A remarkable man died a few days ago, Tony Benn, a British parliamentarian for over fifty years, a man born into a privileged background who became a steady unchanging voice of the political left.

Whatever one thought of his political view, you couldn’t fail to recognise his sincerity and unswerving commitment to causes for a better, more just society, be it support for a unionised workforce or a determined opposition to nuclear weapons and to apartheid in South Africa. He was never afraid of asking the difficult question and then in the ensuing discussion offering sharp and incisive argument, always curteous, a man of considerable integrity. There was much in Benn’s life that would have made him a comfortable bedfellow with the proponents of Liberation Theology.

Men and women of principle are needed more than ever in a society that seeks a selfish goal. Maybe that is the underlying reason for the huge impact that Francis has made in the year since his election as Bishop of Rome, both within the Church and beyond. To be pictured on the front covers of Time and Rolling Stone in one year is certainly some achievement!

But it goes much deeper than that. In the space of twelve months he has challenged the Church to renewal, not always by what he has said but by the way he has lived, and encouraged others to follow his example. Here is a man with his feet firmly planted on the same earth that he shares with all of us. He makes the connection, he is genuine in his concern. He is listened to and he is understood.

This Lent, I am re-reading a memorable Journal from the 70s, the account by Henri Nouwen of his seven months at the Abbey of the Genesee in up-state New York, another real person. His writing, always honest, doesn’t hesitate to share with his reader the very real difficulties, struggles and doubts that he had in life.

We do what we can, when we can. We offer a hand to help others, we listen to their story, sharing their joy and suffering with them in their sorrow. And sometimes, maybe often, others do the same for us. Doubt and belief are the necessary companions in a journey of faith, the Yin and Yang of Christian commitment.

My Grandson James, who is just gone eleven, wrote a poem recently that he called ‘Journeys’. The last three lines read:

“With hope churning through their blood they sail
The sun pouring like a waterfall gushing with goodness
Then with a heart of fire they depart from this life in peace”

In a young child’s words, an apt summary for the lives of good men.

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