Day of Departure.

Chernihiv, Ukraine -- 40 miles east of Chernobyl

We will never know what really happened at Chernobyl, but we do know that instead of giving out its energy for the benefit of it cities and villages, the reactor core turned in on itself, in seconds the disaster of meltdown occurred, sending a plume of poison over millions. The disaster occurred because the laws governing the behaviour of the fundamental power of matter were flouted.

At almost the same time disaster struck the Church. Despite our concentration of wealth and goods we ceased to reach out to the world, we turned in on ourselves, we argued about the nature of the incomprehensible, about power which was beyond our understanding. In our arrogance we sneered at the thinking of the past on how many angels can dance on the head of a pin when we were doing the very same ourselves. Not only did we flout the law which protected us, we made a mockery of the teachings of patience, mercy and love. Unable to see the suffering and perversion around us we squabbled among ourselves, and still squabble. The energy we should have given out, destroyed us from within and meltdown occurred.

We call ourselves the people of God, a living sacrifice, but instead of a sweet savour, we send to high heaven a foul stink, a plume more destructive than Chernobyl. We will be tested time and time again, if necessary, until no one is left, because God will not be mocked. If we do not seek to correct ourselves, we will be brought to nothing. We have seen the cosmic enormity of a fundamental power let loose, can we not see the power of its Creator? We have been given the senses to see the visible to understand the invisible.

With religion we re-ligate ourselves to our Creator from whom we are separated, not through rituals and chants, nor through repetitive prayers and certainly not by endless squabbles and pomposity, but by what we think and do. Our instructions are plain. Pure religion and undefiled as seen by God, undefiled by our baubles and babbling is this, to visit the helpless and the suffering, a doers religion and secondly, to keep ourselves unspotted from the filth of this world, to become holy as God is holy. This is the lesson of Chernobyl. We have been given another chance.