезпечення відпусток. Наведено суть та наслідки типових порушень в частині здійснення операцій з оплати праці та їх наслідки. Показано, що пошук правопорушень і подальше усунення недоліків в роботі бухгалтерів може запобігти появи більш складних проблем в обліку, які можуть призвести до штрафних санкцій, а іноді і до адміністративної чи кримінальної відповідальності. Впроваджено пропозиції аудитора, що вдосконалять як матеріальне стимулювання, так і трудові відносини в колективі. Визначено значення проведення на підприємстві аудиту розрахунків з оплати праці, та ефективність його для ведення господарської діяльності підприємства та подальшого його функціонування.Гамова О.В., Донец А.С. Концептуальные основы проведения аудита расчетов по выплатам работникам на предприятии. В статье проанализирована роль оплаты труда, которая формируется в условиях рыночного развития Украины. Определены законодательные, нормативные и первичные документы организации аудита оплаты труда. Разработан анализ исследований и публикаций по аудиту и разработкам его программ по оплате труда сегодня, что сегодня освещают ряд отечественных и зарубежных ученых. Приведены определения понятия аудита расчетов по оплате труда на предприятии. Проведен литературный обзор вопросы аудита расчетов по оплате труда. Изложен ряд методологических приемов для проведения аудита расчетов по оплате труда. Рассмотрены вопросы проверки независимыми аудиторами расчетов по оплате труда, методические приемы проверки и ее последовательность. Объяснено суть особенно четкой проверки удержанных из заработной платы сумм единого социального взноса и налога с доходов физических лиц, приведено большое значение предоставления на предприятии больничных и функционирования режима обеспечения отпусков. Приведены суть и последствия типичных нарушений в части осуществления операций по оплате труда и их последствия. Показано, что поиск правонарушений и последующее устранение недостатков в работе бухгалтеров может предотвратить появления более сложных проблем в учете, которые могут привести к штрафным санкциям, а иногда и к административной или уголовной ответственности. Внедрены предложения аудитора, что усовершенствуют как материальное стимулирование, так и трудовые отношения в коллективе. Определено значение проведения на предприятии аудита расчетов по оплате труда, и эффективность его для ведения хозяйственной деятельности предприятия и его дальнейшего функционирования.Gamova O., Donets A. Conceptual basis of the calculations on employee remuneration at an enterprise. The article analyses the role function of the labour remuneration formed in the condition of the labour market development ofUkraine. The legislative, regulatory and primary documents of the organization of remuneration audit are defined. The analysis of the studies and publications on audit and development of its programs in the labour remuneration nowadays published by Russian, Ukrainian scientists are worked out. The definitions of the audit of the labour remuneration calculations are given. The literature review on the guestion of the audit of the labour remuneration calculations was carried out. The article states a number of methodological techniques of the implementation of the labour remuneration audit calculations. It was considered the issues of verification independent auditors of calculations on payment of work, methods of verification and its sequence. Explained the essence especially clear check withheld from the wages of the amounts of a single social contribution and income tax from incomes of physical persons, are of great importance providing for the establishment of hospital and functioning of the regime for ensuring holidays. It has been given the nature and implications of typical violations in the part of implementation of operations on wages and their consequences. It is shown that the finding of violations and subsequent elimination of the shortcomings in the work of the accountants may prevent the appearance of the more difficult problems in the account, which may lead to fines, and sometimes and to administrative or the criminal liability. It was implemented the proposals of the auditor, which will improve as incentives, and labor relations within the company. It was determined by the value of the enterprise audit settlements in the remuneration of labour, and its efficiency for conducting economic activity of the enterprise and its further functioning.

The Australian Building and Construction Commission (ABCC) was established by the former Howard government to regulate the building and construction sector. The establishment of the regulatory body followed damning reports by a Royal commission which alleged that building and construction workplaces were characterized by a widespread disregard for the law. An Interim Building Industry Taskforce was established subsequent to the release of the findings. The Royal commission's recommendations were then put before the federal parliament which led to the passage of the Building and Construction Industry Improvement Act 2005 (BCII Act 2005). The office of the Australian Building and Construction Commission first began operations in October 2005. The Howard government had hoped the BCII Act (2005) would vastly improve the workplace relations framework for building and construction operations and ensure that all building work was carried out in a fair, efficient and productive manner. The Howard government had long been an advocate of industrial reform in the building and construction sector. It believed that the crucial economic role played by the building and construction industry in Australia was being undermined and had been hindered by a perceived trade union dominance of the workplace. The government also alleged that inefficient workplace production was occurring as a result of direct interference by unions in the workplace. Therefore, it was hoped that the establishment of the ABCC would promote respect for the law and lift the economic capacity of the industry. The ABCC is legislated with coercive information-gathering powers. These powers enable the agency to request information from industry participants that is believed to be of relevance to an investigation. The ABCC may also request building industry participants to attend secret meetings in which they are required to swear an oath or make an affirmation. The triggers for the use of coercive powers in most cases are based on a ' reasonable belief that an offence may have been committed. The government's agency has been criticized for the number of prosecutions it has made against trade unions. Led by the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) Labour organizations accused the former Howard government's building and construction regulator of being a political mouthpiece for the Coalition and of having an ideological 'union busting' agenda, rather than adhering to the role of a genuine industrial regulator. Where as, prominent industry groups such as the Masters Builders Australia (MBA) and the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI) have come out strongly in support of the ABCC citing a steady on-going decline in industrial disputation in the building and construction industry since the ABCC began operations as evidence that the ABCC is functioning effectively in its regulatory role. The role of the ABCC as an active industrial regulator has always been controvers ial within the building and construction industry. However, the ABCC gained national attention following the agencies decision to take legal action against 107 individual workers employed on the Perth- Mandurah Rail project in Western Australia whom allegedly took part in illegal industrial activity. Despite the high profile of this individual case and others similar, the ABCC has managed to remain in relative national anonymity. Regardless of public perceptions, the ABCC's extensive coercive information-gathering powers and the trigger's for their usage has been a controversial subject amongst participants in the industry and this remains true today. Critics of the ABCC suggest that the BCII Act (2005) has not achieved its desired purpose of restoring a respect for the law within the industry as the Royal commission intended. They argue that the ABCC has instead provoked hostility between employee's and employers and their representative bodies which had a detrimental impact on the long-term growth of the industry. The election of a new federal Labor government in November 2007 has provided a real opportunity for the new government to develop a fairer and more balanced regulatory role for the ABCC. The new Rudd government has pledged to retain the ABCC until January 2010 when the governments new industrial relations body 'Fair Work Australia' will take control of regulating the building and construction industry. In order for the transition between the current regulator and the future body to be successful, reforms will need to take place in the operating structure of the ABCC to ensure the industrial regulator is representative of the new government's commitment to achieving a fair and balanced workplace. Division between employers and employees must be resolved as such barriers prevent the industry from performing at its maximum capacity which is pivotal to the success of the Australian economy. This report will examine the active role that has been played by the ABCC, and provide a critique of government intervention into the building and construction industry. To improve industrial relations for building and construction work a fresh approach is needed to ensure a productive, efficient and more balanced industrial workplace. A fair and balanced ombudsman for the building and construction industry is of vital importance to both the future of the national economy and the social fabric of our society.

According to the Norwegian Health and Care Services Act, municipalities shall provide respite for individuals and families who have a particularly heavy burden of care, whether they are voluntary caregivers or parents obliged to care for underage children. The purpose is to prevent negative consequences to the caregiver's health, stress and fatigue, and give the caregivers necessary and scheduled time- off with an opportunity to participate in ordinary activities. In 'Future Care', Report to the Storting (White Paper, No.29, 2012–2013), the Government presents a program for an active, future-oriented informal care policy that will create a framework that makes it easier to combine paid work with caring for children, adolescents, adults and elderly (with serious illness, disabilities or mental health and social problems). Developing better and more flexible respite services is therefore important. This report addresses questions relating to the organization of respite services in Norway, which services the municipalities provide, user characteristics, and variations in type and scope of services the municipalities offer. Other aspects are what criteria caseworkers use when they allocate respite services, what alternatives and flexible solutions the municipalities actually offer, and what challenges they face in this context. The empirical material in this report is quantitative and qualitative. The statistics stem from the IPLOS-register – individual-based nursing and care data, compiled from all municipalities by the Norwegian Directorate of Health. The qualitative data is from interviews we had with managers who are responsible for allocating and coordinating health and care services in 20 Norwegian municipalities. The quantitative data distinguishes mainly between recipients of respite services within and outside institutions. This study is commissioned by the Norwegian Directorate of Health, with the intent to acquire knowledge that can enhance and develop the respite services. Characteristics of the services An analysis of the data from the IPLOS-register (per 12.31.2012) shows that the majority of the recipients are younger than 67 years old. Respite services are mainly given to care-dependents who live with relatives who provide the care. The largest group of recipients are children and youth living at home. The qualitative study shows that respite for parents of children with disabilities and special needs is primarily offered individually in their own or private homes and/ or as respite in auxiliary housing. The statistical data shows that larger municipalities spend more resources on institutional respite than smaller municipalities. In small municipalities, the recipients on average receive more hours of respite outside institutions than those in larger municipalities. Most recipients of respite services, whether within or outside institutions, are male. Very few elderly and their relatives receive individual respite services outside of an institution - as much as three out of four recipients of individual and private respite are younger than 18. Respite services are rarely offered to adults who provide extensive care for their parents when they do not live in the same household. The qualitative study reveals that respite for relatives of elderly living at home usually consists of placement in a nursing-home (for days or weeks) according to a set schedule and/or day-care in an adult day-care center. Elderly receiving family care usually have extensive needs for care due to dementia, stroke or chronic illness. The municipalities also have home-based services and various other types of assistance (e.g. practical assistance, cash for care, personal assistants and companion-services) that are considered along with respite care for young and elderly care-dependents. Criteria used to grant respite services The legislation on eligibility to respite services permits the exercise of discretion when assessing applicant's needs. The caseworkers decide whether the law's criteria for "particularly heavy burden of care" is met. Our interviews show that if the caregiving is physically & mentally straining for the caregiver, that affects granting of respite services. Other aspects that are emphasized are the extent and duration of the care given, social isolation, and lack of vacation and spare time. The municipalities differ in their allocation practices. Some municipalities emphasize what the caregiver finds taxing and exhausting (subjective criteria). Others focus more on aspects such as the number of sleepless nights, type of tasks, age and diagnosis (objective criteria). A few municipalities have developed their own set of criteria and guidelines to establish more contingent and standardized practice. Needs, possibilities and challenges The impression from the interviews is that the scope of respite services varies between municipalities and that there is a shortage of places for respite in the smaller and medium sized municipalities. Several managers reported that budget cuts and the retrenchment of the municipalities' finances have had consequences for services that were planned, and lead to stricter practices for allocating respite. Small municipalities reported that they did not have enough capacity and a limited number of places for institutional respite and accommodated housing for youngsters with disabilities. In addition, the pressure on institutions offering respite has increased due to new groups of users. This study reveals that the municipalities, to a limited and variable extent, have started to use new and innovative ways to fulfil their obligations to provide respite. According to our informants, the following schemes allow for more flexibility: giving the caregiver freedom to use the hourly granted respite when needed, increasing availability to short-term institutional places in emergencies, extending the opening hours at adult day-care centers and flexible working hours for institutional staff. A few municipalities have developed alternatives that supplement the traditional respite services. Examples are individual respite for people with dementia, stays and activities on farms for younger and older recipients, activity based types of respite, and after-school respite. Public services' shift away from institutional care towards more home based services require that the municipalities develop new and flexible types of respite services. The qualitative study reveals that smallest municipalities often lack satisfactory day-care centers and that they use nursing homes as the most common form of respite for elderly with dementia, who still live at home. This is one of many challenges. The growing number of new and younger groups of users has also lead to an increasing demand for alternative ways to provide respite for children and youth with special needs (e.g. autism, Asperger and psychiatric diagnoses), according to the managers we have interviewed. The main impression is that there has been too much use of "standardized solutions" in the respite services, limited to using traditional institutions and individual respite. The challenge is to find appropriate options and develop new solutions in collaboration with the specialized health services. ; Rapporten setter søkelyset på det kommunale avlastningstilbudet, både omfang og kjennetegn ved tjenestene samt kommunenes strategier, erfaringer og praksis innenfor plikten å tilby avlastning. Rapporten er basert på kvantitative data og kvalitative intervjuer med kommunale ledere. Undersøkelsen avdekker at tilbudene varierer mellom kommuner. Avlastning utenfor institusjon er det vanligste tilbudet, ofte rettet mot barn og unge. Tjenestene går i hovedsak til mottakere som bor sammen med pårørende som yter omfattende omsorg. Tildelingen er i stor grad basert på skjønnsmessige vurderinger og inntrykket er at kommunene har en noe ulik tildelingspraksis. En hovedutfordring er knyttet til nye og yngre brukergrupper med sammensatte tjenestebehov som kommunene har vansker med å finne gode tilbud til. Kommunene har i varierende grad tatt i bruk fleksible måter å løse avlastningsoppgavene på. Det er behov for alternative ordninger tilpasset pårørende og omsorgsmottakerens behov.

Dottorato di Ricerca in Statistica Applicata alle Scienze Economiche e Sociali ; Inequality and poverty are two crucial aspects of the economy of a country, and need careful study to allow the government to design suitable policies, in order to fight these phenomena and increase the welfare of the citizens. One of the main issues for the policy planner is to be able to distinguish the transitory from the permanent changes in the welfare level. In fact, the aim of long-term policies, such as training courses, is to tackle and solve problems that have a permanent impact on the welfare of the households. On the other hand, short-term policies like unemployment benefits focus on the solution of transitory conditions, and make sense only if the poverty spell is temporary, in the presence of liquidity constraints, as pointed out in Browning and Crossley (1999a,b) and Gruber (1997). The importance of the distinction of the transitory and permanent components of inequality has been underlined in several recent studies on the United Kingdom and the United States of America. In particular, Blundell and Preston (1998) propose a model for the identification of the two aspects through the joint use of information on income and consumption. In this thesis we follow the same line of research, adapting the models used there to the peculiarities of Italian data, and present an analysis of inequality in its two components. We then apply similar arguments to the study of poverty, and derive new models for the identification of its transitory and permanent aspects. This approach is new to the Italian literature for two reasons. First of all, the pre¬vious studies on the distribution of income and consumption were mainly descriptive, while here we offer a formalised approach that develops - from the economic theory of consumer's behaviour - econometric models for estimation and testing. The other new aspect of this study is the identification and estimation of the transitory and per¬manent components of inequality and poverty, since all the previous literature focused on information on either income or consumption, but never made joint use of the two variables, therefore failing to identify the two components. The study is organised as follows. The first Chapter presents an overview of the inequality and poverty conditions in Italy as pictured in the studies currently available. It then introduces some more formalised approaches that we could use for our analyses, and motivates the choice we made. Several data issues arise due to the characteristics of the surveys available for our study. They are presented and discussed in the second Chapter, together with the first descriptive results. Further data issues are discussed in the Appendix. Chapter 3 introduces the economic theory of consumer's behaviour that will serve as a framework for the derivation of the econometric estimation and testing procedures. The following two Chapters present the specific models and the empirical results on inequality and poverty, respectively. The econometric model for the study of inequality follows the line of the studies on the UK and the US that we mentioned earlier, and makes joint use of income and consumption in order to separate the permanent and transitory components of inequality. The study of poverty, instead, has been inspired by the literature on measurement errors, and in particular by the paper Chesher and Schluter (1999) on measurement errors in the measurement of welfare. Measurement error techniques are applied to the income and consumption processes of our economic model, after observing that the corresponding innovations have the same properties as classical measurement errors. Chapter 6 summarises and discusses the methods presented and the empirical find¬ings, and identifies issues that would deserve further development. This study benefited from useful discussion with many people. I would like to thank in particular Ramses Abul-Naga, Massimo Baldini, Richard Blundell, Paolo Bosi, Claudio Ceccarelli, Bruno Cheli, Andrew Chesher, Giovanni D'Alessio, Ian Pre¬ston, Enrico Rettore, Jacques Silber, Ugo Trivellato and Guglielmo Weber; participants to conferences in Siena and Geneva, and seminars in Padova provided interesting com¬ments and suggestions. Thanks also go to ISTAT and Bank of Italy for availability of data. Financial support from MURST and from CNR & MURST within the projects 'Occupazione e disoccupazione in Italia: misura ed analisi dei comportamenti' and Tensions, Savings and Portfolio Choices' is gratefully acknowledged. This research was also sponsored by the ISTAT work-group exploring the feasibility of constructing an integrated data bank on household consumption and income from ISTAT and Bank of Italy survey information. However, the views expressed in this study, as well as the responsibility for any errors, are entirely mine. ; La disuguaglianza económica e la povertà sono due importanti aspetti dell'economia di un paese, e richiedono uno studio accurato per permettere al governo di programmare politiche adatte a combatiere questi fenomeni e aumentare il benessere dei cittadini. Una delle principali questioni per chi pianifica le politiche economiche e fiscali è la capacita di distinguere i cambiamenti transitori da quelli permanenti nel livello di benessere. Infatti, lo scopo delle politiche di lungo termine, come i corsi di formazione, è quello di affrontare e risolvere problemi che hanno un impatto permanente sul be¬nessere delle famiglie. D'altra parte le politiche di breve termine come i sussidi di disoccupazione mirano alia soluzione di condizioni transitorie, e hanno senso solo se l'episodio di povertà è temporáneo, in presenza di vincoli di liquidité, come messo in luce in Browning e Crossley (1999a,b) e in Gruber (1997). L'importanza della distinzione tra le componenti transitorie e permanenti della disuguaglianza è stata sottolineata in diversi studi recenti nel Regno Unito e negli Stati Uniti d'America. In particolare Blundell e Preston (1998) propongono un mo-dello per l'identificazione dei due aspetti mediante Tuso congiunto di informazioni sui redditi e sui consumi. In questa tesi seguiamo la stessa linea di ricerca, adattando i loro modelli alie caratteristiche particolari dei dati italiani, e presentiamo un'analisi della disuguaglianza nelle sue due componenti. Usiamo poi argomentazioni simili per studiare la povertà, e ricaviamo nuovi modelli per identificare i suoi aspetti transitori e permanenti. L'approccio da noi seguito è nuovo nella letteratura italiana, per due ragioni. In primo luogo i precedenti studi sulla distribuzione di redditi e consumi sonó essenzial-mente di natura descrittiva, mentre qui offriamo un approccio formalizzato che sviluppa - dalla teoria económica del comportamento del consumatore - modelli econometrici per la stima e la verifica d'ipotesi. II secondo aspetto nuovo di questo studio consiste nella identificazione e nella stima delle componenti transitorie e permanenti della di¬suguaglianza e della povertà, mentre tutti i lavori precedenti hanno posto l'attenzioneo solo sui redditi o solo sui consumí, senza mai fare uso congiunto delle due variabili, non riuscendo quindi ad identificare le due componenti. La tesi é organizzata come segué. II primo capitolo presenta una panorámica delle condizioni di disuguaglianza e povertá in Italia, cosi come sonó descritte negli studi precedenti. Esso poi introduce alcuni approcci piú formalizzati da usare nelle nostre analisi, motivando inoltre le scelte fatte. Diverse questioni riguardanti i dati sorgono per via delle caratteristiche delle indagini campionarie disponibili per il nostro studio; esse sonó preséntate e discusse nel secon-do capitolo, insieme ai primi risultati descrittivi. Ulteriori questioni sui dati vengono discusse nell'appendice. II Capitolo 3 espone la teoria económica del comportamento del consumatore, che servirá come base per ricavare le procedure econometriche di stima e test. due capitoli seguenti contengono i modelli specifici e i risultati empirici, rispet-tivamente su disuguaglianza e povertá. II modello econometrico per lo studio della disuguaglianza segué la linea degli studi nel Regno Unito e negli USA citati prima, e fa uso congiunto di redditi e consumi alio scopo di separare le componenti permanente e transitoria della disuguaglianza. Invece lo studio della povertá si ispira alia letteratura sugli errori di misura, ed in particolare all'articolo di Chesher e Schluter (1999) sugli errori di misura nella misurazione del benessere. Tecniche di errori di misura vengono applicate ai processi stocastici di redditi e consumi del nostro modello económico, dopo aver osservato che le innovazioni corrispondenti hanno le stesse proprietá degli errori di misura classici. Capitolo 6 riassume e discute i metodi presentati e i risultati empirici, e individua argomenti che potrebbero avere ulteriori sviluppi. Questo studio ha beneficiato di utili scambi di idee con diverse persone. In partico¬lare vorrei ringraziare Ramses Abul-Naga, Massimo Baldini, Richard Blundell, Paolo Bosi, Claudio Ceccarelli, Bruno Cheli, Andrew Chesher, Giovanni D'Alessio, Ian Pre¬sten, Enrico Rettore, Jacques Silber, Ugo Trivellato e Guglielmo Weber; i partecipanti a convegni a Siena e a Ginevra, e a seminari a Padova hanno offerto inetressanti com-menti e suggerimenti. I miei ringraziamenti vanno anche all'ISTAT e alia Banca d'Italia per la disponibilitá dei dati. II lavoro é stato parzialmente finanziato dal MURST e da CNR & MURST all'interno dei progetti 'Occupazione e disoccupazione in Italia: misura ed analisi dei comportamenti' e Tensions, Savings and Portfolio Choices'. Parte di questa ricerca é stata svolta nell'ambito del "gruppo di lavoro" ISTAT "avente il compito di definire un piano di fattibilità sulla costruzione di una banca dati integrata délie indagini sui consumi e sui redditi délie famiglie, di fonte ISTAT e Bankitalia". Tuttavia, le opinioni espresse in questo studio, corne pure la responsabilità di eventuali errori, sono interamente dell'autore.

