UNISINOS – RESIDÊNCIA CONCEIÇÃO
Residência Conceição 18 August, 2017 XLVII:2
UNISINOS
Cx. P. 101
93.001-970 São Leopoldo, RS e-mail: [email protected]
BRAZIL http://www.egfbenya.com
Dear Friends, Benefactors, Collaborators, Colleagues and Family:
Smoke is an indistinct word in itself! Broad in form (noun, verb, adjective) it can have many meanings. Context says everything .In years past, “Smoke?” was a simple introductory offer that helped break initial tensions of encounter. A simple cigarette could initiate proceedings between common people. Today that is in decline.
“Smoke! Fire!” can be an alarm, a call to awareness and action, as an emergency arises. Centuries and even decades past that call was a community alarm to mobilization as neighbors of a settlement, town or village quickly gathered to face a sudden common threat; unplanned fire. “Smoked” perishables (meats, cheese, etc.) have a history dating from millennia past as “smoking” was a basic necessary method of preservation. Still available today, such commodities are more a luxury than a necessity.
Many North American Indians, indigenous peoples used tobacco as a fuel for pipes of peace between their villages and peoples of distance, persons of different origin as the “peace pipe” served as a symbol of welcome, calm and even reconciliation. Notwithstanding its hazards and abuses, tobacco can still serve as a distinct symbol for and of these peoples. Many indigenous Peoples used “smoke signals” to convey messages in spacious but relatively close geographic regions to rapidly inform allies of a crucial event or sudden change of plan.
The “smoke signal” also makes its presence in at least one very European setting but quite universal in its scope. With a variability that is highly unpredictable, the “Ecclesiastical Conclave” convenes cardinals of the Catholic Church at each vacancy of the “Chair of Peter”, usually when the Bishop of Rome dies but also when he formally resigns. In conclave, these men are sealed in conference with NO contact with the outside world. They receive food indirectly as they are charged with the task of selecting (by vote, proclamation or appointment) a successor to the Vicar of Christ. Their only contact with the outside world is by “smoke signals”; twice in the morning and twice in the afternoon UNTIL they find a Vicar. Votes are taken these 4 times each day until someone, either among them or external, receives two thirds PLUS 1 of the voting cardinals present. Ballots are burned after each vote. IFF the vote does NOT achieve the 2/3 + 1, the ballots are burned with a chemical mixture yielding black smoke. IFF the necessary count is achieved or surpassed, the ballots are burned with another chemical mix rendering white smoke, a sign of a successor. The “smoke signal” is crucial.
Thus Catholic ecclesiastics and American Indians use the smoke signal as an essential tool of communications. Our personal communication can seem “smoky” at times especially if we are not in complete control (which for most of the time we are NOT).
Among religious, that “smokiness” can be profuse. Yet Almighty God always proceeds in and for clarity. That clarity has been most profound these 33 years since I was ordained especially in the benevolence and charity He has shown in and through you. I do thank you as I also thank God as I pray that He bless you and your families always.
Gratefully in Jesus Christ