What might it mean to be a saint in the 21st century? Where, for example, might a saint be standing outside St Paul’s Cathedral at the moment? Is it the Dean and chapter or the protesters who are being persecuted for righteousness’ sake? Are the protesters blessed because they hunger and thirst for righteousness? What might it mean for the Cathedral to show a little poverty in spirit? What has happened to the peacemakers? We are used to stories of saints coming from the distant past, special named saints with their own feast days, but today we remember the unnamed saints of all ages, the men, women and children who in one way or another have demonstrated something of the life of the beatitudes – they are the ones who are blessed and whom we now celebrate. But what might it mean to live the life of the beatitudes in our present situation – in a time of economic turmoil and uncertainty, when the life we have been used to seems to be seriously threatened?
I do not know what to make of the situation at St Paul’s. It seems an odd place for the protesters to camp out – their story has become much more the story of the cathedral, than the banking story which the protesters really want to draw attention to. They do not as yet seem to be particularly articulate about their cause, though Canon Frazer has been articulate for them. One of their banners asks ‘What would Jesus do?’ but neither the beatitudes nor the rest of Jesus’ teaching, is designed to answer the complex issues of international finance. The beatitudes are more a guide to what sort of person you should try to be in a complex situation – they set a moral mood rather than a moral blue print. But moral moods are important; they initiate a moral ground swell in which governments which have been reluctant to act have to find at least something to do in response to the moral waves washing about their feet.
And the moral tide is rising all over the globe; there are protests going on in the major cities of every continent. And what people are protesting about is far from unreasonable. They want more and better jobs, more help for students and first time home buyers, and not just for bankers. They want smaller bonuses for bankers and less profits for banks and more banking regulation. They want a better distribution of income and a reduction of the influence of global corporations on governments. They want to feel that governments listen and at least try to take even small steps to modify the worst features of a market economy.
This week the Vatican has perhaps expressed the heart of Giles Frazer’s protest even more forcefully than he or perhaps any Anglican leader has done so far. The Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace has condemned the idolatry of the market and calls for a profound re-examination of our cultural and moral values. If no solutions are found for what so many people feel is unjust then hostility may grow and undermine the democratic institutions which uphold the free market in the first place. Some financial activities are threatening the very society we live in. We need greater vision, and real reform, if we are to overcome the sense we have that some of those who work in the financial centres of the world care more about their own life styles than they do about those who cannot afford to live. We may not resort to banners and tents but increasing numbers of people feel that something is profoundly wrong somewhere. And so the moral tide rises.
And what the beatitudes do is reinforce this prophetic sense of injustice and yet at the same time prevent us from believing naively that simply to hunger and thirst after righteousness will achieve success. If we acknowledge our own poverty of spirit, our own meekness, we will be all too aware that individual moral outrage doesn’t get us very far even when expressed in a pulpit or on the steps of St Paul’s. If we speak of corporate finance then we ought also to speak of corporate virtue. And yet perhaps these two types of corporate activity work in opposite directions. The primary goal of corporate finance may be to maximize assets while minimizing risks. The primary goal of corporate virtue – the virtue in a Christian community – is likely to increase risk while decreasing the assets which enable you to do whatever you want. The saints are richest in what they give away – whether that be money or time or reputation or comfort. What they hold onto is the sense of their own weakness, their own moral fragility, their lack of hunger for what is right. But that sense of inadequacy is held in check by their sense that they are, as the collect for today puts it, they are knit together in the mystical body of Christ. There is a vast cloud of witnesses, the assembly of all saints, cheering us on. And it is that which should give us all the strength to live the life of the beatitudes, whether we are seated on the steps of St Paul’s or in the counting houses of the city.