Growing populations, continued economic development, and limited natural resources are critical factors affecting sustainable development. These factors are particularly pertinent in developing countries in which large parts of the population live at a subsistence level and options for sustainable development are limited. Therefore, addressing sustainable land use strategies in such contexts requires that decision makers have access to evidence-based impact assessment tools that can help in policy design and implementation. Ex-ante impact assessment is an emerging field poised at the science-policy interface and is used to assess the potential impacts of policy while also exploring trade-offs between economic, social and environmental sustainability targets. The objective of this study was to operationalise the impact assessment of land use scenarios in the context of developing countries that are characterised by limited data availability and quality. The Framework for Participatory Impact Assessment (FoPIA) was selected for this study because it allows for the integration of various sustainability dimensions, the handling of complexity, and the incorporation of local stakeholder perceptions. FoPIA, which was originally developed for the European context, was adapted to the conditions of developing countries, and its implementation was demonstrated in five selected case studies. In each case study, different land use options were assessed, including (i) alternative spatial planning policies aimed at the controlled expansion of rural-urban development in the Yogyakarta region (Indonesia), (ii) the expansion of soil and water conservation measures in the Oum Zessar watershed (Tunisia), (iii) the use of land conversion and the afforestation of agricultural areas to reduce soil erosion in Guyuan district (China), (iv) agricultural intensification and the potential for organic agriculture in Bijapur district (India), and (v) land division and privatisation in Narok district (Kenya). The FoPIA method was effectively adapted by dividing the assessment into three conceptual steps: (i) scenario development; (ii) specification of the sustainability context; and (iii) scenario impact assessment. A new methodological approach was developed for communicating alternative land use scenarios to local stakeholders and experts and for identifying recommendations for future land use strategies. Stakeholder and expert knowledge was used as the main sources of information for the impact assessment and was complemented by available quantitative data. Based on the findings from the five case studies, FoPIA was found to be suitable for implementing the impact assessment at case study level while ensuring a high level of transparency. FoPIA supports the identification of causal relationships underlying regional land use problems, facilitates communication among stakeholders and illustrates the effects of alternative decision options with respect to all three dimensions of sustainable development. Overall, FoPIA is an appropriate tool for performing preliminary assessments but cannot replace a comprehensive quantitative impact assessment, and FoPIA should, whenever possible, be accompanied by evidence from monitoring data or analytical tools. When using FoPIA for a policy oriented impact assessment, it is recommended that the process should follow an integrated, complementary approach that combines quantitative models, scenario techniques, and participatory methods. ; Bevölkerungswachstum und wirtschaftliche Entwicklung in Kombination mit begrenzt verfügbaren, natürlichen Ressourcen sind kritische Faktoren für eine nachhaltige Entwicklung. Diese Situation ist besonders in Entwicklungsländern anzutreffen, in denen große Teile der Bevölkerung am Existenzminimum leben und es oft wenig Spielraum für eine nachhaltige Entwicklung gibt. Entscheidungsträger fragen daher verstärkt wissenschafts-basierte Instrumente zur Vorab- (ex-ante) Folgenabschätzung (Impact assessment) für die Konzeption und Umsetzung nachhaltiger Strategien nach. So genannte ex-ante Methoden zielen hierbei auf die Beurteilung der zukünftigen Folgen von Szenarien (z.B. alternative Politikmaßnahmen) und Konflikte zwischen ökonomischen, sozialen und ökologischen Nachhaltigkeitszielen ab. Ziel dieser Arbeit war es, die Folgenabschätzungen von Landnutzungsszenarien auf die nachhaltige Entwicklung in Entwicklungsländern zu ermöglichen. Eine besondere Schwierigkeit stellt dabei die oft mangelhafte Verfügbarkeit von Daten dar, die quantitative Analysen bzw. den Einsatz von computergestützten Modellen meist nur sehr begrenzt möglich macht. Um mit diesen Schwierigkeiten umzugehen, wurde die ursprünglich für die Europäische Union entwickelte 'Framework for Participatory Impact Assessment' (FoPIA)-Methode an die Bedingungen in Entwicklungsländern angepasst und in fünf regionalen Fallstudien angewendet. Die analysierten Landnutzungsszenarien umfassten dabei (i) alternative Raumplanungsmaßnahmen zur kontrollierten Stadt-Land-Entwicklung in Yogyakarta, Indonesien; (ii) die Umsetzung von boden- und wasserkonservierenden Maßnahmen zur Verbesserung der landwirtschaftlichen Produktion im Oum Zessar Wassereinzugsgebiet, Tunesien; (iii) Landumwandlung und Aufforstungsmaßnahmen zur Eindämmung von Bodenerosion in Guyuan, China; (iv) landwirtschaftliche Intensivierung und Potenziale des ökologischen Landbaus in Bijapur, Indien; sowie (v) Landteilung und -privatisierung in Narok, Kenia. Die angepasste FoPIA Methode wurde in drei konzeptionelle Schritte unterteilt: (i) die Szenarienentwicklung, (ii) die Spezifikation des Nachhaltigkeitskontexts, und (iii) die Szenariofolgenabschätzung. Ein neuer methodischer Ansatz lag in der Entwicklung alternativer Landnutzungsszenarien mit regionalen Akteuren und auf der Ableitung von Handlungsempfehlungen für zukünftige Landnutzungsstrategien. Für die Szenario-folgenabschätzung wurde primär das Wissen regionaler Experten und Akteure genutzt und durch quantitative Daten, sofern verfügbar, ergänzt. Auf der Grundlage der in den fünf Regionen gewonnenen Erkenntnisse lässt sich schlussfolgern, dass die angepasste FoPIA Methode dazu geeignet ist, eine Szenariofolgenabschätzung zu strukturieren und ein hohes Maß an Transparenz zu gewährleisten. Sie ermöglicht kausale Zusammenhänge von Landnutzungsproblemen zu diagnostizieren, die Kommunikation zwischen unterschiedlichen Akteuren und Experten zu verbessern sowie mögliche Konflikte zwischen ökonomischen, sozialen und ökologischen Nachhaltigkeitszielen zu erkennen und darzustellen. Insgesamt sollte die FoPIA Methode jedoch nicht als isolierte Methode zur Folgenabschätzung verstanden werden, sondern, sofern die Datenverfügbarkeit dies zulässt, durch weiterführende Analysen ergänzt werden. Für die Anwendung der FoPIA Methode im Rahmen der Politikfolgenabschätzung wird ein integrierter, komplementärer Ansatz empfohlen, der quantitative Modelle, Szenariotechniken und partizipative Methoden kombiniert.

Fiorinda Li Vigni Istituto Italiano per gli Studi Filosofici (IISF) I. The Disobedience In Paradise lost John Milton outlines two different patterns of rebellion and disobedience, intended as attempts – destined for defeat – of a misleading self-affirmation in front of a Sovereign, at the same time God and Father. The recognition acquires thus a vertical and asymmetrical structure. With Satan, one of the great protagonists of the interior conflict that leads to evil, the rebellion makes use of a republican political lexicon; with Adam and Eve it focuses on the search for a reconciliation between divine will and free will. II. The Fight On the background of Milton's work, Hegel appears to move away from the vertical dimension of the political theology: subjectivity is not the starting point, but the result of the progressive acquisition of a spiritual and universal nature, through the horizontal encounter/clash between self-consciousnesses, in the figures of love, struggle and experience of "the doing of each and all". Rosario Diana Istituto per la Storia del Pensiero Filosofico e Scientifico Moderno Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (ISPF-CNR) I. The Archetypes Paradise lost by John Milton This text is the first stage of the trilogy of readings Scene del riconoscimento: Milton, Hegel, Camus. In this work – freely inspired by Paradise Lost by John Milton – Satan and Eve suffer because Father-God doesn't recognize their aspirations. II. Branches from Hegel From the Autobiografia di un servo This text is the second stage of the trilogy of readings Scene del riconoscimento: Milton, Hegel, Camus. In this work – freely inspired by the theme of recognition in Hegelian philosophy – an imaginary servant tells the story of his renunciations and indicates in the struggle for recognition a method for the social claim. Rosalba Quindici Hochschule der Künste Bern I. The Archetypes Paradise lost by John Milton musical score The musical score of the opera-reading The Archetypes "Paradise Lost" by John Milton is published here. Music is the result of an in-depth timbre research of the composer about the nature of percussion, but also of her specific investigation into the text of the opera-reading to obtain a full adhesion of sound to the word. II. Branches from Hegel From the Autobiografia di un servo musical score The musical score of the reading Branches from Hegel. From the "Autobiografia di un servo" is published here. Music is the result of an in-depth timbre research of the composer about the nature of the piano and its possible preparations, but also of her specific investigation into the text of the opera-reading to obtain e full adhesion of the sound to the word. Nera Prota Accademia di Belle Arti di Napoli Designing as a Flight of Ideas In many creative operations the final result is not the visible and legible sum of the elements that inspired it, on the contrary, they are no longer traceable in the object we observe, they are lost and only with a careful rereading of the design path is possible to bring than back to surface and tell them. In this essay the Author reconstructs and documents the process of elaborating the scenography for the trilogy of readings about the recognition. ; Fiorinda Li Vigni Istituto Italiano per gli Studi Filosofici (IISF) I. La disubbidienza Nel Paradise lost John Milton illustra due modi della ribellione e della disobbedienza, intesi come conati, votati alla sconfitta, di una malintesa affermazione di sé rispetto a un'istanza sovrana, allo stesso tempo Dio e Padre: il riconoscimento acquisisce in tal modo una struttura verticale e asimmetrica. In Satana, uno dei grandi protagonisti del conflitto interiore che conduce al male, la ribellione si colora di un lessico politico repubblicano; con Adamo ed Eva essa si incentra sulla ricerca della conciliazione fra volontà divina e libero arbitrio. II. La lotta Considerata sullo sfondo dell'opera di Milton, la riflessione hegeliana lascia trasparire l'abbandono di uno schema verticalizzato, di carattere teologico-politico, a favore di una costruzione orizzontale: la soggettività del singolo non è per Hegel punto di partenza, ma esito della progressiva acquisizione di una natura spirituale e universale, attraverso l'incontro/scontro orizzontale fra le autocoscienze, nelle figure dell'amore, della lotta, del saputo "operare di tutti e di ciascuno". Rosario Diana Istituto per la Storia del Pensiero Filosofico e Scientifico Moderno Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (ISPF-CNR) I. Gli archetipi Paradiso perduto di John Milton Si pubblica qui il testo della prima tappa della trilogia di opere-reading Scene del riconoscimento: Milton, Hegel, Camus. In questo lavoro – dedicato a Paradiso perduto di John Milton – Satana ed Eva soffrono per il mancato riconoscimento delle loro aspirazioni da parte del Dio-Padre. II. Diramazioni da Hegel Dall'Autobiografia di un servo Si pubblica qui il testo della seconda tappa della trilogia di opere-reading Scene del riconoscimento Milton, Hegel, Camus. In questo lavoro – liberamente ispirato al tema del riconoscimento nella filosofia hegeliana – un servo immaginario racconta la storia delle sue rinunce e indica nella lotta per il riconoscimento un metodo per la rivendicazione sociale. Rosalba Quindici Hochschule der Künste Bern I. Gli archetipi Paradiso perduto di John Milton partitura musicale Si pubblica qui la partitura musicale dell'opera reading Gli archetipi "Paradiso perduto" di John Milton. La musica è il risultato di una approfondita ricerca timbrica sulla natura delle percussioni compiuta dalla compositrice, ma anche di una sua indagine specifica sul testo dell'opera-reading finalizzata a ottenere una piena adesione del suono alla parola. II. Diramazioni da Hegel Dall'Autobiografia di un servo partitura musicale Si pubblica qui la partitura musicale dell'opera reading Diramazioni da Hegel. Dall'"Autobiografia di un servo". La musica è il risultato di una approfondita ricerca timbrica sulla natura del pianoforte e delle sue possibili preparazioni compiuta dalla compositrice, ma anche di una sua indagine specifica sul testo dell'opera-reading finalizzata a ottenere una piena adesione del suono alla parola. Nera Prota Accademia di Belle Arti di Napoli Progettare per fuga di idee In molte operazioni creative il risultato finale non è la somma visibile e leggibile degli elementi che lo hanno ispirato, al contrario, essi non sono più rintracciabili nell'oggetto che osserviamo, si perdono e solo con un'attenta rilettura del percorso progettuale è possibile riportarli in superficie e raccontarli. In questo saggio l'Autore ricostruisce e documenta il processo di elaborazione della scenografia per la trilogia di opere-reading su riconoscimento.

In the article, based on the provisions of the current legislation and the positions of scientists, an analysis of the main problems of the implementation of the electronic declaration system in Ukraine is analyzed. The clarification of existing problems is carried out in the part of the existing system of electronic declaration and activity of the National Agency for the Prevention of Corruption. In the end, ways of improving the functioning of the electronic declaration system in Ukraine are formulated. Corruption in Ukraine during the existence of an independent state has become almost the most important problem in social and state development, which has its deforming influence on the system of public administration, welfare of the population, development of national capital, etc. On the whole, corruption permeates more or less all spheres of society. In this regard, the state is taking active measures to counteract and prevent corruption. This is primarily reflected in the adoption of the Law of Ukraine "On Prevention of Corruption", the introduction of anti-corruption programs (state and departmental), increased criminal liability for corruption crimes, created by specialized anti-corruption bodies - the National Agency for the Prevention of Corruption, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau, the National Anti-Corruption Agency anti-corruption prosecutors, etc. An effective measure to prevent corruption is the electronic declaration system. Despite the positive dynamics in the activities of the National Agency for the Prevention of Corruption, the results of their activities are not striking, given the large number of declarations submitted by the subjects of declarations, the number of declarations checked remains very low. Despite the sufficiently progressive introduction of the electronic declaration system in Ukraine, scientists and experts in the field of anti-corruption policy and anti-corruption legislation note that this system cannot be called effective because of its low level of effectiveness. ; В статті на основі положень чинного законодавства та позицій науковців проаналізовано основні проблеми реалізації системи електронного декларування в Україні. Досліджено існуючі проблеми в частині існуючої системи електронного декларування та діяльності Національного агентства з питань запобігання корупції. Запропоновано шляхи вдосконалення функціонування системи електронного декларування в Україні. Корупція в Україні за весь час існування незалежної держави стала чи не найважливішою проблемою в суспільному і державному розвитку, яка чинить свій деформуючий вплив на систему публічного адміністрування, забезпечення добробуту населення, розвиток національного капіталу тощо. В цілому ж корупція в більшій чи меншій мірі проймає всі сфери життєдіяльності суспільства. В зв'язку з цим, держава вживає активних заходів протидії та запобігання корупції. Це, в першу чергу, відображено в прийнятті Закону України «Про запобігання корупції», впровадженні антикорупційних програм (державних та відомчих), посиленні кримінальної відповідальності за корупційні злочини, створенні спеціалізованих антикорупційних органів – Національного агентства з питань запобігання корупції, Національного антикорупційного бюро, Спеціалізованої антикорупційної прокуратури тощо. Дієвим заходом попередження корупції є система електронного декларування. Незважаючи на позитивну динаміку в діяльності Національного агентства з питань запобігання корупції, результати їх діяльності не вражають, адже, враховуючи значну кількість декларацій, поданих суб'єктами декларування, кількість перевірених декларацій залишається дуже низькою. Незважаючи на достатню прогресивність запровадження в Україні системи електронного декларування, науковці та експерти в сфері антикорупційної політики й антикорупційного законодавства відзначають, що дану систему не можна назвати ефективною через низький рівень її результативності. ; В статті на основі положень чинного законодавства та позицій науковців проаналізовано основні проблеми реалізації системи електронного декларування в Україні. Досліджено існуючі проблеми в частині існуючої системи електронного декларування та діяльності Національного агентства з питань запобігання корупції. Запропоновано шляхи вдосконалення функціонування системи електронного декларування в Україні. Корупція в Україні за весь час існування незалежної держави стала чи не найважливішою проблемою в суспільному і державному розвитку, яка чинить свій деформуючий вплив на систему публічного адміністрування, забезпечення добробуту населення, розвиток національного капіталу тощо. В цілому ж корупція в більшій чи меншій мірі проймає всі сфери життєдіяльності суспільства. В зв'язку з цим, держава вживає активних заходів протидії та запобігання корупції. Це, в першу чергу, відображено в прийнятті Закону України «Про запобігання корупції», впровадженні антикорупційних програм (державних та відомчих), посиленні кримінальної відповідальності за корупційні злочини, створенні спеціалізованих антикорупційних органів – Національного агентства з питань запобігання корупції, Національного антикорупційного бюро, Спеціалізованої антикорупційної прокуратури тощо. Дієвим заходом попередження корупції є система електронного декларування. Незважаючи на позитивну динаміку в діяльності Національного агентства з питань запобігання корупції, результати їх діяльності не вражають, адже, враховуючи значну кількість декларацій, поданих суб'єктами декларування, кількість перевірених декларацій залишається дуже низькою. Незважаючи на достатню прогресивність запровадження в Україні системи електронного декларування, науковці та експерти в сфері антикорупційної політики й антикорупційного законодавства відзначають, що дану систему не можна назвати ефективною через низький рівень її результативності.

Background: Rheumatic heart disease (RHD) remains a major public health concern in African countries due to the high rates of complications such as atrial fibrillation, stroke, infective endocarditis, and heart failure, all of which can result in premature death. In 2015, RHD was estimated to affect 33 million people globally and resulted in at least 320,000 deaths, nearly all of which were in low and middle-income countries. Comparing to other non-communicable diseases (NCDs), RHD imposes economic burden on households that if measures are not in place to mitigate this, it can impoverish such household. However, there are several literatures on the intergenerational economic consequences of other chronic diseases. But, there is no study regarding the household economic of RHD. This mini-dissertation sets out to estimate the household economic impact of RHD. Methods: This study was a follow-on study from the Global Rheumatic Heart Disease Registry (REMEDY), which was a multi-center, international, hospital-based prospective registry of patients with RHD. It was designed as a cohort study to document the disease characteristics and outcomes of individuals with RHD across many countries. We recruited participants in the REMEDY study who were resident in Cape Town and received care at Groote Schuur Hospital (GSH). This study made use of patient and household member surveys to estimate the economic consequences of RHD among households in which REMEDY participants reside. REMEDY registry participants (index cases), their caregivers, and other household members were considered as respondents. 100 REMEDY participants receiving care at GSH was sampled. This sample size was chosen to balance feasibility and precision and to align with a parallel study of the cost of RHD to the health system that aimed to sample medical records from the same 100 REMEDY participants. Patient and household data collection was carried out between September 2017 to December 2017. Direct costs, indirect costs, and the downstream economic behaviors (coping strategies) that lead to medical impoverishment and other consequences were estimated. Cost of illness (COI) was used to assess the effect of ill-health and health-related expenditure on the consumption possibilities of households. Direct costs comprise both medical and nonmedical costs, which may include both the financial cost of resources as well as opportunity costs (e.g., of capital items). Human capital approach was used to calculate indirect cost. Implicit in the human capital approach is the assumption that changes in health status of household members can be reflected by losses in productivity, and losses in income generation. Productivity losses was estimated using the new South Africa minimum wage rate per month as proxy. Coping was estimated with the direct costs (e.g., borrowing from friends or relatives, or taking out formal loans) or indirect costs (e.g., intra-household labor substitution) and can be cost prevention strategies (e.g., ignoring illness, non-treatment) to cost management strategies (e.g., borrowing, selling assets, or labor substitution). Economic costs were valued in United State dollar (USD) converted from South African rand (ZAR) in 2017. Results: Direct medical cost was estimated to ZAR 0, because all patients were exempt from medical fees. Total direct non-medical cost for outpatient and inpatient visits was estimated to be ZAR 27,000 (USD 2000) and 29,000 (USD 2200) (respectively) over 302 and 74 encounters (respectively), an average of ZAR 270 (USD 20) and ZAR 290 (USD 22) per patient (respectively). Indirect costs incurred over the 302 outpatient encounters and 74 hospital admissions were estimated to be ZAR 41,000 (USD 3100) and ZAR 26,000 (USD 1900) (respectively), an average of ZAR 410 (USD 31) and ZAR 260 (USD 19) per patient. Direct cost had a very high impact on the household and they were compelled to adopt coping. Households observed in the study recorded that seventeen percent of households took out loans at an average of ZAR 1200 (USD 91) per loan (range ZAR 100 to ZAR 7000) (range USD 7 to 500). Fifteen percent received financial gifts at an average of ZAR 800 (USD 61) per gift. Two percent sold assets valued at ZAR 5600 (USD 120) on average. Five percent engaged in multiple coping strategies. Also, HH had to cope with indirect cost of illness as 15% of household caregivers changed jobs and 10% worked extra hours. About 4% of household members dropped out of school. Four percent adopted more than one coping strategy. A considerable share of participants reported that they had reduced education to take care of the affected patient. Most of the caregivers of patients with RHD were spouses and children, and 6 % were heads of household. The total cost of RHD to the average affected household is valued at about ZAR 1600 annually. In total, the overall annual economic impact of RHD in this sample of 100 households affected by RHD was estimated at ZAR 160,000 (USD 12200) (ZAR 1600 per household) (USD 120), representing 4.4% of annual household income or 4.9% of annual household expenditure patient spending that exceeded 10% threshold was estimated to be 8% and increasing the threshold to 40 % of non- food expenditure reduced the prevalence of catastrophic spending to 4%. Conclusions: The economic impact of RHD in South Africa is substantial despite government efforts to provide free care. The total cost of RHD to the average affected household is valued at about ZAR 1600 annually. A broader and more robust range of social policies will be required to mitigate non-medical and indirect costs and reduce distortions in household economic activity.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the decline and fall of British power. "Power" is defined as the ability to influence another party and Michael Mann`s four sources of social power is employed as an analytical tool.The paper takes as its starting point the state of Britain after the end of the Second World War in 1945. In its aftermath, Britain had, along with other European powers, to face up to the desire of its colonies to achieve independence. In particular, India was the "jewel in the crown" and with its independence, the "game was up" as Britain had relied on this for a substantial part of its rise in Political and Economic Power (and Military Power through the Indian Army) during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, and well into the twentieth century. Thereafter, Britain was scrambling to protect the other important contributors to its Economic Power through interventions in the Middle East (e.g. Iran for oil) and South East Asia (e.g Malaya for its tin and rubber interests).But the reality was that Britain was reliant on substantial subsidies from the USA to maintain its impe- rial, financial and economic interests. The reliance on the US would extend with the commencement of the Marshall Plan which saw the bulk of the funds flowing to the UK.In parallel, the UK had performed important steps in constructing a security and defence architecture and modest moves in some form of European economic co ordination via the Marshall Plan. But the UK failed to follow up on these promising steps by failing to engage in the first moves by (Western) Europe in its first moves to construct the European project of an "ever closer union." This failure to demonstrate Leadership (a fifth source of power identified by Mann) was to have fateful consequences.Indeed, the Suez Crisis of 1956 which saw an Anglo-French-Israeli co ordinated military strike on Egypt would bring into sharp relief all of the negative trends accumulating – not necessarily by virtue of the adventure itself but how the UK succumbed to financial and economic blackmail and its default policy thereafter of increased dependence on the USA for its Military and Economic Power – the former through its decision to acquire the delivery system for its (nominally independent) nuclear deterrent from the USA; and the latter by avoiding any conflict with the US that might lead to the US threatening a repeat of the financial threats.The price for this policy choice was ultimately paid when the French vetoed the UK`s application to join the European Economic Community in January 1963 – taking place just one month after the UK had signed an agreement with the USA for the delivery of the Polaris nuclear submarine system.Thus, from a promising starting point in 1945, as compared with its European counterparts, it is argued that the UK`s political leaders had become entranced with protecting economic interests with Mili- tary Power, as subsidised by the USA, and avoided decisions to engage with the European project until it had essentially been closed to it. That was a fateful act and took place just eighteen years after emerging as one of the "Big 3" global powers. Britain played no role in the rules of the game being established by a major economic power on its doorstep.The next article in the series will examine the course of the UK and its attempts to reverse its decline in power. GMT Визначити мовуАзербайджанськаАлбанськаАмхарськаАнглійськаАрабськаАфрикаансБаскськаБенгальськаБілоруськаБірманськаБолгарськаБоснійськаВ'єтнамськаВаллійськаВірменськаГавайськаГаїтянська креольськаҐалісійськаГіндіГрецькаГрузинськаҐуджаратськаДанськаЕсперантоЕстонськаЗулуІвритІгбоІдишІндонезійськаІрландськаІсландськаІспанськаІталійськаЙорубаКазахськаКамбоджійськаКаннадаКаталанськаКиргизькаКитайська СпрощКитайська ТрадКорейськаКорсиканськаКурдськаКхосаЛаоськаЛатинськаЛатиськаЛитовськаЛюксембурзькаМакедонськаМалагасійськаМалайськаМалаяламМальтійськаМаоріМаратхіМонгольськаНепальськаНідерландськаНімецькаНорвезькаПанджабськаПерськаПольськаПортугальськаПуштуРосійськаРумунськаСамоанськаСебуаноСербськаСесотоСингальськаСіндхіСловацькаСловенськаСомаліСуахіліСунданськаТаджицькаТайськаТамільськаТелуґуТурецькаУгорськаУзбецькаУкраїнськаУрдуФіліппінськаФінськаФранцузькаФризькаХаусаХмонгХорватськаЧеськаЧичеваШведськаШонаШотландська (Ґельська)ЯванськаЯпонська АзербайджанськаАлбанськаАмхарськаАнглійськаАрабськаАфрикаансБаскськаБенгальськаБілоруськаБірманськаБолгарськаБоснійськаВ'єтнамськаВаллійськаВірменськаГавайськаГаїтянська креольськаҐалісійськаГіндіГрецькаГрузинськаҐуджаратськаДанськаЕсперантоЕстонськаЗулуІвритІгбоІдишІндонезійськаІрландськаІсландськаІспанськаІталійськаЙорубаКазахськаКамбоджійськаКаннадаКаталанськаКиргизькаКитайська СпрощКитайська ТрадКорейськаКорсиканськаКурдськаКхосаЛаоськаЛатинськаЛатиськаЛитовськаЛюксембурзькаМакедонськаМалагасійськаМалайськаМалаяламМальтійськаМаоріМаратхіМонгольськаНепальськаНідерландськаНімецькаНорвезькаПанджабськаПерськаПольськаПортугальськаПуштуРосійськаРумунськаСамоанськаСебуаноСербськаСесотоСингальськаСіндхіСловацькаСловенськаСомаліСуахіліСунданськаТаджицькаТайськаТамільськаТелуґуТурецькаУгорськаУзбецькаУкраїнськаУрдуФіліппінськаФінськаФранцузькаФризькаХаусаХмонгХорватськаЧеськаЧичеваШведськаШонаШотландська (Ґельська)ЯванськаЯпонська Звукова функція обмежена 200 символами Опції : Історія : Зворотний зв'язок : DonateЗакрити ; В статті проаналізовано за допомогою джерел соціальної влади Манна курс та поведінку на політичній арені Великої Британії в період з 1945 по 1963 роки, коли вступ Великої Британії до Європейської економічної спільноти був заветований Президентом Франції де Голем. Опираючись на п'яте джерело соціальної влади описане Манном, в аналізі розглядаються британські політичні лідери в зазначений період з особливим акцентом на Атлі та Макміллі, які суттєво вплинули на потугу Великої Британії в цей період. Як наслідок війни, Великобританія стикнулася із процесами деколонізації, зокрема змаганнями Індії за незалежність, а також намагалася підтримати свій вплив на Близькому Сході та у Південно-Східній Азії. Однак Великобританія потрапила у залежність від американської допомоги за планом Маршала. Не зважаючи на певні успіхи у створенні системи безпеки та економічної координації із європейськими країнами, Британії не вдалося досягти створення «близького» проекту Європи. Ця невдала спроба продемонструвати лідерство мала доленосні наслідки – нездатність грати будь-яку роль у грі, встановленій іншими великими економічними силами. Ця стаття є другою у серії, присвяченій вивченню падіння та занепаду влади Британії з 1945 року.

Issue 40.2 of the Review for Religious, March 1981. ; treat Director and the Contemplative. The Problem Member in COmmunity Trends of 1980 Volume 40 Number 2 March 1981 REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS (ISSN 0034-639X), published every two months, is edited in collaboration with the faculty members of the Departmeqt of Theological Studies of St. Louis University. The editorial offices are located at Room 428; 3601 Lindell Blvd.; St. Louis, MO 63108. REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS is owned by the Missouri Province Educational Institute of the Society of Jesus, St. Louis, MO. © 1981 by REVIEW FOa RELIGIOUS. Composed, printed and manufactured in U.S.A. Second class postage paid at St. Louis, MO. Single copies: $2.50, Subscription U.S.A.: $9.00 a year; $17.00 for two years. Other countries: $10.00 a year; $19.00 for two years. For subscription orders or change of address, write: REVIEW ~'Oa RE'tJ(;tOUS; P.O. Box 6070; Duluth, MN 55802. Daniel F. X. Meenan, S.J. Dolores Greeley, R.S.M. Jeremiah L. Alberg, S.J. Joseph F. Gallen, S.J. Jean Read Editor Associate Editor Book Editor Questions and Answers Editor Assistant Editor March, 1981 Volume 40 Number 2 Manuscripts, books for review and correspondence with the editor should be sent to REVIEW FOR RELtG~OUS; Room 428; 3601 Lindell Blvd.; St. Louis, MO 63108. Questions for answering should be sent to Joseph F. Gallen, S.J.; Jesuit Community; St. Joseph's University; City Aven~e at 54th St.; Philadelphia, PA 19131. Back issues and reprints should be ordered from R~:vtE'W roa REtJGIOt~S; Room 428; 3601 Lindell Blvd.; St. Louis, MO 63108. "Out of print" issues and articles not published as reprints are available from University Microfilms International; 300 N. Zeeb Rd.; Ann Arbor, MI 48106. To Experience God Donald Macdonald, S.M.M. Father Macdonald's last article, "When Did We See You?" appeared in the issue if May, 1980. He is master of novices for his community, residing at Baria Bhavan; D.R. College P.O.; Bangalore 560029; India. T ~ . oday, many people are looking for an experience of G~d. Whether they are young people at charismatic prayer meetings, or their bored brothers and sisters, so many; searching for life, have given up on Christianity asking,. "Where can I find Jesus now?" Many an adult Christian knows what it is to have labored long and have gained nothing: "Why has baptism not taken root in any recognizable way? Why is good will seemingly not enough to experience God? Saint Anselm put this experience of so many in a nutshell: Everywhere You are entirely present, and I cannot see You. In You I have my being and l cannot come to You. You are within me and around me, and I have no experience of You.' How can I experience God? I would not presume to map out anything so particular as the contact between God and the individual. Who can know the mind of God or man? I suggest in these pages just one pattern that may en-courage the reader seeking an experience of God. There are many, many more. A key to the problem of experiencing God is to know something of what happe.ns between God and ourselves. Here, personal experience is essential, along with integrity,~ or we can find ourselves in the bogus world of what is to-day called "Karma Cola." One guide of outstanding integrity and proven record is St. Paul.2 With ' Anselm. Proslogion Chapter 16, in the Prayers and Meditations of St. Anselm (Penguin 1973). 161 162 / Review for Religious, Volume 40, 1981/2 deceptively calm matter-of-factness, he suggests a beginning: "The depths of a man can only be known by his own spirit, not by any other man" (l Co 2:1 l). We live in private, self-contained worlds. God, too, is very much apart. "In the same way the depths of God can only be known by the spirit of God" (l Co 2:11). So we have two poles, God and man. How can they meet? What happens if they do? Paul offers to help: "we have received the Spirit that comes from God to teach us to understand the gifts that he has given us" (l Co 2:12). His experience of the Spirit is such that he believes that he is now able to see into the very depths of God, "for the Spirit reaches the depths of everything, even the depths of God" (l Co 2:10). Here, as so often, Paul uses words so simply to contain concepts which almost defeat language. Yet the in-trinsic evidence of his letters, and his part in the history of Christianity, would support that claim: "in Christ, we speak as men of sincerity, as envoys of God and in God's presence" (2 Co 2:17). Experience has further taught Paul that he can only speak of these matters to those who have received the Spirit: "We teach., in the way that the Spirit teaches us . spiritual things spiritually" (l Co 2:13). Someone "who does not accept anything of the spirit of God . sees it all as nonsense . beyond his understanding because it can only be understood by means of the Spirit" (l Co 2:14). Chess and algebra may well fascinate a mathematician. On the other hand, the finest of classical music is lost on a deaf man. Today's pop musicians ~ay that if you think their music is too loud you're too old. Cot ad cor Ioquitur is. as valid there as in any field of human understanding. " ~ In view of this, if we wish to experience God we would do well to reflect on what it means to be baptized, because that was when we received the Spirit. However much. we may envy some of our charismatic friends or wish that we were "twice-born Christians," perhaps the practica'l first step would be to take ourselves as we are. God has-loved us enough to give himself in baptism. This is an objective, ontological fact. Here God has entered our lives. A New Creation What then happenedat baptism? It is hard to say. Paul speaks of the ex-perience of "a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up.into paradise and heard things which must not and cannot"be put into human li~nguage" (2 Co 12:2,4). But in trying to share this experience, Paul's starting point is invariably ~he same: "The love of Christ overwhelm~ us when we reflect." (2 Co 5:14). Love is its essence. Love is itsmeaning. Christ came through a ~rave to be with Paul, so real was Paul to Christ.' Thi~ glimpse.into the depths of God by this "man in Christ" has so transformed his outlook ~ "When we fix our gaze on the life of men who have followed Christ faithfully, we have a new motive., the safest route whereby we may arrive at perfec! union with Christ. which suits each man in his condition and in his own circumstances." Lumen Genlium, 50. To Experience God / 163 that he can only speak of what has happened to him in terms 0f creation, something from nothing. "For anyone who is in Christ there is a new creation; the old creation has gone and now the new is here. It is all God's work" (2 Co 5:18). It is a radical change in life--root and branch. He has now a new center of gravity, so creative is the experience. Anyone aware of what is happening in baptism knows that he can be wholly transformed, like those who now "live no longer for themselves but for him who died and was iaised to life for them" (2 Co 5:15). "What's in it for me" then becomes a "What's in it for Christ?" It is an experience of love received in a faith that is truly creative, as I allow myself to be loved by God, Father, Son ~and Spirit. I now march to a different drum. I am in Christ. My selfish, self-centered world has been opened up to admit God. Ligh! Clearly, the reality or otherwise of this experience will depend, in part, on my understanding of what it means to be loved by God. Paul, baptized as a mature man, attempts to explain what h~ppened to him. This time he writes in terms of the creation of light. The awesome Creator-God of the opening of Genesis who had said "let there be light shining out of darkness. ~ had shone in our minds to radiate the light of the knowledge of God's glory, the glory on the face of Christ" (2 Co 4:6). This mystic, pl.ung.ed into the depths of God through the Spirit received at baptism, believes his mind to be illuminated to an unbelievable degree. The face of Christ coming to him in love holds :him en-thralled. He can now glimpse something of the glory of God. "Glory" generally means what God is like insbfar as we can be aware 6f it. This Paul sees in the face of Christ, and, gazing as he does, he can both receive and reflect the likeness of God: "our. faces reflecting like mirrors the brightness of the Lord, all grow brighter and brighter as we are turned into the image that we reflect. This is the work of the Lord who is Spirit" (2 Co 3:18). Paul, christened, and so a man in Christ, lives in Christ. His personality and world view are illumined as he allows God to love him in Christ. He becomes like what he sees, in love, in joy, in suffering, in experience, in life, realizing this is the work of the Lord who is Spirit. Paul has no need of the Turin Shroud to see the face of Christ. He needs no reproduction. "Even if we'did once know Christ~in the flesh, that is not how we know him now" (2 Co 5:16). The dominant note in his life is the creative, illuminating presence of God in every circumstance, bar none. God is, above all, loving and present to him. And as it is almost impossible not to return the warm smile of a welcoming friend, so to see in faith Christ as present, loving, smiling, courteous, has a similar effect. A sketch of what Paul saw can be found in 1 Co 13:3-7: "Love is patient; love is kind and envies no one. Love is never boastful, conceited nor rude; never selfish nor quick to take offense. Love keeps no score of wrongs; does not. gloat over other men's sins but delights in the truth. There is nothing love cannot face; there is no limit tO its 164 / Review for Religious, Volume 40, 1981/2 faith, its. hope and its endurance." Christ sat for that portrait, as has so.often been remarked. Is this the company I keep? A lady who was gradually losing her eyesight once told me that what she missed most was being no longer able to see the smile of a friend or a wave from a neighbor. Small in themselves, but only the loss of ~ight s~hows how much these things mean in fact. Now she is closed in on herself, walks with a l~esitant step. Previously when returning the smile or acknowledgment, she saw ~that she was recognized, loved, "somebody." It was lovely to receive these gestures, and they undoubtedly helped make her lovable. When we realize what happens in baptism, we recognize that the same holds true for the Christian. Temple of God Paul knows that words and concepts cannot adequately express what he has experienced. "Now we are seeing a dim reflection in a mirror." (1 Co 13:12). As the art critic, Bernard Berenson, used to say as he looked at the beauty of the world, "Where were my eyes yesterday?" But Paul never gave up trying to share what he was experiencing. A third helpful analogy of his, following upon creation and light, was the symbol.of the Temple. The God of Israel dwelt with his people. They were who they were precise-ly because God was among them. For a time the heart of the community was the Temple, the symbol of God present among his people. At the heart of the Temple itself was the "holy of holies" (naos). Here God was present as nowhere else on earth. So sacred was his presence there that only the high priest dared enter, and that, only once a year. "Take off your shoes for this is holy ground" was above all true there. "O God we ponder your love within your Temple" (Ps 47:10) is easily understood within that context. The Catholic devotion to God's presence in the tabernacle evokes similar prayers. But how would such a prayer sound on the waterfront at Corinth? Here was a seaport, with half a million in population, in a class of its own for depravity even by contemporary pagan standards. "O Lord I love the house where you dwell, the place where your glory abides" (Ps 2~:8). Within the community bf Israel as reflected in the Temple at Jerusalem, yes, this is real-- but Corinth? Paul, however could see its application. Once baptized into a Christian community, I both enter and become a temple where God is present, just as in the holy of holies of the Jerusalem Temple. The parallel is extraor-dinarily vivid. Pa~l, who could say "Hebrews are they? So am 1. Israelites? So am I. Descendants of Abraham? So am I" (2 Co 6:16), is most emphatic: "We are the temple. And to underline it still further the word "temple" (naos) could be correctly translated by the more reverent terms "holy of holies" or tabernacle. That statement from someone of Paul's background is almost in-credible in its realism. The same immensely powerful image is applied to the individual: "Your body, you know, is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you since, you received him from God" (1 Co 6:19-20). The creative, il- To Experience God / 165 luminating presence of the Trinity at the center of myself offers a dynamic of love, which, glimpsed, can leave me speechless in adoration, wonder and .humility. Such love from the Trinity present to him will bring from Paul reserves and qualities he scarcely knew he had, especially in view of the heartbreak in his life. He will be stretched to the limit and beyond. He is challenged by the creative, loving presence of God, in an ever-deepening personal relationship that death itself will only intensify not break. The prospect of total fulfillment in the continuing gift of himself to God, Absolute Truth, is held out to Paul; "then we shall be seeing face to face . Then I shall know as fully as I am known" (l Co 13:12). All that he has experienced must be in terms of knowledge and love or it would never reach the heart of Paul the man. It is knowledge, and love intensified, given another dimension by God, which makes it possible for the baptized to enjoy this personal relationship with God. God could do this. God has done this. God loves us. It is literally wonderful that reality includes for me such a.perspective. My personality is respected by God. Yet at the same time he invites me to deepen all that is truest in myself to the limit of my being. An enriched personality is given a taste for knowledge and love as seen in Christ, and a lifetime and an eternity to savor and enjoy it. Personal [niegrity Once baptized, therefore, and aware of what is happening, life for me can never be the same. The heart of the mystery, not to be explained, is to wonder how I can be so loved by God and not lose my identity. Perhaps respect and reverence lies at the heart Of love. Certainly Paul is ecstatic at times. Words cannot express what he feels. Yet he is always his very individual s~lf. It is not necessarily the self he would want to be (see 2 Co 12:10), but it is Paul as he is today to whom God is present, not Paul as he might wish to be tomorrow. This is equally true of his Corinthian community. "Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you?" (1 Co 3:16). This is the magnificent compliment he pays them, yet he writes to people to whom he "was unable to speak., as people of the Spirit. I treated you as. infants in Christ. What I fed you with was milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it; and indeed you are still not ready for it." (l Co 3:1-2). Paul has no illusions about human nature.But with realism like that, there are many "infants in Christ" who would be grateful for any milk that Paul could offer. For, as must be i'ecognized, there is solid food there. After all, no child ever takes his father's every word literally, especially when he is anxious and upset: "You might have thousands of guardians in Christ, but., one father and it was I who begot you in Christ'Jesus." (1 Co 5:15). Paul therefore tries to show that the baptized Christian can experience the creative, illuminating presence of God: "This is the work of the Lord who is Spirit" (2 Co 3:18). Three reasons suggest that his experience can be mine. 166 / Review for Religious, Volume 40, 1981/2 Simple, Practical, Emotional First of all Paul's approach is simple. The new creation, with a new central reference point in Christ not myself, is easy to see as it dawns on me that I am so approached and loved by the Trinity. Reflect, assimilate, adore and wonder is a first step, and in God's own time, the experience may be mine at a level beyond woi'ds and ideas. Repent, and believe the good news. ~ Looking in faith at the face of Christ attending to me in love is bound to il-lumine existence for me as I meet him all the time everywhere, and not by chance. "Indeed as the sufferings of Christ overflow to us, so through Christ, does our,. consolation overflow" (2 Co 1:5). Even suffering, so much a part of life, is seen in Christ: ','That is why I am quite content with my weaknesses and with insults, hardships, persecutions and the agonies I .go through for Christ's sake" (2 Co 12:10). The man who can cope with suffering can cope with life. For Paul it was no magic wand nor temperamental strength, but being with Christ that enabled him to take so much that was so often beyond his control. He becamelike what he saw. I, too, can live in that world. Belief in the Trinity's presence to my inmost self can evoke much in me by way of response, from adoration to sorrow, as I allow ttie nearness of God to possess me. God, dare I say it, focuses on me. 1 can, wherever I am in my or-dinary day-to-day life, develop a cast of mind centering on the Trinity, whenever not immediately held by work demanding concentration. None will know, it will disturb nobody. It provokes no strain at all, simply receiving God's constant presence with open arms. "We are only the earthenware jars that hold this treasure" (2 Co 4:7), but undeniably it is a treasure. Secondly, Paul's approach is practical. In this article I have deliberately limited myself to Paul~s Corinthian corresponde'nce. Every New Testament reference 1 used, e~plicit or implicit, is from there. I did this because if anything is true of Paul and Corinth it is that circumstances were truly lifelike and far from ideal. His association with the Corinthians may have done much for their faith but little for his nervous system. What we call 2 Corinthians was written because he could not go to them personally. They had made it very clear that he was not wanted. He had to write a letter therefore or forget them. Yet Paul never suggests that his understanding of Christ will never work in Corinth. The dockworkers (longshoremen?) of Corinth may be a challenge, but much of the attraction of St. Paul is to watch him use every resource to ap-ply what.he knows of Christ to the here and now. And underlying everything he says is the assumption that what is true of him in his experience of God can be true for them. With Paul it is invariably us, scarcely ever me and you. Paul makes no mention of the need for seminars or retreats or courses. ¯ Nothing will be said of the need to learn how to sit, to breathe, to concentrate. Biofeedback will not be suggested. Houses of prayer, hermitages, or prayer communities have no place in his counsel. This. is important because, in-valuable as all of these are and to be encouraged, they can be overdone. Too many today can be discouraged. We may spend our time reading the critics, To Experience God / 167 never the classics. The marvelously open, welcoming, rough and tumble world of the New Testament may today in the Church be reduced to little more than eclectic, gnostic groups, where the elite may go to their" ashrams to experience God. Groucho Marx once said that he would never join a~ club which would have him as a member. That is almost a prescription for membership of the Corinthian (and traditionally our Catholic) Church. Look at yourselves, says St. Paul, "how many of you were wise in the ordinary sense of the word, how many were influential people, or came from noble families? No. God chose what is foolish.weak., by human reckoning., those whom the world thinks common and contemptible are the ones God has chosen" (1 Co 1:26-28). There is no understatement there, but many of us will recognize our unbelievable luck that Paul is on the side of the majority. Finally, Paul's approach can engage our emotions. This is important because unless our feelings or emotions are committed we are not involved. Far from being the refuge of the intellectually weak, emotions are invariably active in everyone though not always recognized. Reason and logic are sometimes disguised emotion. A gut.reaction may be inarticulate but a real ex-perience. Reason will not often carry the day against feelings. So in baptism we can move out of our possibly subjective, ill-ordered world into the creative enlightening World of God's loving presence. The Gospel offered by the Church:can be an objective reference point and keep us from making religion ¯ in our own image and likeness. So our feelings and.emotions can be purified, educated and deepened as we respond to the demands of the loving presence of God. The actress, it was said, ran through the whole range of emotion from A to B. Paul is not so crippled. No human feeling is excluded as he honestly admits that once "we were so utterly and unbearably crushed that we despaired of life itself . " which is rock bottom in any language, yet "~God who raises the dead., delivered us., and he will deliver us . On him we have set our hope" (2 Co 1:8.10). The Retreat Director and the Contemplative Robert O. Brennan, S.J. Father Brennan resides in the Jesuit formation community at Murray-Weigel Hall; Fordham University; Bronx, NY 10458. Prayer is a very personal thing. General statements about prayer can border on the dangerous. What may be helpful to one person may be counterproduc-tive, or downright dangerous, for another. The great advantage of the directed retreat should be that the dialogue about prayer can be tailored to fit the retreatant's actual situation in prayer. And to make this advantage real, the retreatant must make clear to the director just how he or she prays, at least as well as this can be done. It may be that it is the contemplative who can be most helped or most badly hurt in the course of a directed retreat. And by a contemplative here, I do not mean necessarily a member of a contemplative order. Such a one is likely to be safe, either because of lack of motivation to make a directed retreat or because he is are solidly grounded in the tradition of contemplative prayer. But our area of concern here is any retreatant whose prayer has grown to, or at least grown toward, contemplative prayer. I would .suggest that such retreatants fall into three classes: a) those whose prayer is definitely contemplative, whether they know it or not; b) those on the edge of the transition to con-templative prayer; c) those who have ceased, or nearly ceased, to pray because discursive prayer has failed them and they do not know where to turn. In the following pages, I hope to be able to give some guidelines for a director who meets a retrea(ant in any of these classes. Contemplation First of all, what do we mean by contemplation here? In the history of 168 The Retreat Director and the Contemplative / 169 writing on prayer, there have been a number of definitions, classifications, subdivisions, along with a whole body of speculation as to its precise nature. To keep things under reasonable control, let us attempt some sort ofa descrip-tion rather than a definition. Let us say "Contemplation is prayer that has become exceedingly quiet so that one might call it an intuition--a loving intui-tion- without clarity but with darkness and obscurity." Perhaps .this might be best understood in its genesis in the person who prays. Let us suppose a person who has been praying in the way many have been taught today. It is very likely a case of praying over a passage from Scrip-ture-- a slow reading, reflection on the persons, words, actions, long delay if a word, a phrase, an event appears particularly striking, an attempt to place oneself in the scene, if it is a mystery of the Lord's life, applications to one's own life and circumstances, words of prayer to the Lord or others in the mystery, or to the Father. Prayer in this manner could for some persons con-tinue for a long time--perhaps a lifetime--and be of great profit. But for many persons after some time, the whole process may begin to fail, not because of tepidity or sloth; if it were tepidity, the person would not sense ¯ there was a problem. Rather, as much as one may try to continue, there is no perception that one is praying. God is simply not to be found. Such an ex-perience can be agonizing. Often this indicates a time for a change, and, usually, there is need for a guide. The model of discursive prayer has been so prevalent--in early educa-tion, in so many preached retreats, in the books on prayer that one turns to for help--one could be convinced there is no other. Without special help, grace and graced guidance, prayer could just cease. Part of this syndrome we can understand rather easily: the mind has had its day. Not only has it had all the insights it needs, but it is unable to cope: the God it is beginning to know cannot be comprehended. Part of the story is less clear. It is the work of faith, grace and love. Though the mind is inadequate to encompass God, faith and a loving will can reach out. But here there is mystery and much depends on individual history and cooperation with grace. And, as the mind, so the imagination can no longer be of help, nor the emotions and feelings which find no adequate object to attract them since the mind itself seems empty. There may be times when one has a strong sense of being in God's presence, but the preponderant feeling is that of being empty, unable to do anything. The only positive advice John of the Cross gives is "a loving and peaceful attentiveness to God. without the concern, without the desire to taste or feel him."' In another place he advises: ' St. John of the Cross, Dark Night of the Soul, Bk. 1, ch'. 10, no.4. See The Collected Works of St. John of the Cross, trans, by Kieran Kavanaugh, O.C.D. and Otilio Rodriguez, O.C.D., In-stitute of Carmelite Studies, Washington, 1979. All quotations from John of the Cross will be 170 / Review for Religious, Volume 40, 1981/2 When the spiritual person cannot meditate, he should learn to remain in God's presence with a loving attention and a tranquil intellect, even though he seems to himself to be idle . And if, as we have said, scruples about his inactivity arise, he should remember that the pacification of soul (making it calm and peaceful, inactive and desireless) is tip small accomplishment. This, indeed, is what our Lord asks of us through David: Vacate et videte quoniam ego sum Deus. 2 The Director This sketch of contemplative prayer hardly does it justice. The important thing for the director to take from it is the fact that such states of prayer do in fact exist and are good. All prayer is the work of God's grace and love. In our own minds we should not be too ready to set limits on what God may do, or to see contemplation as such a rare and extraordinary thing that it scarcely ever happens, or only to great saints, and certainly not to our retreatants. But when the appetite.has been fed somewhat, and has become in a certain fashion ac-customed to spiritual things. God begins to wean the soul, as they say, and place it in the state of contemplation. This occurs in some persons after a very short time; especially with religious, for in denying the things of the world more quickly, they accommodate their senses and appetites to God and, in their activity, pass on to the the spirit which God works in them. This happens when the soul's discursive acts and meditations cease, as well as its initial sensible satisfaction and fervor, and it is unable to practice discursive meditation as before . ~ Or, to cite a contemporary author: It could be said in a very general way that affective prayer will last as long as such shelter-ing is needed. So too with meditation: how long an individual will go on praying in that way will depend very much on mental ability, and on previous education in Christian doctrine. Someone who has had a long and thorough education in the Faith may find quite soon after taking up systematic meditation that it seems not only unattractive but impossible. A saturation point has been reached: the mind has absorbed as much as need-ed of this nourishment. As much, that is to say, as the person needed, to pray as the Spirit of God wishes.' Of course, it is possible to go overboard and expect to find contemplation everywhere. But this certainly has not been our failing in the recent past. What we need most is to try to be alert, sensitive, and open, to accept that God leads along many different paths. Although the present article is an attempt to give the director some essen-tial helps and caveats, it is fairly clear that some reading of competent authors on contemplation is to be recommended. To assist in this, I will give a short annotated bibliography at the end of the article. taken from this translation. Besides chapter and verse of St. John's particular work, we will give page references to the edition, as, for instance, here: Works, p.317. 2 St. John of the Cross, Ascent of Mt. Carmel, Bk.2, ch. 15, no.5, Works, p. 149. ~ St. John of the Cross, Living Flame of Love, Stanza 3, no. 32, Works, p. 621 f. 4 Leonard Boase, S.J., The Prayer of Faith, Our Sunday Visitor, Huntington, IN, 1975, p. 70. The Retreat Director and the Contemplative / 171 Developed Contemplatives Let us discuss those whose prayer is already contemplative as the first case. Some of these may have made the trafisition from meditation to contempla-tion with the help of a skilled director or by fortunate reading. Some may have--not without much grace--sort of muddled through. They pray but they don't understand what is happening. There are probably doubts and some lack of peace. Broadly speaking, this prayer strikes those who come to it as something rather unim-pressive. A frequent reaction is given in the phrase, "I am doing nothing." There is a general sense of untidiness. Nothing seems to be happening. There are moments of more intense consolation, but they'are few. In good times there is a sense of peace and content-ment, a satisfaction in prayer which appears difficult to explain, since there is seemingly nothing to account for the satisfaction. In the lean years prayer is distressing because it appears such a waste of time--nothing but an unavailing effort to chase a clutter of hens out of the flower-garden, thro~'ing stones with one hand, as it were, at pertinacious distractions, and with the other hand groping in the dark for something or someone.5 Inthe contemporary climate of spirituality, some also may have arrived at contemplative prayer through reading about or participating in workshops in "centering prayer.''~ They may not yet know if this is their way of prayer. Or some may have tried Eastern ways of meditation and be looking for roots in Christ. The director will want some criterion to judge whether those who are using contemplation are doing so authentically or have fallen into some illusion. The test is ancient: What matters is the result. The after effects of good prayer are more definite than the prayer itself." I mean a determination to follow God's will, and to care for nothing else, without any reason to be given for the determination.' The one real proof that you have the right kind of prayer for you, is not that it always goes easily and always succeeds, but that it really does you good and changes your life.8 If the test is passed, and the director is convinced it is a case of genuine contemplation, the whole question of how to direct this one in a retreat arises. But prior to this, I believe it would be good to discuss some norms for direc-tion that apply equally intime of retreat and outside retreat, and leave the par-ticulars of the retreat itself until later. The first duty of the director will be that of affirming the retreatant's (directee's) prayer, and this by way of instruction and encouragement. First, instruction: make sure the retreatant knows that the simplicity of his or her pra~'er is correct; that it is not now a question of using the mind, imo ~ Leonard Boase, S.J., op. cit., p. 92. 6 Centering prayer = prayer of faith = contemplation. See Pennington in the bibliography at the end of the article. 7 Dom John Chhpman, O.S.B., Spiritual Letters, Sheed ahd Ward, London, 1935, p. 62. ~ Ibid., p. 135. 172 / Review for Religious, Volume 40, 1981/2 agination, and so forth; to seem to be doing nothing but waiting is not only not bad, but the very best. The following passage from St. John of the Cross has always sounded to me as being very modern, with its reflection about wasted time and bad self-image: The attitude necessary., is to pay no attention to discursive meditation, since this is not the time for it. They should allow the soul to remain in rest and quietude, e.ven though it may seem very obvious to them that they are doing nothing and wasting time, and even though they think this disinclination to think about anything is due to their laxity.9 The director might suggest the possibility of the use of a mantra to fix at-tention: If you want to gather all your desires into one simple word that the mind can easily retain, choose a short word that the mind can easily retain, choose a short word rather that a long one. A one-syllable word such as "God" or "love" is best. But choose one that is meaningful to you. Then fix it in your mind so that it will remain there come what may. This word will be your defense in conflict and in peace. Use it to beat upon the cloud of darkness above you and to subdue all distractions, consigning them to the cloud of forgetting beneath you. Should some thought go on annoying you demanding to know what you are doing, answer with this one word alone. II~ your mind begins to intellec-tualize over the meaning and connotations of this little word, remind yourself that its value lies in its simplicity.'° Play down the role of, and the frequent worry about, distractions: o Distractions are of two kinds: (a) the ordinary distractions, such as one has in medita-tion, which take one right away: and (b) the harmless wanderings of the imagination alone, while the intellect is fixed on God. These are quite harmless.'~ Sometimes we are, so to speak, in touch with God, but are beset with distractions, and every effort to get rid of these distractions only serves to break our contact with God. This is a state, referred to by St. Teresa, in which no attempt should be made to banish distractions. It is somewhat analogous to the case of a hostes~ entertaining a visitor on the ground floor while her children are making noise upstairs. If she goes up to keep them quiet, she has to leave her visitor.'z Above I said the director should affirm the retreatant's prayer by instruc-tion and encouragement. Of course, in this material, instruction can equal en-couragement. But let us turn to matters that are more explicitly encouraging. Dom Chapman's letters are filled with passages where he brings our accep-tance of God's will to the acceptance of the state of prayer we may have: But prayer, in the sense of union with God, is the most crucifying thing there is. One must do it for God's sake; but one will not get any satisfaction out of it, in the sense of * St. John of the Cross, DarkNight, Bk. 1, ch. 10, no.4, Works, p. 317. ,o The Cloud of Unknowing, ed. William Johnston, S.J., Doubleday Image, Garden City, 1973, p. 56. ~' Chapman, op. cit., p. 290. ~2 M. Eugene Boylan, O.C.S.O., Difficulties in Mental Prayer, 2nd. ed., M. H. Gill and Son, Dublin, 1944, p. 102. The Retreat Director and the Contemplative / 173 feeling "I am good at prayer," "! have an infallible method." That would be disastrous, since what we want to learn is precisely our own weakness, powerlessness, unworthiness. Nor ought one to expect "a sense of the reality of the supernatural" of which you speak. And one should wish for no prayer, except precisely the prayer that God gives us--prob-ably very distracted and unsatisfactory in every way! '~ But if we only pray in order to give ourselves to God, then the prayer we can do, whatever it is (doubtless it is not the very best we can do, but in general it is the only kind we can do), is what God wants, though it is far from being what we want. Only we must try to want what God wants, and only that. Don't worry." A favorite maxim of Chapman's was "Pray as you can and don't try to pray as you can't." He puts this doctrine to one correspondent in the form of a question: Can you do anything else? Can you choose your path, your prayer, your method or want of method?" At least ten times in the collection of his letters, Chapman insists on the point: want only the prayer the Lord is giving you. These passages suggest the purifying effect of contemplation. It becomes so arid at times that we must be praying not for our own sake but for God's sake. The reflection on our prayer after the prayer is finished, recommended by St. Ignatius in the Spiritual Exercises~6 could also be of help to a con-templative who seems just to be stumbling along. Reflection may reveal an obscure sense of Presence that was missed during the prayer itself: ¯ . ihe experience of void, of emptiness, of no-thing and non-being; it is the condition of kenosis and poverty of spirit. The sense of absence and negation is painfully real. Yet the experience seizes the reality of God more truly, because it touches him as he is, beyond feelings, images, concepts. Living faith alone can achieve this, and the purer and less en-cumbered the faith, the more real the possession of God. By the same token, however, God, the object of faith, becomes less "visible" or empirically experienced in any human terms. ,7 The fact that writers on prayer are concerned with the states we find in ourselves is itself an encouragement: To add to our distress, the failure to enjoy the sense of God's presence, often coupled with failure to fix the mind even for two moments on any thought that might provide a contact, makes us feel that we are doing nothing, and that bur so-called prayer is nothing but a waste of time and an insult to Almighty God. It is very necessary not to be stampeded or panicked by the cry that rises in our hearts, "I am doing nothing." One simple way of proving that we are not doing nothing is to Chapman, op. cit., p. 52. Ibid., p. 54. Ibid., p. 56. Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius, no. 77. Ernest E. Larkin, O. Carm., "The Dark Night of John of the Cross," The Way, vo. 1,4, no.l (1974), p. 15. 174 / Review for Religious, Volume 40, 1981/2 stop doing it. Provided that in spite of appearances we have been endeavoring to reach awareness of God, then the cessation of the endeavor will be observed.'8 Now let us turn to specifics for the time of retreat. What we have said so far is not to be forgotten. The most difficult thing for the director is to lay aside the expectations that the retreatant will: 1) have thoughts, insights, feel-ings in time of prayer;'2) report to the director said thoughts, insights, feelings of prayer time. To have these thoughts and feelings, insights, belongs to a kind of prayer that makes use of the mind and imagination. For the con-templative, these have been set aside. John of the Cross is adamant on this: Once a person has begun to enter this simple and idle state of contemplation, which comes about when he can no longer meditate, he should not at any time or season engage in meditations or look for support in spiritual savor or satisfaction, but stand upright on his own feet, with his spirit completely detached from everything . ~9 Chapman concurs: All those who find it impossible to meditate, not from la~:iness or lukewarmness, and find they cannot fix their thought on a subject, or understand the meaning Of the words unless they cease to feel that they are praying, are meant to cease all thinking, and only make acts of the will.2° Some directors may feel that they have had experiences with contemplative ret~'eatants contrary to this prescription. I think we must be careful in making this judgment. The retreatant may have felt constrained to follow carefully the given directions and somehow come through with something to report on. It may be that he or she is actually reporting on events that occurred outside of prayer. Or it is possible that it has come from a prayer time not without ex-treme violence to the prayer: Though, at first, a// meditation seems impossible, still, as one is practiced in contempla-tion, it becomes possible to meditate feebly and contemplate feebly at one and the same time. I mean that we can retain a filmy idea of some great truth--but then the tap is only half turned on of attention to God--unless the thoughts are merely in the imagination. This is good in hearing Mass, for instance, but not in time of mental prayer?' But if this has happened, we have failed in an important way. The annual retreat may be most fruitful for many if, through it, they find how they should pray best. And this praying "with the tap half off" is not the affirmation they need. So what is left for the director to do? Two things, I believe. The first is to do what I have just indicated: what is necessary inside and outside of retreat time: affirm the retreatant's prayer. Use all the helps given above, and any others available--some readings, perhaps--to assure the retreatant that he or L. Boase, pp. cir., p. 81. John of the Cross, Living Flame, Stanza 3, no. 36, Works, p.624. Chapman, pp. cit., p. 289. Ibid., p. 122. The Retreat Director and the Contemplative / 175 she is praying as the Lord would have them pray; suggest they accept his will; let them see they really don't have much choice if they are going to pray at all. Some may have experienced the "tap half open" that Chapman speaks of: a thinking while they pray, but with the realization that their thoughts really are not their prayer. Encourage them to open the tap wide. In addition to this, the second thing: the director can still use Scripture, and the retreatant can actually move through a program--even the thirty-day Exercises. Only in this instance the Scripture is not to be the object of formal prayer. We have been constantly pointing out that for the contemplative, meditation is not prayer. But in the many periods outside of formal prayer during a retreat day, tho~ughts may come. The Scripture passages may bear their fruit. Let us refer to Chapman again: Outside the time of prayer:--(a) Meditation must never be dropped. It need not be elaborate consideration, but a mere glance at the mysteries of our Lord, especially of the Passion. Most people will find it very easy and helpful to make the Stations of the Cross in private?~ Again, the reflection on the prayer period can frequently be a source of special grace. Though there may have been no th6ught in the prayer, especial-ly helpful insights may come at this time. Chapman points out an effect of prayer that may have important meaning here: .and this act,of wish to love must go on increasing, or I should say at once the prayer is bad. But whether there is any emotional feeling outside prayer depends on the character of the person in question. But l am sure good prayer must increase tenderness (so to speak) and appreciation in a momentary look, without long consideration. And I am sure there is an "irradiation" from prayer on ordinary knowledge, making it broader and more compreh~nsive.Z~ If the retreatant's prayer is very quiet and if the circumstances of retreat reduce distractions so th~it the sense of Presence of the Lord is strong, even that Presence can be Colored by the phase of the retreat. How it may be I don't know, but I believe the modality of Presence, ol~scure as it may be, i~ different for a retreatant in the First Week of the Spiritual Exercises than it is for him in the Fourth Week. All this may sound very un-Ignatian, but I do not believe it is. There is an interesting couple of sentences on theoprayer of the Ignatian Exercises in the Dictibnary of Spirituality: But the Exercises aim to lead a soul in the way and manner of prayer which God wishes for it. Ignatius does not judge in advance what the divine work will be.2' Ibid., p. 292. Ibid., p. 78 f. Dictionnaire de SpiritualitY, Beauchesne, Paris, 1953, t2, pt.2 col. 2025: Mais les Exercises vi- 176 / Review for Religious, Volume 40, 1981/2 Is this entirely gratuitous? I think if one takes a look at Ignatius' history of prayer, one will read certain phrases in the Exercises in exactly the sense of this quotation. Although annotation no. 15 refers directly to decision making, it has other overtones: . but in the course of these spiritual exercises, it is more appropriate that., the Creator and Lord should be left to deal himself with the soul that belongs to him, receiving it into his love and the life of praise . " What is Ignatius saying in Annotation 20? The more our soul finds itself in perfect solitude, the fitter does it become to approach and reach up to its Creator and Lord; and the closer it gets to Him, the more disposed does it become to receive favors and gifts from his supreme divine goodness.26 Then there are implications in one interpretation of the Application of Senses, the final prayer of nearly every day of the Exercises. If one accepts Mar6chal,27 the Application of.Senses leads from discursive prayer toward contemplative prayer. If this is indeed Ignatius' intention, I doubt that he would mind if the retreatant turned to contemplation before the end of the day, or from the beginning of the day. Certainly not all questions are a0swered, all difficulties overcome. But I believe that if the director guides the contemplative in the way outlined here, which includes very little Scripture each day, the retreatant will grow in the Lord.z8 The director definitely needs some of the faith Ignatius had that the Lord really is very much dealing with his creature whom he loves with a love that is tender and powerful. The Transition to Contemlflation Our second case is one who is on the border line between meditation and contemplation. Such a retreatant is a very special person. It is a critical time. There is an opportunity for great growth. There is the chance that even long years lie ahead without peace in prayer, a sense of being at sea. There is also the danger that prayer will prove to be just so different that it will be complete-ly laid 'aside. Certainly the director cannot determine all--this we must face. There is only one real expert on what helps a person in prayer, and that expert is the person who is praying. The director may make suggestions, give warnings, teach. But only the one praying can tell if it works--except for the criterion of sent ~ conduire ~'6me dans la voie et le mode d' oraison que Dieu veut pour elle. Ignace ne prdjuge pas I'opdration divine (M. Olphe-Galliard). 2, Spiritual Exercises, no. 15. Corbishley's translation (Anthony Clarke, Wheathampstead, Hert-fordshire, 1973). 26 Ibid., no. 20. 27 See the article on "Application des Sens" in the Dictionnaire de SpiritualitY. ~B 1 say "little Scripture" here as the program for the retreat. If the retreatant will be helped by more extensive reading, it certainly should be considered. The Retreat Director and the Contemplative / 177 the effect the prayer is having on daily living. Is the retreatant at the point where attempts to meditate should be given up, where he should turn to contemplation? St. John of the Cross gives signs for this in two places which Chapman abbreviates as:'9 1) impossibility of meditating, no pleasure in using the imagination, delight in being alone and waiting lovingly upon God;3° and 2) dryness, without.comfort either in God or in creatures, painful anxiety as to fervor, inability to meditate.3' John of the Cross also discusses the transition at length in Stanza 3 of the Living Flame of Love, but there he seems content with the inability to meditate, and his atten-tion is very much on the director.3' John's teaching is thus summarized by Chapman: . Many persons pass long years., when they cannot meditate, and yet are afraid to contemplate; and the signs are less easy to recognize. They have tried methods, one after another, they have tried reading and pondering, and then reading again (a good way of keeping off distraction); alas, perhaps they have almost given up mental prayer in despair . They do not feel urged by a frequent thought of God, nor do they dare say that they have a disgust of creatures. On the contrary they have found the spiritual life so dry that they have felt thrown upon creatures for consolations., they have imagined themselves to be going back because they have no devotion, no "feelings"; and perhaps they are really going back, since they have not learned the right path forward. But they have the essential marks., for they cannot meditate--it is a physical im-possibility . They are able to think out a subject, to work out a sermon., but they feel such considerations are not prayer. They want to unite themselves with God, not reason about what he has done for them or what they have to do for him.~ If things are anything like what Chapman describes here, certainly ex-perimentation is in order. The retreatant should be encouraged at least to try some quiet times, times of waiting or listening. Later I will mention some reading material especially for those who may have given up prayer, which may also be useful. Chapman mentions the possibility of an interim period: There is sometimes a period when meditation is sometimes possible, sometimes not. In this case use meditation whenever possible. This state will not last long.~' If the experimentation shows some signs that tfiis is the right direction to go, the material we gave above for the developed contemplative should apply. I suppose one should mention the possibility and danger of someone out of pride claiming that the contemplative way is his or her way. It could happen. ~9 0p. cit., p.287. ~o TheAscent of Mt. Carmel, Bk. 2, ch. 13, Works, p. 140 ff. ~ The Dark Night of the Soul. Bk. I, ch. 9, Works, p. 313 ff. ~2 Works, p. 620 ff. ~ Chapman, op. ~it., p. 287 f. ~' Chapman, op. cit., p. 289. St. John of the Cross agrees with this: Ascent, Bk. 2, oh. 15, Works, 148. 178 / Review for Religious, Volume 40, 1981/2 If it does, questions of humility, obedience and charity should help to suitable discernment. But in the prayer culture of more recent times, the preponderant influence has not been to make false contemplatives but to give the impression that there is no such thing as contemplation. Resuming Prayer Again Ernest Larkin speaks of the beginning of contemplation: This initial con, templauon ~s at first so tenuous and delicate that it would go undetected without the outside assurance of a spiritual director." Often, of course, there is no spiritual director to give that assurance. And without it, many lose their way in prayer. This has a special element of tragedy about it: the opportunity for growth has become the occasion for slipping backward. If a retreatant has a sense at the beginning of the retreat that "it's not go-ing to work," he may actually be experiencing this crisis. If he reports that there has been no regular prayer for a long time lately, especially if there was once a tithe when prayer seemed to mean Presence, this may indicate that ~he invitation io contemplation has been missed. Certainly a review of the retreat-ant's history of prayer is in order. I like very much Chapman's "Pray as you can and don't try to pray as you can't." A friend has turned it around a bit: "If you are persevering in prayer, you are probably praying at least close to the way you should." A prolonged attempt ,to keep prayer up when one is not praying in the way one should will not work. What does this all add up to? Hope, I think. If a retreatant has not been praying, first try to explore and find the prayer that is best for this one now. There is a chance you have a contemplative on your hands who just needs to be aimed right. As to beginning afresh, or where you left off, I don't think you have any choice! You simply have to begin wherever you find yourself. Make any acts you want to make and feel you ought to make; but do not force yourself into feelings of any kind.J~ The exploration may include some attempts at discursive prayer--but not pushed too hard. The whole atmosphere ought to be "Lord teach us to pray";" and the expectation that the Lord will confirm the right way of prayer by his Presence, even if most obscurely. If the results seem to indicate that the way of contemplation is right for this retreatant, the material presented above should prove again useful. A retreat director who has helped a retreatant who has ceased to pray to find his way again has done an excellent Ernest E. Larkin, O. Carm., 7~he Way, 1974, p. 14. Chapman, op. cit., p. 53. One might offer some readings. See the bibliography at the end of this article. The Retreat Director and the Contemplative / 179 thing. Perhaps tied up with the syndrome of laying prayer aside is a kind of par-tial laying it down: "I can't pray for more than a half hour"; "Centering works for me for twenty minutes." Implicit in such statements seems to be a theory of prayer that says it ought to be easy or feel nice, or be successful. Many of the quotations we have given thus far show that prayer is a work of faith, and that it is purifying and often most difficult. We can add another: You are on the lookout for "consolation," merely because you still imagine that you are not serving God properly when you are in dryness. Make up your mind once for all that dryness is best, and you will find that you are frightened at having anything else! Em-brace aridities and distractions and temptations, and you will find you love to be in ~ darkness, and that there is a supersensible light that is simply extinguished by consola-tion!~ a Those, then, who claim that only short periods of prayer work need in-struction: How long to I~ray. One thinks of one full hotir daily . St. Peter of Alcantara says, "When the time is too short, it is passed in unloading the imagination and in bringing the heart under control; just at the moment when we are ready and ought to be beginning., we stop it . It would seem that the more active and distracting our daily life is, the more need there is of a full hour of "relaxing, coming to rest in God". We . need the~daily "healing of soul" and "opening to the Spirit" in quiet and silence if we lead a busy life . In view of all this, one would not advocate the practice of having two separate periods of thirty minutes each, instead of one full hour at one time.~9 But if centering prayer (rightly understood, this is just another name for the contemplation we have been talking about) is right, don't try to prolong it by discursive prayer. Rather persevere ,in silent faithful waiting. Chapman, op. cit., p. 99. James Borst, M.H.M., A Method of Contemplative Prayer, Asian Trading Corp., Bombay, 1973, p. 25. SOME REFERENCES FOR READING What I present here will not be systematic, mainly what has helped me. In some cases I will give more background, iri others less. Throughout the text of this article, I have carefully suppressed any references to "dark nights" or to "mysticism," lest anyone be scared away. Sooner or later it has to come out. It can't be avoided in these references to the literature. But maybe it won't sound so bad now. Dom John Chapman, O.S.B., Spiritual Letters, first published 1935, Sheed and Ward, London. An insert in my copy says "distributed in the United States by Christian Classics, 205 Willis Street, Westminster, Md. 21157, though I believe it may be found in many bookstores. 180 / Review for Religious, Volume 40, 1981/2 This is obviously one of my favorites. Chapman, a convert, died in 1932. His letters are almost exclusively to those whose prayer seems to be contemplative and his advice is very much down to earth, In appendices there are two special essays: "Contemplative Prayer, a Few Simple Rules" and "What is Mysiicism?" St. John of the Cross, Collected Works, translated by Kieran Kavanaugh, O.C.D., and Otilio Rodriguez, O.C.D., Institute of Carmelite Studies, Washington, D.C., 1979. Many have felt that John of the Cross would be too difficult. He is actually writing for beginners and is much con-cerned with the transition from discursive prayer to contemplation. This transition, the failure of mind and imagination to be prayer, is what he calls the Dark Night of the Senses. It seems unfor-tunate that the term "dark night" is used so casually to mean any difficulty in prayer or the spiritual life and at the same time so little attention is given to its real meaning for St. John. The most useful sections of his writings in connection with the problems we have been discuss-ing are in the Ascent of Mr. Carmel. Ch. 13, 14, 15 of Book II (Works, p. 140 ff.); in The Dark Night of the.Soul, Book I, Ch. 8 to about 13 (Works, p. 311 ff.); in The Living Flame ~fLove, Stanza 3, 27 ff. (Works, p. 620 ff.). In this last section he has some unkind words about spiritual directors he has known. Leonard Boase, S.J., The Prayer of Faith, Our Sunday Visitor, Huntington, IN, 1975. This is the second revision of a gem that first appeared in 1950, published then by the London Apostleship of Prayer. It is surprising in how many libraries you may find it--a testimony of how its worth was recognized. This book is aimed at someone who is having difficulty in prayer precisely bgcause discursive prayer is failing. It is beautifully written. M. Eugene Boylan, D(fficulties in Mental Prayer; M.H. Gill and Son, Ltd.,Dublin, 1944. This used.to scare me. The title's reference to mental prayer suggested "more techniques for medita-tion." Actually, in purpose it is much like Boase. One chapter toward the end is "The Prayer of Faith." Jean Pierre de Caussade, S.J., On Prayer, trans, by Algar Thorold, Benziger, New York, NY, 1931. The introduction is by Abbot Chapman. In this work, de Caussade reduces to a kind of catechism Bossuet's work on Quietism. The first part of the book is on th6 errors of Quietism, and if it exaggerates the actual intent of the Quietists, at least it shows what was condemned in the name of Quietism. I found it useful. Sometimes it seems that a fear of Quietism may be operative in keeping prayer very active. The second part of the book (sometimes printed by itself) helps one grow toward simplicity in prayer--still in the form of question and answer. James Borst, M.H.M., A Method of Contemplative Prayer, Asian Trading Corporation, Bom-bay, India, 1973. The sixth edition is the one I have. The preface to the fifth edition is dated 1975. The foreword is by Abhiskiktananda, known to many by his own book on prayer. Despite the remoteness of the publisher, I believe this is quite available in good .religious book stores. It is hardly more than a pamphlet, 62 pages. Fr. Borst is a member of the charismatic movement in In-dia, but the book is all on contemplation. It is an excellent "how to do" introduction. The Cloud of Unknowing, anonymous 14th century English writer, Doubleday Image, Garden City, N.Y., 1973. A classic on the subject of contemplation. The editor is William Johnston, S.J. The Book of Privy Counseling by the same unknown author is included in the Image edition, as well as cross references to the works of St. John of the Cross. M. Basil Pennington, O.C.S.O., Daily We Touch Him, Practical Religious Experienc(s, Double-day and Company, Inc. Garden City, NY, 1977; and Abbot Thomas Keating, O.C.S.O., M. Basil Pennington, O.C.S.O., and Thomas E. Clarke, S.J., Finding Grace at the Center, St. Bede Publications, Still Run, MA, 1978. Both these books are introductions to "centering prayer"--the title taken from Merton and the technique from the Cloud of Unknowing. There is considerable overlap between the two books, Pennington's contribution to the second matching much of what he says in the first. As I read it, those proposing centering prayer seem to take it as a The Retreat Director and the Contemplative / 181 method anyone might use any time, while John of the Cross says there is a time and there are signs when to begin and that you then never lay it aside. Of course, many today may be prepared for contemplation who simply have not known it and these books could help them. Anthony de Mello, S.J., Sadhana: A Way to God, The Institute of Jesuit Sources, St. Louis, MO, 1978. The book bears a subtitle: Christian Exercises in Eastern Form. Ft. De Mello is an Indian Jesuit in whom east and west might meet. Exercises in awareness open one to a quiet that makes contemplation possible. Later sections take up prayer and fantasy, devotion. In a certain way, the book's structure seems backward in the light of John of the Cross' teaching. William Johnston, S.J., Silent Music, The Science of Meditation, Harper and Row, New York, 1974; The Inner Eye of Love, Mysticism and Religion, Harper and Row, New York, NY, 1978. The first of these surveys meditation (taken in its widest sense, as one says "Zen meditation") east and west. Ft. Johnston, with a degree in mystical theology and years of residence in Japan, is singularly qualified. Silent Music among other things, gives some reports on scientific ex-periments in the altered states of consciousness associated with meditation. Later sections deal with questions of healing and intimacy and their relation to meditation. The Inner Eye is an essay in the contemporary theology of mysticism, not limited to Christian mysticism. Thomas H. Green, S.J., When the Well Runs Dry, Prayer Beyond t.he Beginnings, Ave Maria Press, Notre Dame, IN, 1979. This recent book I met only after finishing this article. Ft. Green draws much from St. Theresa as well as John of the Cross. It should be very helpful for many. Invitation Come, Master Harper, Play my life, Gliding fingers down the dream strings Dancing 'long undreamed of paths Not bound by frame of wood or thought. Blend the patters and the pitches with the peace of new creation And the death of all I know, 'Til new sounds, unsounded still, reverberate through all ! am and i am played unto the end. Then touch my strings to stop them, And when the echoes fade, In this last silence Let the infinite variations of Your own theme begin. Sister Linda Karas, RSM Religious Consultation Center Dallas, PA 18612 When You Can't Pray: Removing Obstacles to Prayer Mary C. Coelho Mary Coelho is coordinator of the program in spiritual direction at the Center for Christian Spirituality; General Theological Seminary. She resides at 800 Riverside Drive, Apt. 7C; New York, NY 10032. For Christians, prayer is the route to the inner way, the treasure in the field. Yet many Christians find they can't pray. Feelings of anger, inadequacy, impatience--and perhaps abandonment--arise from our frustration in prayer. We cannot understand our frustration in the light of the promise that we are continually sought by God. If God seeks us and we try to seek God, what happens to frustrate a meeting? If the soul is naturally Christian, shouldn't the desire of our heart for communion with God issue naturally in the fulfill-ment of that desire? What goes awry? We know the path is arduous and the gate is narrow, but we doubt if we are even on the path. Merely delineating some of the obstacles to prayer can help us find our way on the early stages of the path. When we do this, we become less discouraged simply because identifying and recognizing the obstacles means we are aware bf the cause of our difficulties with prayer. We no longer project our frustration and failure into anger and disbelief while we remain immobile and unchanging. We can take responsibility for the obstacles and cooperate in their removal. Thus a process of identification of internal obstacles to prayer can be a source of help toward growth in prayer. Prayer is our response when we have found ourselves possessed and sought by God on some occasion in our life. Our beginning to seek God is difficult and tortured, yet it is one which we are irresistibly drawn to make. William Blake's words, "We are put on earth for a little space that we may learn to 182 When You Can't Pray / 183 bear the beams of love" strikingly state this fundamental invitation to human beings to respond to God. But we find it hard to be open to these beams of love. Part of the response of prayer is concerned with the changes necessary in order for us to become less resistant to and less afraid of the "beams of love." This quiet openness to change is related to the Christian tradition of the "prayer of the heart." Thomas Merton describes it as "a way of keeping oneself in the presence of God and of reality, rooted in one's inner truth.'" Merton's insistence on being rooted in one's inner truth shows that learning to bear the "beams of love" involves a deep form of self-knowledge. We have to be willing to face the negative as well as the positive elements which we find in our inner selves. The obstacles to prayer we are going to identify and describe here primarily revolve around failure in self-knowledge and the fear and resistance we often produce to obscure our inner depths. The beams of love which bear witness to the priority and initiative of God encourage us to face our resistance and frustration with hope. God is working in us at depths beyond our comprehension. We begin then with the trust that God's love is greater than our failure, however deep that may be. Paradoxically, it is the very activity of God's love in us which uncovers our resistances and invites us to acknowledge them. When we do that, the resistances begin to lose their power, Indeed the whole process is one of recognition of the obstacle, repentance, and purgation. The only justification for this apparently negative activity, which we so resist, is that we may more and more be available to the energies of love working in us. St. Augustine wrote, "We come to God by love and not by navigation." Isn't our intention to describe obstacles to prayer an attempt at navigation? Augustine gives priority to the love which is always drawing us rather than to the techniques of ndvigation which we wish to employ to bring us to our destination. We:may suspect that our struggles with the obstacles to prayer are only an attempt at Pelagian navigation and an attempt to control the whole adventure of prayer. But navigation can be of a cooperative nature and not the fixing of a forced course to a predetermined destination. What may look like navigation on our part is in reality dependent i)n the love of Goal already working in us. It is this very love which encourages us .to enter the struggle to be free to bear the beams of love. It is this very love which enables and en-courages us to be navigators in relation to the internal obstacles to prayer. The journey inward is not primarily accomplished by our own efforts: it is rather a double search. In prayer we seek God as our response to knowing that God seeks and loves us. We are invited to collaborate with the creative God who calls'us to b~ecome pilgrims in the land of our interior depths. We are ready now to look at some obstacles to prayer in some detail. These obstacles include our woundedness, our fear of darkness in ourselves, our Thomas Mert0n, Contemplative Prayer (New York, Herder and Herder, 1969), p. 24. 184 / Review for Religious, Volume 40, 1981/2 need to achieve, our lack of patience, our lack of gratitude, and our failure to trust our inner longing for God. Our Woundedness One reason for frustration in prayer, for our failure to collaborate with the love of God, is our woundedness. We feel rejected, unwanted, unloved. We believe that we have not been loved sufficiently in the past. This has been so painful an experience that we dare not risk accepting the vulnerability which love demands. As one Christian has written, "And because our need to be loved and to give love is so deep and central, to be denied this makes us angry beyond the conscious knowing, and an angry person consciously or un-consciously is tempted to destroy, to kill and often does. Most people in the world are deeply angry.''2 Our often unconscious devices for protecting us from further wounds tend to cut us off from God in spite of an avowed con-scious desire to be open to his love and a belief in his graciousness. Likewise anger, often deep and unconscious, can generate an energy which pervades our whole being and thus deflects our attention away f~om God's healing presence. A wounded person may find it actually impossible to allow himself or herself to be open and vulnerable. What are we to do in the face of such an impasse? Surely it is impossible to make ourselves suddenly open and vulner-able so that love can work more effectively in us and through us. Are there any ways of navigating in the face of our woundedness? Although we feel unloved and rejected, we will discover thereare some people who care about us, enjoy us and even love us. If we begin, however tentative-ly, to risk trusting this care and love, we will find the pressure to run away-- either physically, or in the myriad of small ways by which we shut off personal involvement--greatly diminished. When we begin consciously to admit our desire and need to be with certain people, we will also accept this desire and need and act on them. We do this in the face of knowing that the care and love offered by others will also be wounded and imperfect, and that we will un-doubtedly be hurt again. Reaching out to others in spite of our woundedness will often mean finding new friends or deepening our trust and availability to a spouse, an old friend, a priest, a teacher, or a spiritual director. Opening ourselves to the love of others is comparable, on a psychological level, to opening ourselves to God, who reveals himself as One who knows what it is to be wounded. Not only do we need to allow others to love us and care for us as we are, we also need to to do the same for ourselves, especially our wounded parts. As an area of woundedness within us is made conscious, we need to accept it, acknowledge it and let it be part of us. This involves a deep self-acceptance. Gordon Cosby, "The Invisible World," Faith at Work, March, 1976, p. 6. When You Can't Pray / 185 Sister Rachel Hosmer describes3 praying in a chapel where she felt secure, separated from noise and distraction in the building and separated from her own unhappiness and loneliness in a community. But she realized she did not want this separate, safe place. She writes, "From then on I began to realize that I had to go down to the roots of my own life, where lives a small, rebellious, treacherous, wounded, tear-stained child. I had to encounter her gently, lovingly, take her in my arms, comfort her, listen to her, share with her." Such recognition and gentle acceptance of our woundedness allows us to drop the barriers that protected our woundedness. These are the same pro-tective barriers that prevent our vulnerability in prayer. Accepting our woundedness means we can move closer to rootedness in our inner truth and that we can better live in the presence of God and reality. Fear of Darkness in Ourselves Another reason for disappointment in prayer related to Our woundedness is our fear of the darkness in ourselves. On encountering darkness in ourselves, we may have tried to deny its existence or distract ourselves from looking at it further. If we choose to avoid our own darkness we are also choosing to withdraw from any deep involvement with prayer. True prayer will not allow us either to deny our darknesses nor be seduced by distraction. We have no choice but to come back to the darkness if we are to learn to pray. And u~ually our darknesses are thrown into consciousness in such a way that we can't possibly avoid them anyway. By coming upon darkness in ourselves, I mean meeting deep anger, empti-ness, loneliness, guilt, fear, excessive pride, a sense of failure to live up to ideals, a recognition of helplessness before some desire or habit, a recognition of not truly living, or the sense of living a lie--to name a few! Closing off en-counter with these aspects of our personality will not be replaced by light, but by a gray world in which God is distant and detached.' Encounter with darkness in ourselves is an essential element of true prayer. It is part of the movement towards true light. Meeting darkness in ourselves is not a reason for failure in prayer. It is an early stage of prayer. It becomes an obstacle if we fail to acknowledge it or attempt to hide from it. Once an aspect of personal darkness has been seen and acknowledged, how can we navigate in relationship to it? We need to trust that through it and beyond it, new life will emerge inus. This trust is based on the faith that God is already working in us, calling us to wholeness. We need to trust that the darkness will lose its Power and that we will be sustained in our struggle with ~ Sr. Rachel Hosmer, New Principles for Christian Spirituality (Center for Christian Spirituality, General Theological Seminary, 175 Ninth Avenue, New York 10011), 13. 23. ' William J. Connolly, S.J. "Experiences of Darkness in Directed Retreats," REviEw RELIGIOUS VOI. 33 1974, p. 611. 186 / Review.for Religious, Volume 40, 1981/2 it. Nor dare we give the excuse that it is inappropriate to concentrate on gloomy things. Conscious work with darkness in ourselves may necessitate the finding of professional help because the obstacle to prayer may have deep roots in our character. A basic confidence in facing darkness is found in the paschal rhythm of the Christian life, the passage from death to life in Christ and our entry into that drama places all our struggles in a wider and healing context. Conscious encounter with darkness can be the beginning of the dissolution of the power of ~hat darkness, although it is hard to believe that could be true on first encounter with it. We realize it has been a dominant, determining force in our lives and we feel caught, defeated, and totally determined .by it. But the initial step of consciousness of the darkness is of critical importance. We were previously unaware of the darkness and it held sway in our lives free-ly and unbeknownst to us. By acknowledging and facing the guilt, the fear or the loneliness, the darkness no longer has an unchallenged freedom to operate in our lives. And as we face the darkness, we find that ,the king has no clothes." There is a gradual shift in our self understanding which involves the growth and emergence of new life and wholeness. However painful and slow this may be, the facing of our darkness is an essential task. To avoid darkness is to do so at the price of living in shallowness and unreality. Willingness to face and deal with darkness, instead of denying it and hiding it, is one of the clearest indications that our own reali-ty, rather than an idealized concept of ourselves, has entered into the dialogue to which God is always calling us. Usually the busy round of normal daily demands prevents buried parts of ourselves from becoming conscious. In fact we often consciously and ~uncon-sciously pattern our lives precisely to hide from the truth about ourselves and to maintain a false, idealized image that we have carefully constructed. Often a weekend retreat or a longer period of silence is the occasion of a sudden breaking of this image, when an aspect of darkness is allowed to come to the surface. For this reason, retreats and other ways of breaking tlie daily patt.ern of demands, are essential if we are to move beyond disappointment in prayer. Need to Achieve Many of us have a high need to achieve. A person with a high need to achieve as a wiry of earning identity and self-esteem will try to make prayer an achievement. But he will inevitably be disappointed when trying to turn prayer into a performance. This is because a great deal of achievement in our culture depends on a willful manipulation of life by our conscious ~elves whereas prayer involves an open availability to life and a desire not to do our ego-will but the will of God. The failure of attempts to pray by sheer effort is.a crucial event for the would-be "achiever" which must be recognized and faced honestly. We approach prayer with the same attitudes with which we approach the Whbn You Can "t Pray /A 87 rest of life.~ We aren't different people when we pray, although we would like to think otherwise. Many of the carefully acquired manipulative skills we have learned to earn a place in life, to be "successful," in reality impede our open-ness to the totality of life as it is. The methods of consulting experts, strenuously learning the latest or oldest method of meditation or prayer, reading all the books, while not unimportant, will not "work" if the informa-tion is applied in a willful, controlling, achievement-oriented way. How does the achiever who has failed at praying continue from the point of his failure? God's hiddenness to him could drive him to ask hard questions and then to abandon his achieving ways, since they don't work anyway! Our own aggressiveness and desire to control and manipulate are systematically humiliated as we begin to face the realization that what matters most in life is not at the service of our achieving devices. The very frustration and fail~re are teaching us to learn and try other modes of being and to undermine our view of life as being validated only by achievement. What aspects of the human being are more receptive to God's love? Learn-ing to listen, to hear, to be passive and receptive, to wait and be patient, to trust intuition, these are qualities most often associated with the feminine side of our life. It takes a !ong time for both male and female achievers to learn and to trusi these qualities of our being. Yet it is through the receptive, feminine side of life that we can learn to pray and know God. Unfortunately it often seems to take an occasion of helplessness to recognize the importance of the so-called feminine side of our personality. This occasion may be serious ill-ness, admission Of alcoholism, death of a beloved person, loss of work or the dissolution of an important intimate relationship. . The feminine aspects of personality, however, can be slowly nourished by a va.riety of means. For example by meditative listening to scripture we learn to let scripture address us personally. This depends on a receptive openness find a capacity to listen. Listening to dreams, which come to us from another world beyond our control, can be of essential importance in a growing con-sciousness of the restrictedness and narrowness of the confines of the con-scious, achieving personality. In the give and take of friendship or in marriage we slowly learn to let go of our willful ordering of the other person's life and gradually accept the unique-nes~ and otherness of the friend or spouse with their mixture of strengths and weaknesses, beauty.and ugliness. Participation in a small group, as a "house church," prayer group, therapy group or group for spiritual direction, gradually instructs us in the capacity to relate to life in nonachieving ways. A group has a life of its own, so that living and sharing in its life invites us to participate in a larger life outside ~ William J. Connolly S.J. "Disappointment in Prayer: Prelude to Growth?" REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS Vol. 32, 1973, p. 557. "188 / Review for Religious, Volume 40, 1981/2 our narrowly limited consciouness. Some typesof movement and dance, painting, walks in nature are means for some people to learn to drop their aggressive and manipulative ways. All of these may lead us to a humility before life which calls us to live more prayer-fully in it. Lack of Personal Freedom We have just described the "need to achieve" as a pattern of behavior that may cause disappointment in prayer. This is a specific example of a larger problem that blocks our prayer. We are disappointed in prayer because we obstinately cling to false or narrow and unexamined conscious goals, opin-ions, atntudes and feelings. We all do this to some degree and we need to learn to detect the ways in which we unconsciously narrow our lives. William Con-nolly writes: "The person who is controlled by fear, by anger, by a fixed idea of his or her futur.e, finds himself or herself incapable of more than superficial prayer. When a person begins to be freed of that control, he becomes capable of deeper prayer.''6 The detection and unearth.ing of our narrow and unexamined conscious goals and opinions, attitudes and feelings is a slow and difficult process. We are so wedded to them and convinced of their correctness, or so take them for granted, that they are not even a subject of our consideration. How then can we detect them? Often the truth we most need to ponder is initially unattrac-tive. We resist it. It bothers us and even repels us. This is a clue to'look again. The more there is at stake emotionally in some idea, proposal or change of the way of doing things, the more we can be sure it deserves our careful attention to detect the causes of our alarm. Or we may observe that we strongly dislike someone who never did us any harm. We should suspect they have qualities and patterns of being that we also have, but have rejected in ourselves, losing conscious awareness of them. But we can gradually become aware of some of the constrictions in our personality and our ways of being so that we are more available to the divine freedom. As we consciously acknowledge these con-strictions we are freer to act out of love and caring. God does not force our behavior, but a personality that is more self-accepting and freer is more available to act out of God's love. A person with a raw, unguarded immediacy to God and to life is moving towards freedom to live and love. Lack of Patience Another reason for disappointment in prayer may be an unwillingness to be patient with ourselves and with the process of learning to pray. Advice to "be patient" sounds like something you sa.y in the absence of any more specific help. It is especially difficult for Americans who believe, although William J. Connolly S.J. "Freedom and Prayer in Directed Retreats," REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS, Vol. 32, 1973, p. 1359. When You Can't Pray with diminishing confidence, that, with some effort, discipline and extra work, we can get what we want. I hate to write it, American that I am, and I have learned it the hard way, but I believe that an unwillingness to wait and to be patient is a reason for disappointment in prayer. It is honest, sound advice. The necessity to be patient and wait does not mean that we become passive and listless. Nor does it mean that we are to be patient about all aspects of life. If the landlord doesn't give you heat, you should not be patient about that. But in relation to prayer, advice to be patient is an honest recognition that the transformation of our person by grace toward wholeness is a slow process. The education and training. (ascesis) of our person to be available to God's love is slow. Even the sudden gifts of moments of grace do not preclude the slow, gradual process of sanctification. Time, clocktime, is notof the essence. There are no shortcuts or tricks in the life of prayer. When Friedrich yon Hugel was eighteen, he was advised by the Dominican priest, Raymond Hocking "You want to grow in virtue, to serve God, to love Christ? Well you will grow in and attain these things if you will make them a slow and sure, and utterly real, mountainstep plod and ascent, willing to have to camp for week.s in spiritual desolation, darkness and emptiness at different ~tages in your march and growth. All demand for constant light, all attempt at eliminating or minimizing the cross and trial, is so much folly or puerile trifling.''7 Lack of Gratitude At times our feeling of disappointment in prayer may resultfrom a failure to celebrate and be grateful for the grace and gifts and strength we do,receive in our daily lives and in prayer. Unfortunately it seems easier to focus on our struggles and to suffer than ~to celebrate and enjoy changes in the quality.of our life or that of our neighor. Small changes of heart, a sense of being reconverted, and simple acts of love seem fragile and transient in the face of major human dislocations. We need to sing more, if we sing, or dance more, if we dance, in order to sustain our celebration of life. We need the ability to be carefree, to disregard appearances, to relax and laugh at the world and ourselves. These are all ~ways of being grateful and saying "yes" to life. Douglas Steere often says in his retreats t.hat he doesn't know. of a better way to enter prayer than through gratitude. Lack of Obedience in Small Things We proudly look for some major insight or a profound illumination or a clear call to an exciting, life-transforming project. However much to be treasured; such desires are often more a need of the ego than a readiness to Bernard Hollard, ed., Selected Letters ofFriedrich von Hugel (London, Dent, 1927), p. 266. 190 / Review for Religious, Volume 40, 1981/2 allow such experiences to transform and shape our lives. It' is "the slow mountainstep plod" that does transform us. Failure to carry out small acts of love and caring and to integrate in our lives insights we have received, are what can effectively block us. "It is clearly absurd to be pining for some grand revelation of God's will while we are refusing to attend to this or that small beginning of a revelation that is already unmistakably before us. It may only be 'something telling us' as we say, that I am not using my money as I thought--not holding it in steward-ship. It may be a recurrent doubt about the strict honesty of some habitual practice. It may be an uncomfortable feeling about a certain indulgence I have been allowing myself.''8 We can learn to celebrate and savor small acts of devotion and to do them with joy. Unwillingness to Be a Beginner Another obstacle may be the unwillingness to be a beginner in prayer and meditation. We need to be perfectly content to be a beginner, to experience ourselves as one who has little or no capacity to pray and has a desperate need to learn the bare rudiments. This may be in spite of long involvement in the Church, and in spite of highly developed capacities and talents in other areas. Those who think they know from the beginning will never in fact come to know anything. In a way we will never be anythng else but beginners all of our life. Our ego consciousness is always a beginner in relation to God because itis not out of its ways of relating to life that we know God. o Failure to Trust Our Inner Longing for God Learning to pray depends on an inner knowledge that it is worthwhile. Otherwise our attempts to pray will be experienced as too laborious and dif-ficult. The inner knowledge of our need to pray may be within us, but we are listening to other voices, particularly the voices of a secular culture. Clamor-ing voices within and without drown out our desire to know God and we organize our lives around the other demands. By comparison to the seeming importance of the other demands our desire to pray seems too tenuous, un-proven- simply not worth it. So we need to learn to trust and live out of our deepest inner desire. Sometimes to avoid trusting experiences of the heart, we demand a rational, causal explanation by some authority in society. This serves to make the claim of these experiences more manageable, in our control. But Pascal wrote that the heart may have reasons that the mind knows not of. A rational explanation serves to deny the uniqueness of our spiritual life and allows us to shed that uniqueness along with our particular personal history, our gifts and our responsibilities. Complete rational knowledge is possible only of things, John Baillie, The Idea of Revelation in Recent Thought (New York, Columbia University Press, 1956). When You Can't Pray / 191 not persons.9 We must allow ourselves the fact of not totally understanding our experiences and to live and love and affirm life in the midst of our not-understanding. We are called to fall in love with life, not just to try to under-stand it. Brother Roger, founder of the Taize community, speaks to the problem of our demand to understand. He writes "A set, juridical mentality was a feature of ancient Rome, and it was handed down to all of Western Christianity. It left us ill-prepared for contemplation, the culmination of the inner life. In contrast, Eastern Christianity is still today rich in lives centered on just this reality. When the mind is less concerned with defining how we know God and what we know of him, there is more room available in which to adore him.'''° A friend once described in careful and loving detail the experiences and events of a week-long retreat. The week had been profoundly important to him and included a number of unexpected, new experiences. It involved feel-ing called and directed to seek out specific individuals particularly needing love and attention. After the retreat he said he spent two years trying to ex-plain or discredit the experiences and to find descriptions of comparable events in the Bible or elsewhere in religious literature. "Experiences had to be manageable and understandable." But finally by telling the story of the retreat, sparing no detail, he was letting the experie.nces speak for themselves, not finally understood but accepted and celebrated for their life-transforming quality. He came to trust his own inner knowledge of the peculiar importance of the retreat experiences. It is common for people to have a'sense of restlessness and an awareness from past experiences of God or from knowledge of scripture, that their pres-ent way of living narrows life unhecessarily. The ego must give consent to this inner knowledge if the soul is to grow and bloom by God's grace. Conclusion A number of the Obstacles to prayer circle around our proclivity to see our-selves as a static, firmly established, already, attained ego-self that needs only to be perfected. Facing a number of the, obstacles just described involves recognizing, as Thomas Merton writes," that we are a "nothing," a "possibility'i in which the gift of creative freedom can realize itself by its response to the free gift of love and grace. We are invited to accept our "potentiality," Merton continues, as a gift and a commission, as a trust to be used--as a "talent" in the language of the parables. It is through prayer and the profound transformation of personality that it involves that our "possibility" may become a living reality. " Erich Fromm, "Man ls Not a Thing," Saturday Review of Literature, March 16, 1957, p. 10. ,o Br. Roger Schutz, Living Today for God (Mowbrays, Oxford, England), "Life in Ourselves," p. 18. " Thomas Merton, "The Spiritual Father in the Desert Tradition," Cistercian Studies Ill, 4, 1968, pp. 13, 14. Suffering with the Humble Christ in Religious Life Martin R. Tripole, S.J. Father Tripole is Assistant Professor of Theology at St. Joseph's University, and iives in the Jesuit Community there, City Ave. at 54th St.; Philadelphia, PA,19131. Is there a place for suffering in religious life? Are people who vow themselves to poverty, chastity, and obedience really supposed to suffer as part of their religious commitment.? Before that question can be answered, it would first be necessary to investi-gate the place for suffering in Christian living as a whole; for religious life is a specification within the larger context. Suffering in Christian Living There was a time when it was commonly thought that Christians were sup-posed to suffer. One recalls the stereotyped remark supposedly made to the poor and underprivileged during the Industrial and post-Industrial Era: God wants you to be poor, he meets you in your suffering; accept your lot as an expression of love and place your sights on the kingdom of heaven. We all know Marx for his assessmefit of religion as the drug that pacifies the lot of the miserable. '~ In pre-Vatican II days, much of this kind Of thinking seemed still to be around. We were supposed to suffer because Jesus suffered; we were supposed to have it hard because Jesus had it hard. Aptly associated with that theology of suffering was the "work ethic" that made hard work a value just because it was hard. If we suffered from working hard, that was good because a good American was supposed to suffer from working hard. The post-Vatican II era seemed different--most notably among the 192 Suffering With the Humble Christ / 193 young. I can still recall fellow Jesuit scholastics in the late '60's discerning what we considered to be a new awareness of the implications of Jesus' resur-rection: had he not been raised from the dead, and should we not therefore share in his glory and the joy of his resurrection? The Church had dwelt too long on the suffering of Christ, we concluded. The emphasis should rather be placed on the resurrected Christ'. We had been redeemed, had we not? Why, then, should we dwell upon. suffering? It was time to show forth the new redemptive life won for us by the risen Christ. Along with this type of thinking went what seemed to be its logical conse-quence: the cult of the individual, the affirmation of the"I." It was Iwho had been redeemed. Jesus died so that I might be free and find fulfillment in my life. Things were of value insofar as they brought me personal fulfillment; they were a disvalue if they cramped my style. The concept of obedience needed to be changed: to be obedient now meant, first of all, to be true to myself and to my natural drive for fulfillment. That meant I had a primary obligation to realize my human potential. To deny myself was to frustrate my personal, human growth and to that extent was actually sinful. Superiors could no longer deny my basic human rights without violating the natural law. Since to destroy oneself is never permissible, so was it deemed unacceptable for a superior ever to ask me to go against my need to be fulfilled. Obedience, therefore, had to mean primarily obedience to myself and my natural drive for personal fulfillment, and only secondarily response to the wishes of anotherwand this only when his wishes were compatible with my goals. Since the resurrection of Christ meant birth to a new life, a life of personal fulfillment in God, God was now to be found in my drive to be fulfilled. Under these circumstances, suffering becomes an evil because it thwarts that drive. It is therefore not .'.6.nly to be avoided, but also to be u~rooted from life. Thus, to inflict suffering or to ask someone to do something that caused suf-fering became a basically unchristian act. The role of su.'ffering had been suitably removed from Christian piety. It had been replaced by the right to fulfillment in life. Such was a common theology not a few, years ago. The fact is, however, that the whole matter of the relationship of suffering to Christian living and the place of suffering in religious life must be reexamined and more carefully analyzed. Because I am a Jesuit, and my experience and training allow me to speak of religious life only as a Jesuit, I shall confin~ my examination of the .character of religious living to a discussio~ of the spirituality of St. Ignatius. However, since the basic principles of religious living seem common to most forms of religious life, and sinc+ Ignatian spirituality has had wide influence in religious thought beyond the lives of Jesuits, such an approach will be of in-terest to many religious today. I shall, therefore, first briefly examine the more fundamental question of the nature of Christian living in general, and then see religious life as understood by St. Ignatius as a specification within that larger area. 194 / Review for Religious, Volume 40, 1981/2 Role of Suffering in Jesus' Teaching We can posit the existence of at least two levels of pr?clamation in the New Testament: that of Jesus and that of the first generation of Christians. Though' exegetes tell us there is never a time when the message of Christ is not filtered to us through the eyes of the early Church, this does not rule out the possibility of discerning the original proclamation of Jesus. Indeed, a fuller study of the whole matter reveals the early Church always understood its func-tion to develop, at the same time as it remained faithful to the original procla-mation of the message of Jesus. The Church also related the message of Jesus to its own problems and needs, much as the Church continues to do today. The upshot of all this is that we are able to discern a theology of suffering in the Scriptures that is not only expanded upon by the early Church but is actually based on the teaching of Jesus himself. One of the clearest places where Jesus' theology of suffering is presented is in his three predictions of his passion and death found in each of the Synop-tics. There Jesus makes it clear that his role as messiah, in contradistinction to what the Jews had expected, was to suffer and die and rise from the dead. Jesus tells his disciples he has to suffer (Mk 8:31). The character of this suffer-ing is carefully delineated: it involves not only sheer physical (Mk 10:34), but also psychological suffering (Mk 8:31; see 14:34-36); moreover, it is manifested in a special way in his confrontation with leading spokesmen of his community, "the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes" (Mk 8:31) over the law of God, God's will for his people, the dispensation of his revelation to mankind, the road to salvation, the character of true discipleship of the Lord. In the long run, the more significant form of suffering in Christ's life was not simply endurance of physical paine but of political and theological oppositiofl to the revelation of God's will. The attacks of the Jewish leaders were not only attempts to thwart God's will, but also to stymie the freedom which would find its highest form in man's acceptance of Jesus' good news. Ultimately, therefore, it was in the area of the freedom of God's will toward man and the freedom of man to respond to God that the Jews were at odds with Jesus. His pain was that the Jewish leaders were not open to being free, but actually preferred to be enslaved--to themselves, to their own limited standards and values, to their desires to dominate and control their li~,es and the lives of the other members of the Jewish community. The teaching of the Beatitudes, a highpoint in Jesus' proclamation delineating the kind of lives his disciples will lead and the experiences they will undergo as his disciples, encapsulates the heart of Jesus' teaching on suffer-ing. There he states that the dis.ciple will surely suffer for dedicating himself to the principles for which Jesus stands (Mt 5:10). Most important for our later discussion is the fact that Jesus indicates that hisdisciples should be happy when being insulted and persecuted for following him (v. 11), forit is then that God takes his place at the side of the disciple (v. 9) and fhe disciple finds his place in God's kingdom (v. 10). Here again, Jesus makes it clear that anyone Suffering With the Humble Christ / 195 who makes the commitment to him and his teaching will find himself in oppo-sition to the world and its standards. In Jesus' disciples, the historical reenact-men~ of the suffering and death of Christ must take place before they can share in God's glory (vv. 9, 12). Suffering as Seen in the Early Church Paul's conception of a theology of suffering is rooted in that of Jesus. It is because Jesus suffered and died that Christians, as imitators of Christ, must also suffer and die. The Christian chooses to suffer with Christ so as to be attached and closely identified with Jesus. The basis for this is love for Jesus as the Son of God and Lord, but closely identified with this basis is the fact that Jesus suffered and died so that we might be free from the power of siffand death. Thus, the soteriological is never separated from the ontological for Paul. The importance of suffering with Christ also follows from the fact that only then can we share in his resurrection--not only after biological death, but even during our lives within history. For Paul, it is necessary to enter into the historical process contained within Jesus' own life, death, and resurrection: to suffer and die for the sake of others, so that they might have life. This translates into a life of service of others, even to the point of renouncing one's life totally for the sake of others. The concrete social and political implications of this insight were obvious to Paul: life is one of service through the ministry of spreading the good news, promoting reconciliation between man and God, opposing correctives or compromises to God's teaching, and responding to the temporal needs of others, such as caring for thee poor. One who proclaimed and lived by the teaching of Christ must expect, according to Paul, to come into conflict with worldly structures and be persecuted by them (2 Tm 3:12). It is by enduring in the midst of that conflict that one wins the right to inherit eternal glory (2 Co 4:17). To follow Christ means to have renounced the world and all that it stands for in opposition to Christ's teachings (Ga 5:24). That opposition means "constantly" to be "delivered to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus may be revealed in our mortal flesh" (2 Co 4:11). Paul delivered himself to that death and life with joy (Col 1:24). It is in the context of his ministry of the gospel that Paul occasionally tells us of the physical, psychological and social forms of suffering he had to undergo: We are fools on Christ's account. Ah, but in Christ you are wise: We are the weak ones, you the strong! They honor you, while they sneer at us: Up to this very hour we go hungry and thirsty, poorly clad, roughly treated, wandering about homeless. We work hard at manual labor. When we are insulted we respond with a blessing. Persecution comes our way; we bear it patiently. We are slandered, and we try conciliation. We have become the world's refuse, the scum of all; that is the present state of affairs (l Co 4:10-13). On the contrary, in all that we do we strive to present ourselves as ministers of God, acting with patient endurance amid trials, difficulties, distresses, beatings, ira- 196 / Review for Religious, Volume 40, 1981/2 prisonments, and riots; as men familiar with hard work, sleepless nights, and fastings; conducting themselves with innocence, knowledge, and patience, in the Holy Spirit, in sincere love; as men with the message of truth and the power of God; wielding the weapons of righteousness with the right hand and left, whether honored or dishonored, spoken of well or ill. We are called imposters, yet we are truthful; nobodies who in fact are well-known; dead; sorrowful, though we are always rejoicing; poor, yet we enrich many. We seem to have nothing, yet every/thing is ours (2 Co 6:4-10). The writings of Peter and John also emphasize the importance of our suf-fering. with Christ. For Peter, suffering with Christ is cause for rejoicing. We are "happy" to be "insulted for the sake of Christ, for then God's Spirit in its glory has come to rest" on us (1 P 4:13-14). For John, Christian living in-volves the willingness to "lay down our lives for our brothers" in imitation of Christ who "laid down his life for us" (1 Jn 3:16). One who is a follower of Christ will experience his discipleship in his confrontation with the values of the world. He will "suffer in the world" (Jn 16:33) and be hated and rejected by the world (15:18-19), but he will find "courage" in that Christ has "over-come the world" (16:33). Suffering in the Spirituality of St. Ignatius The spirituality of St. Ignatius is remarkably biblical. Central to his thought is a theology of.suffering rooted in that of Jesus and the spirituality of the early Church, especially that of St. Paul. According to Ignatius, there was only one purpose in life: to dispose oneself completely to the praise and service of God: "Man is created to praise, reverence, and serve God our Lord, and by this means to save his soul.'" What that immediately implied for Ignatius was the uproi~ting and outlawing from one's life of any affection which would interfere with that praise and ser-vice. To be so disposed means applying to oneself what is commonly known as Ignatius' principle of indifference, whereby one prefers nothing in life except insofar as it contributes to the theocentric orientation of one's total being. Consequently as far as we are concerned, we should not prefer health to sickness, riches to poverty, honor to dishonor, a long life to a short life. [but only] what is more conducive to the end for which we were created (SE 23). That indifference in the service of God our Lord becomes more concretely defined by the beginning of the Second Week of the Exercises as acceding to the call of Christ to serve the Father in the establishment of his kingdom: "It is my will to conquer the whole world and all my enemies, and then to enter into the glory of my Father" (SE 95). Since the exercitant has by now uprooted any affection that would interfere with the proper disposition of his life, he is able to perceive the value of this goal, and is ready to respond. The response is the acceptance of t~e call to serve. But how precisely is the ' First Principle and Foundation in The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius, tr. Louis J. Puhl, S.J. (Westminster, MD: Newman, 1951), n. 23. Hereafter SE and paragraph number. Suffering With the Humble Christ / 197 exercitant to serve? Ignatius provides no preconceived or metaphysical prin-ciples to determine the modus agendi. The sole norm is the imitation of Christ by sharing in the root experiences undergone by Christ in his public ministry. Imitation of Christ thus meanS, as it did for St. Paul, an identification with the person of Christ in his sufferings and death, so as eventually to share in his glory. The identification is never really with the glorified Christ except as the one who attains his glory through suffering. Christ tells the exercitant that "whoever wishes to join me in this enterprise must be willing to labor with me, that by following me in suffering, he may follow me in glory" (SE 95; italics added). The precise character of that suffering is two-fold: negatively, it means overcoming "sensuality and carnal and worldly love" in one's affective life; positively, it means "'bearing all wrongs and all abuses'and all poverty, both actual andspiritual"--provided there is no jeopardy to one's spirit of in-difference, i.e., only if the "Eternal Lord" desires this because it will con-tribute to his "greater service and praise" (SE 98). Ignatius is relentless in his attempts to drive home the idea that once the individual has become indifferent, service of Christ, though it remains the rubric under which all action is undertaken for the praise and glory of God~ at-tains its special character in the identification with Christ in suffering the blows of the human condition. With Christ as his standard-bearer, the exerci-tant is sent on a mission "throughout the whole world to spread His sacred doctrine." But this is made possible only by desiring "insults and contempt" (SE. 146) and by "bearing insults and wrongs" because one is thereby able to "imitate him [Christ] better" (SE 147). Indifference, once it becomes perfect, no longer means to be absolutely indifferent, but rather to be one with the suf-fering Christ. The highest class of men, according to Ignatius, "seek only to will and not will as God our Lord inspires them" (SE 155). They are urged to accept the highest form of spirituality, which for Ignatius means the "third kind of humility,." the humility which is most distinctive of his spirituality and gives it its noblest quality: This is the most perfect kind of humility. It consists in this. If we suppose the first and second kind attained, then whenever the praise and glory of God would be equally served, I desire and choose poverty with Christ poor, rather than riches, in order to im-itate and be in reality more like Christ our Lord; I choose insults with Christ loaded with them, rather than honors," I desire to be accounted as worthless and a fool for Christ, rather than to be esteemed as wise and prudent in this world. So Christ was treated before me (SE 167; italics added). The exercitant is instructed to beg our Lord to deign to choose him for this third kind of humility, which is higher and better, that he may the more imitate andserve him, provided equal praise and service be given to the Divine Majesty (SE 168; italics added). Not all exercitants would be expected to be able to cope with this third kind of humility, and so it is up to the retreat director to discern how far to go with the retreatant. But the Jesuit novice was normally to undergo a thirty-day 198 / Review for Religious, Volume 40, 1981/2 experience of the Spiritual Exercises with this third kind of humility as the in-tended summit of his new spiritual life. Ideally he is to accept this humility as his own, though if he be not yet able to do so, it becomes at least the end-goal and guiding principle of his life as a Jesuit. Obstacles to this goal are to be fought and overcome, it being pointedly noted that the exercitant's progress in the spiritual life will be in direct "proportion to his surrender of self-love and of his own will and interests" (SE 189). These same principles recur in the General Examen and its Declarations regarding standards for admission to the Society of Jesus. When the candidate embarks on religious life as a Jesuit, he is 1~o acquire a "deliberate determina-tion to live and die in the Lord with and in this Society of Jesus," and is to be "determined to abandon the world and to follow the counsels,of Christ our Lord.''2 This means to abandon "whatever he had in the world" dear to him out of "merely natural affection," and to replace it with a life based a new principle: "He who does not hate his father and mother and even his own life, cannot be my disciple" (Lk 14:26). Consequently, he is to live "as one who is dead to the world and to self-love/arkd who lives only for~ Christ our Lord" (GE 61). One of his probationary experiences is to be involved in "tests of humility and abnegation of oneself through the performance of lowly and humble tasks, such as working in the kitchen, cleaning the house, and all the rest of these services." (GE 83). Another is that he should go begging from door .to door for three days so that, "contrary to common human opinion, they [scholastics] may be able in God's service and praise to humiliate themselves more and more and make greater spiritual progress, giving glory to his Divine Majesty" (GE 82). The candidate must also be "willing to have all his errors and defects.r~anifested to his superiors." (GE 63). Ignatius urges the scholastic constantly to accept exercises for obtaining humility: toward the cook (GE 85), subordinate officials (GE 87), spiritual superiors as well as physicians and infirmarians (GE 89), in the performance of penances for his "errors and negligences" (GE 90, 98), in the complete manifestation of his conscience to the superior (GE 93). In a section of the General Examen where he approaches most completely the lofty ideals contained in this third kind of humility and a th'eology of suf-fering strongly reminiscent of that of Jesus and of St. Paul, Ignatius insists that it be made clear to the candidate for the Society of Jesus that he strive "to abhor in its totality and not in part whatever the world loves and embraces, and to accept and desire with all possible energy whatever Christ our Lord has loved and embraced." This desire to be one with Christ is to lead candidates to the desire to "clothe themselves with the same clothing and uniform of their Lord." This means that if it would better serve God, and not be an occasion of 2 "The General Examen and Its Declarations" (50-51), in St. Ignatius of Loyola, The Constitu-tions of the Society of Jesus, tr. with commentary by George E. Ganss, S.J. (St. Louis: Institute of Jesuit Sources, 1970). Hereafter GE and paragraph number. Suffering With the Humble Christ / 199 sin to anyone, "they would wish to suffer injuries, false accusations, affronts, and to be held and esteemed as fools. -3 Here above all they come to "resem-ble and imitate" Christ and "follow him" as "the way which leads men to life" (GE 101). Should the candidate be naturally repelled by such thoughts, Ignatius urges that he be questioned as to whether or not he is determined and ready to accept and suffer with patience., any such injuries, mockeries, and affronts entailed by the wearing of this uniform of Christ our Lord, and any other affronts offered him, whether by someone inside the house or the Society (where he desires to obey, be humiliated, and gain eternal life) or outside it by any persons what-soever on earth, while returning them not evil for evil but good for evil (GE 102; italics added): Ignatius again argues that this kind of humility will be better attained if the examinee should "seek in our Lord his greater abnegation and continual mortification in all things possible" (GE 103). According to Joseph de Guibert, S.J., these, last citations contain the "characteristic stamp of Ignatius' personality," the "true key to the conduct" of Ignatius toward his followers, and the "interior meaning of all that follows in the Constitutions" of the Society of Jesus." Moreover, these passages bring 'to focus one of the central features of Ignatius' spirituality: his emphasis upon "the poverty and humiliations of the Savior" (deG 136). T.hese passages rein-force the core elements of Ignatius' SpiritualExercises where, according to de Guibert, one finds the "counterpart" of the same kind of emphasis upon "abnegations" which Ignatius fostered "in the training of his followers" because of his "profound conviction that in this abnegation is found the decisive point, the central position which is to be held absolutely in the field of battle for souls and for conquering the summits of sanctity" (deG 137). Suffering in Religious Life Today Religious life, at least as understood by Ignatius, is therefore steeped in a theology of suffering in the pursuit of humility, based, not on any speculative principles that would justify this pursuit (few, indeed, can be found), but on the "principle of union and companionship with the suffering Christ. The union is achieved most of all, according to Ignatius, by imitating Christ in ac-cepting humiliations so as to become one with Christ in his humility. The beloved wishes to be as closely as possible identified with the lover. Since Jesus js he who suffered out of love for us, we wish to return that love by suffering with him out of love for him. As we have seen, theological if not mystical j'ustification for this spirituality can be found in the Gospel as well as in Paul's J See Mt 5:11; 1 Co 4:1~-13 and 2 Co 6:4-10, cited above. ¯ Joseph de Guibert, S.J., The Jesuits: Their Spiritual Doctrine and Practice, tr. William J. Young, S.J. (St. Louis: Institute of Jesuit Sources, 1972), p. 142. Hereafter deG and page numbers. 200 / Review for Religious, Volume 40, 1981/2 insight thai it is only if we share in Christ's suffering that we shall share in his resurrection. It seems to me, therefore, that if we would retain the true spirit of religious life as this is given expression under the inspiration of Ignatius and others like him, and reinforce the basic insights of the scriptures, we must revitalize our Christian perspective on suffering with the humiliated and humble Chrisi in our contemporary experience of religious life. Permit me to reminisce a bit. As I recall, the above theology of suffering was very strongly advocated when I was in the novitiate (1958-1960), but with some shortcomings in its exercise. A constant danger in religious life is that we preach one theology and practice another. I was able to discern, even as a novice, the gap between our theology and practice. Our theology of suffering encouraged, as the high point of Jesuit living, that we find meaning and hap-piness in sharing in the insults and humiliations of Christ; yet whenever we received these humiliations, we took offense. Early on, the novice begins to conclude'that this gap is acceptable as built into religious life, that the theology of suffering is meantto be a rhetorical, formalistic kind of spirituali-ty, accepted as an ideology not actually to be implemented. A community that thinks and lives this way is bound to have a profound effect upon the developing religious life of the individual, for, to some extent, the individual is always necessarily a reflection of his environment. If the indi-vidual religious dwells in an environment which lives by the theology of suffer-ing with the humble Christ, the individual is induced to find meaning in that theology also; if the environment does not implement this theology of suffer-ing, it is extremely difficult, even for the most well-intentioned individual, to make that theology an integral part of his religious life. Or again: if every religious takes to heart Ignatius' words to accept !nsults and humiliations as the call of Christ to share in his program of spiritual renewal; the individual religious, when these are cast at him (as they surely will be), sees Christ calling him in them, and is able to rise above a natural human response to them, and adopt a truly Christ-centered form of spirituality in relation to them. But when the general form of response is to feel vilified whenever one's personal worth or honor has been attacked, the power of any one individual truly to im-itate the humble Christ is extremely limited. The end result is that religious life seriously runs the risk of self-deception and/or hypocrisy. The grace of voca-tion that comes to the individual through the community will simply not be, there, and we are left to mouth empty words of piety. So often it occurs in religious life that we inadvertently offend others. We unintentionally fail to give our fellow religious the attention they deserve. How often we find that they have taken offense and respond in a coarse and unfriendly way. What does it all mean? Where does this fit into a theology of suffering with the humble Christ? How can this reflect the application of Ignatius' spirituality of identification with Christ? So often it seems that the application is beyond our capacity. And yet that would not so often be the Suffering With the Humble Christ / 201 case if we worked at this matter together with dedication and with the awareness that it is only in this way that we justify our existence as members of a Jesuit religious community. ' One of the best ways of correcting this spirituality-practice gap would be achieved by making a decisive effort to return to Ignatius' theology of suffer-ing with the humble Christ and to the inculcation of his teachings in early Jesuit living. One wonders, however, if this is feasible today when so much emphasis is placed upon the importance of other goals. Are we not in danger of emphasizing praxis when we have not yet instilled theoria? Can, for instance, a life of social apostolic activity seriously be imbued with the prin-ciples of Ignatius when so much of the novice's life is devoted to social action? I do not mean to undercut the importance of social action, nor am I unaware of the fact that Ignatius wished the novice to be tested by experience in apostolic activity. But St. Paul recognized the fact that apostolic activity, unless it be imbued with the spirit of the humble Christ, is of little conse-quence. And Ignatius just as surely recognized that.primacy must be given to exposing and educating the novices to the spirit of the humble Christ, instilling in them the desire to follow that spirit in their lives, if their apostolic action is to be anything more than pious humanism. In the long run, is it not really more important that the novice, in his two years in the novitiate, be imbued with the spirit of suffering with the suffering and resurrected Christ? For if he does not capture there the spirit and the importance it has in renovating his life as a Christian and as a religious, he is in danger of never discerning its meaning or importance later. He risks joining the ranks of ambitious, over-zealous and secular-minded religious, whose spirit is widespread in religious life today and who have never realized that grandeur is attained in Christianity through suf-fering with and for the humble Christ. Let me not be misunderstood. The theology of suffering with the humble and humiliated Christ has nothing in common with laissez-faire social think-ing. Neither is it simplistically identifiable with pacifism, or with passive acquiescence in all things as coming from above as pronouncements of the will of God. Evil is to be opposed, and this especially when it involves injustice, insensitivity, immoral decision-making that obfuscates the will of God or denigrates the dignity of the human person. One need only read Jesus' savage attack on the Pharisees in Mk 7 to see that this is so. Theology of suffering with the humble Christ recognizes in the conflicts of Christ a suffering for God and man so that the word of God not be defecated, so that the human per-son not be destroyed. The theology of suffering with the humble Christ cepts the theology of the Sermon on the Mount, a suffering "for holiness' sake," of being "persecuted" for one's convictions, of refusing to accom-modate the message of Christ to worldly standards and values wherever they are manifested. But a response of loving acceptance of personal hurt, of defeat is the response of the theology of suffering with the humble Christ. This is in imita- 202 / Review for Religious, Volume 40, 1981/2 tion of Christ who remained silent in the face ~of his own persecution by legitima.te but unscrupulous authorities. He humbly accepted the will of God where it clearly manifested itself to him. But if one unjustly treats a fellow human being, opposition must be voiced: the dignity of the human person is being assaulted. Sometimes an insult to my person may fall under the same rubric and should not be tolerated. A prudential judgment is necessary. If only we religious would exemplify to the Church at large the importance of this theology of suffering with the humble Christ, it might catch on as a way of lifeappropriate to Christian living. What a reformation that would make in the world: What a transformation in our society, and what a proclamation of the message of Christ and of the theology of the New Testament, which have made it so clear that it is only insofar as we die with Christ that we have a right to hope in being raised with him. The Cradle Home! Blessed be the Lord God of Israel who had brought them, like their forebears, safely back from Egypt. The door yi.elded to a strong arm, creaked open, sagging on its leather hinges. They entered, the Three, and stood training thei,r eyes to the darkness. A shaft of sunlight, slipping in behind them, picked out a cradle; its smooth wood gleamed golden. In three strides the man reached it, caressed it slowly with a strong brown hand. Quickly, on sturdy little legs, the Child stood beside him, curly dark head sharing the sunlight. Still near the door the Mother, intent, watching. "You never used it, Son." The man's voice held the faintest hint of sorrow. The Child put one dimpled hand on the cradle, the other caught at the man's fingers. Eyes deeper than the starred midnight sky lifted to the earnest face. "it is so smooth, Father," stroking a cross bar. "I saved it for all my poor little brothers and sisters. For me, a rougher wood." Sister Mary Luke, C.S.J. 14505 Madison Avenue Lakewood, Ohio 44107 The Problem Member in Community Desmond O'Donnell, O.M.I. Father O'Donnell, an Australian clinical psychologist, was recently appointed a general councilor in his congregation. His present address is General House OMl; C.P;9061 ; 00100 Roma-Aurelia, Italy. When scaffolding or supportive structures are removed from a build.ing, its fibre is tested and any weaknesses in it become obvious. Wisely or unwisely, many of the structures which surrounde~d religious life have been removed in recent years and we should not be surprised if its fibre is tested and its weaknesses become more obvious. But first let us not underestimate the fact that the building is still standing, even if it is showing the strain. And in some ways religious life as expressed in apostolic community is beginning to show signs of renewal and strengthening as it reaches out in concern for mission in many new ways. However, it is with one of the weaknesses that I am concern-ed in this a~.ticle. In my professional work and in my, everyday experience of men and women in the apostolic communities--especially tho,se in the middle years--I have noticed that there is a growing restlessness, not always due to problems within themselves, but due'to their inability to find reasonable harmony within community. It is not difficult to distinguish between those who are restless anyway both in their apostolic area and in their commufiity, from those who are happy and productive in their work but who ca

La ciudad y los procesos que ésta desencadena en su entorno territorial han variado, de acuerdo con el momento histórico y contexto geográfico donde ocurrió, está ocurriendo o sucederá, por lo tanto, lo primero y lo segundo, son tan cambiantes, como lo son los elementos constitutivos de ese espacio ocupado, apropiado y gobernado. Son pocos los asuntos sobre los cuales coinciden las distintas comunidades académicas y disciplinas que se encargan del estudio de los procesos urbanos, como urbanistas, arquitectos, geógrafos, sociólogos, politólogos, ingenieros o planificadores; por ejemplo, con relación a la definición de lo urbano o lo qué podemos entender por ciudad; tal vez hay mayor acuerdo por lo que no es, como se constata con los espacios dedicados, exclusiva o principalmente a las actividades productivas agropecuarias. De la misma manera, sobre lo que se considera como espacio público, ya que algunos le dan un énfasis estructural y físico, como uno de los elementos rígidos que constituyen el espacio ocupado, mientras que otros, además de lo físico, rescatan de él referentes históricos, culturales y simbólicos. En la actualidad viene ganando audiencia la postura que combina lo físico y material de la ciudad y el espacio público, con lo inmaterial y simbólico de los mismos, lo que le confiere un nuevo sentido. De este tipo de convergencias, surge el escenario que contribuye a construir el ciudadano que requiere y demanda la ciudad. De acuerdo con lo anterior, el análisis que aquí se presenta se aborda a partir de tres aspectos relevantes: en primer lugar, se reiteran algunos de los caminos andados, para esbozar algunas de las nuevas perspectivas sobre la ciudad y el espacio público, tal como se sugiere en el título del artículo; en segundo lugar, relacionar aspectos históricos, conceptuales y aplicados sobre la ciudad y de esta con el espacio público, con base en el caso de Bogotá y finalmente plantear algunos de los desafíos que surgen de esta interacción, a partir de algunas reflexiones que buscan vincular esta temática con las ciencias sociales y en particular con la ciencia política. ; The city and the processes triggered by the city in its territorial environment have changed, according to the historical moment and the geographical context in which it happened, is happening, or will happen; therefore, the former and the latter are as changing as the elements of that occupied, appropriated, and governed space.There are very few subjects on which there is an agreement among the different academic communities and disciplines that study urban processes, such as town planners, architects, geographers, sociologists, political scientists, engineers, or planners. For example, regarding the definition of the urban matters or what we may understand as a city, a greater agreement may be found on what it is not, as shown with spaces exclusively or mainly dedicated to the productive agricultural/livestock activities. Likewise, regarding what is deemed as public space, because some people stress the structural and physical aspect as one of the rigid elements that comprise the occupied space, while others rescue, in addition to the physical, the historical, cultural, and symbolic references.The position that considers the physical and material city and public space combined with their immaterial and symbolic aspects has been gaining terrain lately, providing them with a whole new sense. From these convergences arises the scenario that contributes to the building of the citizenship required and demanded by the city.According to the foregoing, the analysis presented here is addressed from three relevant aspects: First, reiterating some of the already treated topics to outline some new perspectives on the city and the public space, as suggested in the title of this article; second, relating historical, conceptual, and applied aspects of the city and such aspects of the city related to the public space, based on the case of Bogotá; and finally, formulating some challenges arising form this interaction, based on certain thoughts that seek to link this topic with the Social Sciences and, in particular, with the Political Sciences. ; A cidade e os processos que ela desencadeia em seu entorno territorial têm variado, de acordo com o momento histórico e contexto geográfico onde ocorreu, está ocorrendo ou acontecerá, portanto, o primeiro e o segundo, são tão variáveis, como o são os elementos constitutivos desse espaço ocupado, apropriado e governado. são poucos os assuntos sobre os quais coincidem as diferentes comunidades acadêmicas e disciplinas que se encarregam do estudo dos processos urbanos, como urbanistas, arquitetos, geógrafos, sociólogos, cientistas políticos, engenheiros ou planificadores; por exemplo, com relação à definição do urbano ou o que podemos entender por cidade; tal vez há maior acordo pelo que não é, como constata-se com os espaços dedicados, exclusiva ou principalmente às atividades produtivas agropecuárias. Da mesma maneira, sobre o que se considera como espaço público, já que alguns lhe dão uma ênfase estrutural e físico, como um dos elementos rígidos que constituem o espaço ocupado, enquanto que outros, além do físico, resgatam dele referentes históricos, culturais e simbólicos. Na atualidade, vem ganhando audiência a postura que combina o físico e material da cidade e o espaço público, com o imaterial e simbólico dos mesmos, o que lhe confere um novo sentido. Deste tipo de convergências, surge o cenário que contribui a construir o cidadão que requere e demanda a cidade. De acordo com o anterior, a análise que aqui se apresenta, aborda-se a partir de três aspetos relevantes: em primeiro lugar, reiteram-se alguns dos caminhos andados, para esboçar algumas das novas perspectivas sobre a cidade e o espaço público, com base no caso de Bogotá e finalmente expor alguns dos desafios que surgem desta interação, a partir de algumas reflexões que buscam vincular esta temática com as ciências sociais e em particular com a ciência política.

From 1990 to 2004 I held various posts of responsibility within the National Education sector in Cameroon. Firstly, as principal of a College and, subsequently, as principal of a High School. Consequently, I understand the difficulties inherent then in meeting the current education requirements, in a context not only characterized by the utter confusion of a population torn between modernization and tradition but also the technical progress and unification of the world. With the help of the experience of ancient philosophers, and with regard to these issues, I undertook in this work to question what, in Plato, Aristotle, Rousseau and Kant, enables us to maintain or even improve human values laid down during the Greek miracle. Plato teaches pedagogy geared towards political transformation, or policy aimed at new pedagogy: he wants to build a new man, a complete man. With him begins the great political and pedagogical utopias, utopias no doubt, but which show that man exists insofar as he strives towards an ideal self, even if the Republic thinks of the cyclical construction and destruction of the political system (and of pedagogy), it unveils to mankind the unpredictable nature of history. Aristotle refrains from dreaming; he observes the societies of his time, describes them, criticizes them, and appreciates them. Unable to build an ideal society, he defends the less bad: a mix of oligarchy and democracy, marked by the domination of the middle class. But for Aristotle as for Plato, access to full citizenship and education is reserved only for "free" men; excluded from citizenship are not only slaves but labourers as well. We are in the Greek city: the citizen runs his home and the Republic; he defends it at war, but does not defile himself with dirty work. Rousseau reflects in the context of a declining monarchy, marked by an awakening strong need for freedom and equality. Pessimistic with respect to human progress, though, he believes that cultural progress has no turning back; it is necessary therefore to find a political system that allows humanity, drawn into history by the adventure thereof, with an unpredictable destiny, to fulfill itself in the best way possible. The Social Contract is the basis for a legitimate political system. Emile outlines the pedagogical reform that will establish it, based on the original goodness of human nature. Kant is convinced that history is leading humanity, which has attained adulthood, towards its unification. The ages of war and oppression will come to an end. But Kant does not share the optimism of Rousseau regarding human nature: what is good in man is his duty consciousness, but one can say no to duty. It is from duty that education can train people capable of managing a new humanity in peace. This new humanity was been created by the phenomenal development of technology since the mid-nineteenth century, but not exactly as dreamed of: two terrible world wars have caused the belief in progress to decline. It is in this confused, hesitant context that this work was designed and carried out. Technical progress and the attendant new ways of life raise many more questions and worries than certainties. The reflections of the great thinkers of the past must help us to tackle the problems of today. Beyond their differences, Plato, Aristotle, Rousseau and Kant do agree on the mutual involvement of politics, government of men, and education, training of tomorrow's citizens; as Aristotle states explicitly, each type of political system has its specific pedagogy. ; De 1990 à 2004, j'ai exercé divers postes de responsabilité dans l'éducation nationale au Cameroun. D'abord comme directeur de Collège puis comme proviseur. J'ai pu mesurer les difficultés qu'il y avait à réaliser les exigences actuelles de scolarisation, dans un contexte marqué non seulement par un profond désarroi d'une population partagée entre la modernisation et la tradition mais aussi le progrès technique et l'unification du monde. L'expérience des anciens philosophes aidant, et au regard de ces enjeux, j'ai entrepris dans ce travail d'interroger ce qui, chez Platon, Aristote, Rousseau, Kant, nous permet de maintenir voire de perfectionner les valeurs humanistes énoncées lors du miracle grec. Platon enseigne une pédagogie visant à une transformation politique, ou tout aussi bien une politique visant à une nouvelle pédagogie : il veut construire un homme nouveau, pleinement homme. Avec lui, débutent les grandes utopies politiques et pédagogiques ; utopies sans doute, mais qui témoignent que l'homme est dans la mesure où il vise un idéal de soi ; même si la République pense la construction et la destruction cycliques du régime politique (et de la pédagogie), elle ouvre à l'humanité l'imprévisibilité de l'Histoire. Aristote se défend de rêver ; il observe les sociétés de son temps, les décrit, les critique, les apprécie. Faute de pouvoir construire une société idéale, il défend la moins mauvaise : un mixe d'oligarchie et de démocratie, marqué par la domination de la classe moyenne. Mais, chez Aristote comme chez Platon, seuls accèdent à la pleine citoyenneté et à l'éducation plénière, seuls sont citoyens, les hommes « libres », non seulement les esclaves mais les travailleurs manuels sont exclus de la citoyenneté. Nous sommes dans la cité grecque : le citoyen gère sa maison et la République, il la défend à la guerre, mais il ne se souille pas de basses besognes. Rousseau pense dans le contexte d'une monarchie déclinante, où s'éveillent fortement les besoins de liberté et d'égalité. S'il est pessimiste relativement au progrès humain, il estime que ce progrès culturel est sans retour en arrière possible ; il s'agit donc de fonder le régime politique permettant à l'humanité, lancée dans l'Histoire, par l'aventure de l'Histoire, dans un destin imprévisible, de s'accomplir de la meilleure façon. Le Contrat social fonde le régime politique légitime, l'Emile esquisse la réforme pédagogique qui permettra de l'instaurer, en se fondant sur la bonté originelle de la nature humaine. Kant est convaincu que l'Histoire mène une humanité devenue adulte vers son unification. Les âges de guerre et d'oppression vont se terminer. Mais Kant ne partage pas l'optimisme de Rousseau quant à la nature humaine ; ce qu'il y a de bon dans l'homme, c'est la conscience du devoir- mais on peut dire non au devoir. C'est à partir du devoir que l'éducation pourra former les humains capables de gérer en paix une humanité nouvelle. Cette humanité nouvelle, le prodigieux développement des techniques depuis le milieu du XIXè siècle l'a créée, mais pas exactement comme elle était rêvée : deux terribles guerres mondiales ont bien fait décliner la croyance au progrès. C'est dans cette situation confuse, hésitante, que ce travail a été conçu et mené. Le progrès technique et les nouveaux modes de vie qu'il a suscités amènent bien plus d'interrogations et d'inquiétudes que de certitudes. La méditation des grands penseurs d'autrefois devait nous aider à nous attaquer aux problèmes d'aujourd'hui. Par-delà leurs divergences, Platon, Aristote, Rousseau, Kant, se rejoignent en constatant l'implication mutuelle de la politique, gouvernement des hommes, et de l'éducation, formation des citoyens de demain ; comme le dit explicitement Aristote, chaque type de régime politique a sa pédagogie spécifique.

In: 45th R3Nordic Symposium. Cleanroom Technology, Contamination Control and Cleaning. Wirtanen, Gun & Salo, Satu. VTT Technology 168, 139 - 141 ; Food safety is related to the absence or presence of levels of foodborne hazards in food at the point of consumption. The EC Regulation 852/2004 covers the principal objective of the general hygiene rules to ensure a high level of consumer protection with regard to food safety. However, food safety is the joint responsibility of many people and it is principally ensured through the combined efforts of all the parties in the food chain. Legislative demands set the basic requirements for the manufacturing of safe food products whereas food safety management systems and food safety guidelines and standards based on given legislation help the food industry to keep up with current food safety requirements. Hygiene survey is a practical tool for controlling hygiene in food plants. By using an efficient sampling of the surfaces of the process line, it is possible to reduce the amount of low-quality food leaving the plant. Hygiene survey can include checking of the amount of surface-attached soil including protein, polysaccharides, other organic and inorganic residues, biofilm, dead and/or living microbes in general, or specific pathogens and other harmful microbes. Hygiene survey also helps with tracing contamination sources and in optimising cleaning systems. There are several sources of microbial contamination: raw materials, process equipment, environmental surfaces, air, personnel and the final product. In some cases demands for better hygiene have been made because of prolonged shelf-life of products, centralized production and long-distance transportation, less time spent on cleaning and demands for environmentally safe cleaning agents (Salo, 2006). Quantification of the actual number of microbes from surfaces is difficult due to strong microbial adherence of biofilms. In addition, detection of biofilms using traditional swabbing method often gives incorrect results due to strong microbial adherence. Most techniques underestimate the number of microbes on a surface. Hygiene surveys from surfaces are challenging; the measuring should be quickly performed, directly from the surface and without damaging the surface, and the microbes need to be detached completely. However, it is difficult to measure biofilm and biotransfer potential because the conventional microbiological methods used to assess equipment hygiene have not been developed for detecting biofilm. Reliable results are only possible if the biofilm is properly detached and the cultivation is performed under reproducible conditions or if the measurement can be performed without detaching the microbes. Microscopy is very often used as a reference method for swabbing and cultivation. It has been reported that the cells counted by direct microscopy consistently give results one log unit higher than the cultivation methods. Moreover, observations of surfaces using epifluorescence microscopy have clearly revealed that even when vigorous swabbing is applied only a small part of the actual biofilm including the cells in it is detached (Wirtanen, 1995). On the other hand, use of excessive agitation and strong chemicals for detachment of surface-adherent cells may harm the cells, thus making them unable to grow in the cultivation procedure. Choosing sampling sites in food plants and especially in equipment with complicated structures is challenging, since most likely the microbial residues are in curvatures, con-nections, propellers, or on uneven surfaces which are not easy to reach with sampling tools. Quantification of the swabbed areas in places like these is challenging. Contact agar applications with ridged frames are only suitable for sampling of smooth and straight surfaces (Salo et al., 2008). Preventive risk-based food safety management systems such as HACCP require that hygiene monitoring should provide results rapidly in order to be able to perform corrective actions. ATP bioluminescence and protein detection kits for instance can provide a real time estimation of overall cleaning efficacy or protein residues, respectively. The detection and enumeration of indicator organisms is widely used to assess the efficacy of sanitation procedures. Escherichia coli counts can be used as an indirect measure of faecal contamination. The use of Enterobacteriaceae as hygiene indicators instead of coliforms or E. coli yields much more precise results. Interpretation of the results from hygiene monitoring is often carried out case by case since there are quite many factors affecting an acceptable level of cleanliness. The ac-ceptable level depends on the purpose of the surface. The surfaces in contact with ready-to-eat food products must be much cleaner than other surfaces in the process plant in contact with products which will be pasteurised or surfaces in no direct contact with foods. Special attention should also be paid to the surfaces next to food contact surfaces since there is a high risk of spreading contamination to food products (Salo et al., 2006). The cleanliness level of the processed product depends also on the spoilage sensitivity and the wanted self-life of the product. The available recommended guidelines and standards for aerobic colony counts for clean surfaces vary widely, being 0 - 80 CFU/cm2 (Griffith, 2005). The threshold limit for clean surface must be based upon a perception of a specific risk and the decided acceptable level. Alternatively, microbial yield obtained from surface after correct imple-mentation of a well-designed cleaning programme can be used as a desired value (Griffith, 2005). Comprehensive studies performed by Griffith (2005) have indicated that in many cases levels of <2.5 CFU/cm2 for general surface count are attainable and these are relatively close to majority of suggested standards. In the microbial survey described in Salo et al., 2006 the threshold limit for clean surface was set based in perception of risk to <2 CFU/cm2. Suitable methods for detecting cleanliness of process surfaces vary according to the situation studied. All available methods have limitations and the suitability of the method strongly depends on the type of microbes and the microbial load present. Traditional sampling with swabs prior to culturing does not detach all microbes attached to the surface. Swabbing can be improved by moistening the surface with mild surfactant solution. Also flexible contact agar is suitable for the detection of microbes from process equipment, and if the microbial load is less than 30 CFU/cm2 the microbial colonies can be counted. It is recommended to use more than one detection method in new environment to validate the results obtained. A clean surface has to be free of microbes, physical particles and chemicals. Chemical residues remaining after cleaning and disinfection can be detected using rapid methods based on bioluminescence of sensitive photobacteria. Visual observation of the cleaning results is an important practical method which can be improved by using UV-light and possibly fluorescent stain. This type of assessment is not very accurate but is a practical choice especially for large equipment such as fermentation tanks. ; Food safety is related to the absence or presence of levels of foodborne hazards in food at the point of consumption. The EC Regulation 852/2004 covers the principal objective of the general hygiene rules to ensure a high level of consumer protection with regard to food safety. However, food safety is the joint responsibility of many people and it is principally ensured through the combined efforts of all the parties in the food chain. Legislative demands set the basic requirements for the manufacturing of safe food products whereas food safety management systems and food safety guidelines and standards based on given legislation help the food industry to keep up with current food safety requirements. Hygiene survey is a practical tool for controlling hygiene in food plants. By using an efficient sampling of the surfaces of the process line, it is possible to reduce the amount of low-quality food leaving the plant. Hygiene survey can include checking of the amount of surface-attached soil including protein, polysaccharides, other organic and inorganic residues, biofilm, dead and/or living microbes in general, or specific pathogens and other harmful microbes. Hygiene survey also helps with tracing contamination sources and in optimising cleaning systems. There are several sources of microbial contamination: raw materials, process equipment, environmental surfaces, air, personnel and the final product. In some cases demands for better hygiene have been made because of prolonged shelf-life of products, centralized production and long-distance transportation, less time spent on cleaning and demands for environmentally safe cleaning agents (Salo, 2006). Quantification of the actual number of microbes from surfaces is difficult due to strong microbial adherence of biofilms. In addition, detection of biofilms using traditional swabbing method often gives incorrect results due to strong microbial adherence. Most techniques underestimate the number of microbes on a surface. Hygiene surveys from surfaces are challenging; the measuring should be quickly performed, directly from the surface and without damaging the surface, and the microbes need to be detached completely. However, it is difficult to measure biofilm and biotransfer potential because the conventional microbiological methods used to assess equipment hygiene have not been developed for detecting biofilm. Reliable results are only possible if the biofilm is properly detached and the cultivation is performed under reproducible conditions or if the measurement can be performed without detaching the microbes. Microscopy is very often used as a reference method for swabbing and cultivation. It has been reported that the cells counted by direct microscopy consistently give results one log unit higher than the cultivation methods. Moreover, observations of surfaces using epifluorescence microscopy have clearly revealed that even when vigorous swabbing is applied only a small part of the actual biofilm including the cells in it is detached (Wirtanen, 1995). On the other hand, use of excessive agitation and strong chemicals for detachment of surface-adherent cells may harm the cells, thus making them unable to grow in the cultivation procedure. Choosing sampling sites in food plants and especially in equipment with complicated structures is challenging, since most likely the microbial residues are in curvatures, con-nections, propellers, or on uneven surfaces which are not easy to reach with sampling tools. Quantification of the swabbed areas in places like these is challenging. Contact agar applications with ridged frames are only suitable for sampling of smooth and straight surfaces (Salo et al., 2008). Preventive risk-based food safety management systems such as HACCP require that hygiene monitoring should provide results rapidly in order to be able to perform corrective actions. ATP bioluminescence and protein detection kits for instance can provide a real time estimation of overall cleaning efficacy or protein residues, respectively. The detection and enumeration of indicator organisms is widely used to assess the efficacy of sanitation procedures. Escherichia coli counts can be used as an indirect measure of faecal contamination. The use of Enterobacteriaceae as hygiene indicators instead of coliforms or E. coli yields much more precise results. Interpretation of the results from hygiene monitoring is often carried out case by case since there are quite many factors affecting an acceptable level of cleanliness. The ac-ceptable level depends on the purpose of the surface. The surfaces in contact with ready-to-eat food products must be much cleaner than other surfaces in the process plant in contact with products which will be pasteurised or surfaces in no direct contact with foods. Special attention should also be paid to the surfaces next to food contact surfaces since there is a high risk of spreading contamination to food products (Salo et al., 2006). The cleanliness level of the processed product depends also on the spoilage sensitivity and the wanted self-life of the product. The available recommended guidelines and standards for aerobic colony counts for clean surfaces vary widely, being 0 - 80 CFU/cm2 (Griffith, 2005). The threshold limit for clean surface must be based upon a perception of a specific risk and the decided acceptable level. Alternatively, microbial yield obtained from surface after correct imple-mentation of a well-designed cleaning programme can be used as a desired value (Griffith, 2005). Comprehensive studies performed by Griffith (2005) have indicated that in many cases levels of <2.5 CFU/cm2 for general surface count are attainable and these are relatively close to majority of suggested standards. In the microbial survey described in Salo et al., 2006 the threshold limit for clean surface was set based in perception of risk to <2 CFU/cm2. Suitable methods for detecting cleanliness of process surfaces vary according to the situation studied. All available methods have limitations and the suitability of the method strongly depends on the type of microbes and the microbial load present. Traditional sampling with swabs prior to culturing does not detach all microbes attached to the surface. Swabbing can be improved by moistening the surface with mild surfactant solution. Also flexible contact agar is suitable for the detection of microbes from process equipment, and if the microbial load is less than 30 CFU/cm2 the microbial colonies can be counted. It is recommended to use more than one detection method in new environment to validate the results obtained. A clean surface has to be free of microbes, physical particles and chemicals. Chemical residues remaining after cleaning and disinfection can be detected using rapid methods based on bioluminescence of sensitive photobacteria. Visual observation of the cleaning results is an important practical method which can be improved by using UV-light and possibly fluorescent stain. This type of assessment is not very accurate but is a practical choice especially for large equipment such as fermentation tanks.

Interview with Maria Moreira of Ficthburg, Massachusetts. Topics include: Maria Moreira was born in Saint Michael, Azores in 1917 and came to Fitchburg, MA in 1951. She moved because her husband was born in the U.S. and wanted to move back. Her impressions of the U.S. before and after moving. How difficult life was in the Azores. The different places she lived in Fitchburg. The different types of work her husband did. How she became an American citizen and learned English. Her difficulty with working but she never felt discriminated against. How she spent her time in St. Michael compared with Fitchburg. Getting used to American food and grocery shopping. Her children and their professions and their children. Her impressions of Fitchburg and how she likes living there. ; 1 WAYNE LUCIER: November 18, 1973, interview conducted by Wayne Lucier. Place of interview: Mrs. Moreira's home. Your name please? MARIA MOREIRA: Maria Moreira. WAYNE LUCIER: And your nationality? MARIA MOREIRA: Portuguese. WAYNE LUCIER: And your date of birth? MARIA MOREIRA: December 17 – no December 26, 1917. WAYNE LUCIER: And this makes you how many years old? MARIA MOREIRA: Makes me 55. WAYNE LUCIER: And what generation are you? MARIA MOREIRA: First. WAYNE LUCIER: And your address? MARIA MOREIRA: 208 Westminster Hill. WAYNE LUCIER: And your phone number? MARIA MOREIRA: 26413. WAYNE LUCIER: And where were you born? MARIA MOREIRA: I was born in Saint Michael, Azores. WAYNE LUCIER: Any certain part? MARIA MOREIRA: Yeah, [unintelligible - 00:01:00]. WAYNE LUCIER: And when did you come to the United States? MARIA MOREIRA: I came in April 7, 1951. WAYNE LUCIER: And how about Fitchburg? Did you come directly to Fitchburg? MARIA MOREIRA: Yes. WAYNE LUCIER: Okay. And where you were born, did you move around a lot? MARIA MOREIRA: No. I just moved, I just married and lived in one house. WAYNE LUCIER: And where you were born, you lived there till you got married? MARIA MOREIRA: Yes. WAYNE LUCIER: And from there, have you moved a lot? MARIA MOREIRA: My own house. My husband bought a house and we lived here. WAYNE LUCIER: Okay. And why did you leave the Old Country? MARIA MOREIRA: I didn't hear.2 WAYNE LUCIER: Why did you leave there? MARIA MOREIRA: I leave there because my husband wants to come here. WAYNE LUCIER: Did you want to come? MARIA MOREIRA: [Unintelligible - 00:01:56]. WAYNE LUCIER: And how did you come to the United States: by boat or…? MARIA MOREIRA: Airplane. WAYNE LUCIER: Were you on an airplane before? MARIA MOREIRA: No. WAYNE LUCIER: You liked going on an airplane? MARIA MOREIRA: Not really. WAYNE LUCIER: Have you traveled on an airplane since then? MARIA MOREIRA: Yeah, one more time. WAYNE LUCIER: You find it a better thing? MARIA MOREIRA: No, it's been [unintelligible - 00:02:23]. WAYNE LUCIER: And why did you come to the United States? MARIA MOREIRA: I came with him because he was American-born and [unintelligible - 00:02:39] us. He said, 'I like that we move there to the United States.' When I left, I didn't [unintelligible - 00:02:44] I like very much. I didn't want to go back. I didn't want to go back to [unintelligible - 00:02:47]. WAYNE LUCIER: Was it a hard life there? MARIA MOREIRA: Yeah, hard work, hard work. Everything was hard. WAYNE LUCIER: You worked any type of job? MARIA MOREIRA: No, just housework. Just cook our food, make our own bread, and take care of the animals outside. WAYNE LUCIER: What type of animals did you have? MARIA MOREIRA: Oh we have pigs, chickens and. WAYNE LUCIER: So it was a farm, right? MARIA MOREIRA: A farm. Yeah. WAYNE LUCIER: What did your mother and father do?3 MARIA MOREIRA: My father was a farmer too and my, mother was a housewife [unintelligible - 00:03:25]. WAYNE LUCIER: Why did you come to Fitchburg? MARIA MOREIRA: Oh my husband, he had two sisters here. That's why we came here, [unintelligible - 00:03:40] then. WAYNE LUCIER: What did you think about the United States before you came here? MARIA MOREIRA: Before I [unintelligible - 00:03:49] I just see pictures of it so. WAYNE LUCIER: And how about afterwards? MARIA MOREIRA: When I went to Boston, I see everything different between this country and Azores. I liked the type of life; people live here much better. WAYNE LUCIER: It was a lot different though from what you thought? MARIA MOREIRA: Oh yeah. WAYNE LUCIER: For the better or worse? MARIA MOREIRA: Just a big difference in [unintelligible - 00:04:17] the way the people dress and [unintelligible - 00:04:21]. WAYNE LUCIER: Where did you live in Fitchburg? MARIA MOREIRA: Oh the first we lived in Allen's Place, then we moved… WAYNE LUCIER: Were you still a housewife then or…? MARIA MOREIRA: Yeah. I didn't work for years. I was looking for a job but I didn't learn the language so I couldn't find a job. WAYNE LUCIER: And your husband, he spoke English? MARIA MOREIRA: Yeah. He was – found a job. WAYNE LUCIER: Did he help you learn English? MARIA MOREIRA: No. He helped me a little bit but I learned more from the children and people like [unintelligible - 00:05:03]. WAYNE LUCIER: You said you lived on Allen Place, right? MARIA MOREIRA: Yeah, two months. We moved to Villa Street. WAYNE LUCIER: And from there?4 MARIA MOREIRA: From there we moved to Leighton St. But after that, we buy apartment house. We lived there for about six years. Then we moved to Westminster Road, single home. WAYNE LUCIER: And did you live with Portuguese people this time? MARIA MOREIRA: No, I lived in my mother-in-law [unintelligible - 00:05:37]. She lived with us when we buy the house. WAYNE LUCIER: What sort of jobs, what's your job now- your present job? MARIA MOREIRA: Well, my present job is Fitchburg [unintelligible - 00:05:50]. WAYNE LUCIER: And that's where? MARIA MOREIRA: [Unintelligible - 00:00:06] company. WAYNE LUCIER: And how about, let's say when you first came over here, what type of jobs did you have then? MARIA MOREIRA: When I came over? WAYNE LUCIER: When you came here. MARIA MOREIRA: This is my first job. I never had any other job. [Unintelligible - 00:06:05] I find a job. WAYNE LUCIER: And what type of work did your husband do? MARIA MOREIRA: Oh he was [unintelligible - 00:06:18]. He was making some keys and locks, all kinds of stuff and certain works [unintelligible - 00:06:26]. WAYNE LUCIER: How about when you first met him, what type of jobs did he do then? MARIA MOREIRA: Oh he was a farmer there. He was a farmer. He was young, and after that he came to the United States because he was American-born. He went to California for about four years. WAYNE LUCIER: When he went to California, he was married? MARIA MOREIRA: No, he was single. After that he went back and he married me. He stayed there for about three years. After that, he…just the wartime, we have to come here. Otherwise, we have to [unintelligible - 00:07:05]. WAYNE LUCIER: He didn't want to go?5 MARIA MOREIRA: No, [unintelligible - 00:07:07]. He'd rather be here. WAYNE LUCIER: At this time did you know where were they fighting the war? MARIA MOREIRA: Oh this is fighting to Japan… all the 1940 war. WAYNE LUCIER: So he just didn't want to go there? MARIA MOREIRA: He didn't want to go over there. There was no war in Portuguese but you have to be enlisted. WAYNE LUCIER: Oh. Did you belong to any clubs? MARIA MOREIRA: No. WAYNE LUCIER: Okay. What sort of education did you have? MARIA MOREIRA: [Unintelligible - 00:07:42]. WAYNE LUCIER: And do you remember the name of the school? MARIA MOREIRA: No, just about it. WAYNE LUCIER: What type of school was it? MARIA MOREIRA: Oh it was just like first grade to the fifth grade. They teach everything. You know writing, reading, [unintelligible - 00:08:00] everything. WAYNE LUCIER: Was it hard? MARIA MOREIRA: It was hard because we have to learn everything at once. WAYNE LUCIER: Would you prefer, you know, your family to go to school there or in the United States? If you had your choice, let's say you could send them to school in Portugal or the United States, where you want to send them? MARIA MOREIRA: I like the type of education [unintelligible - 00:08:22] for the children. They stay longer in school. WAYNE LUCIER: Did you have any other education like night school? MARIA MOREIRA: I went to two years in night school. WAYNE LUCIER: For what? MARIA MOREIRA: To learn how to be an American citizen – to learn English really. WAYNE LUCIER: Okay. And when did you become a citizen? MARIA MOREIRA: I became a citizen on November 6, 1964. WAYNE LUCIER: Okay. And was it hard for you to change…? 6 MARIA MOREIRA: No, [unintelligible - 00:09:04]. WAYNE LUCIER: Are you Republican or Democrat? MARIA MOREIRA: I'm Independent. I just switched to [unintelligible - 00:09:19]. WAYNE LUCIER: Okay. And have you ever become involved working for a candidate? MARIA MOREIRA: No. WAYNE LUCIER: How about the state government, what do you think about it? Is it useful or is it…? MARIA MOREIRA: Well, they try to do the best they can [unintelligible - 00:09:37] mistake. WAYNE LUCIER: Have they ever, you know, helped you? MARIA MOREIRA: I have no problem, you know. I have my job all the time, [unintelligible - 00:09:46] system or anything. WAYNE LUCIER: How about the city government? Has you ever been affected by it? MARIA MOREIRA: All these years we live here, we… they fixed our road lately. They fixed [unintelligible - 00:10:05]. WAYNE LUCIER: Did you have to… MARIA MOREIRA: [Unintelligible - 00:10:09]. They made that twice [unintelligible - 00:10:16] fixed. WAYNE LUCIER: And that's the only way you could have anything done? MARIA MOREIRA: Well, they did it because of [unintelligible - 00:10:20]. WAYNE LUCIER: Did you ever have any language barriers because of your language? Did you have a hard time? MARIA MOREIRA: Well, at the beginning. I still do; I mean I don't speak English very well. WAYNE LUCIER: How about at home right now? Do you speak English or do you speak Portuguese? MARIA MOREIRA: I could speak English if I want to but I still speak Portuguese. WAYNE LUCIER: Which one do you prefer to speak at home? MARIA MOREIRA: It don't make a difference to me. 7 WAYNE LUCIER: How about when you first came over here, which language did you speak? You know, did you try to speak English? Did everybody try to get to know it? MARIA MOREIRA: Oh, yeah, I tried very hard to speak because at the work nobody would speak my language. I had a hard time. WAYNE LUCIER: Have you ever been discriminated against in the job because of your language? MARIA MOREIRA: No. No. No. WAYNE LUCIER: Never? MARIA MOREIRA: No. WAYNE LUCIER: How about when you went out searching for a house to live in? MARIA MOREIRA: No, we had no problem. WAYNE LUCIER: Do you think Fitchburg has good job opportunities? Do they have enough work for everyone? MARIA MOREIRA: Well, I think so, [unintelligible - 00:11:27] study and other peoples. WAYNE LUCIER: Over in-, what's the city, St Michaels, right? MARIA MOREIRA: Yeah. WAYNE LUCIER: Okay. How was your spare time spent? MARIA MOREIRA: Well, over there my spare time was just do the housework and [unintelligible - 00:11:51] help my mother and [regard] my brothers… WAYNE LUCIER: Was there any real spare time? Do you know what I mean? MARIA MOREIRA: No. I didn't go to many places. Some days, you know, we just had a feast sometimes. WAYNE LUCIER: How about right now? How do you spend your spare time away from work? MARIA MOREIRA: At home or at my brother's house or go to the show – not too many [unintelligible - 00:12:16] not too much. WAYNE LUCIER: Do you think when you first came over here that the city of Fitchburg had recreational things for your children to do, you 8 know, like go ice skating or something like that? Did they have anything for them to do? MARIA MOREIRA: That time I don't miss those things at that point. Over here, it don't make any difference there or not, I mean, not too much. WAYNE LUCIER: So how about right now, do you think Fitchburg has you know…? MARIA MOREIRA: We have more. Yeah, we have more places for the children to have a good time. WAYNE LUCIER: What certain types of foods do you enjoy? MARIA MOREIRA: I like Portuguese food, most of it, but I like some American food. WAYNE LUCIER: When you came over, did you have a hard time preparing American foods or…? MARIA MOREIRA: Yeah, I had a hard time to getting [accustomed], to getting used to American food. WAYNE LUCIER: Did your family enjoy it, the American food? MARIA MOREIRA: No, at the beginning, no, because they had [unintelligible - 00:13:19]. WAYNE LUCIER: Did you find it a hard thing to go shopping? MARIA MOREIRA: Yeah, yeah, because of my language, the language. WAYNE LUCIER: Let's say that you go into an American grocery store; did you find it a hard thing to go in and buy stuff? MARIA MOREIRA: Well, the grocery store, no, it's not because you got everything on the shelf. But like the department store, I have a hard time because I didn't know the sizes. They ask me questions or help you with [unintelligible - 00:13:54]. WAYNE LUCIER: And what are your children, what are their names and what are their jobs? MARIA MOREIRA: My oldest one, her name is Anna. She's a hard worker… WAYNE LUCIER: What's the name Anna? MARIA MOREIRA: [Unintelligible - 00:14:10]. She's a housewife. She got three children. She went to high school. WAYNE LUCIER: And her husband, what's his job?9 MARIA MOREIRA: He's working in a sports shop. He's an [appraiser]. WAYNE LUCIER: Is this local or…? MARIA MOREIRA: Yeah. WAYNE LUCIER: Where does he work? MARIA MOREIRA: He's working at a sports shop in the [unintelligible - 00:14:45]. WAYNE LUCIER: And do you have any other? MARIA MOREIRA: Yeah, I have two other daughters. The other one's name is M. Dorothy. WAYNE LUCIER: And what does she do? MARIA MOREIRA: She's a secretary. WAYNE LUCIER: And are there any other family members? MARIA MOREIRA: I have another one, the youngest one. Her name is Louisa. She's a school teacher. She's teaching [unintelligible - 00:15:26]. WAYNE LUCIER: And how about, do you have any grandchildren? MARIA MOREIRA: I have three grandchildren. WAYNE LUCIER: And do they go to school or…? MARIA MOREIRA: Yeah, the oldest one go to school and the middle one. The other one's been going to the… WAYNE LUCIER: Do you belong to any church? MARIA MOREIRA: Yes, [unintelligible - 00:15:47] Church. WAYNE LUCIER: Was your husband a veteran? MARIA MOREIRA: No. WAYNE LUCIER: He never participated in any service in Portugal? MARIA MOREIRA: No. WAYNE LUCIER: Do you have any customs right now? MARIA MOREIRA: Yeah. I got Portuguese [feasts]. I like to go [unintelligible - 00:16:14]. WAYNE LUCIER: What are your finest memories, your own personal memories? MARIA MOREIRA: Well, I remember only when I was young. Other things we did when we were growing up, especially [unintelligible - 00:16:35] and work in the farm.10 WAYNE LUCIER: How about in Fitchburg, what did you like about Fitchburg? What do you like about Fitchburg? MARIA MOREIRA: Most of them, you know, I like my job here. And I have everything I need, stores, and [unintelligible - 00:17:58]. WAYNE LUCIER: Is there anything that you'd like to forget about Fitchburg? MARIA MOREIRA: No. This is my first place when I came to the United States and I like to live here. WAYNE LUCIER: And when you came to the United States, did you want to stay here? MARIA MOREIRA: Yeah, I was just feeling this is my home. WAYNE LUCIER: And how about Fitchburg? When you came to Fitchburg, did you think that you would stay here? MARIA MOREIRA: That time maybe not, but really I don't like to [leave]. Any place else as far as I know, as long as I know, I want it here. WAYNE LUCIER: Okay. And finally did you want to go back? MARIA MOREIRA: To Azores? WAYNE LUCIER: Yeah. MARIA MOREIRA: No. I went to visit once. WAYNE LUCIER: So you wouldn't like to go to live there? MARIA MOREIRA: To live there, no. WAYNE LUCIER: Okay. Thank you./AT/jf/ah/ee