The journalist tells Rogers that he's found out that Rogers has an interest in people like himself.
Rogers is puzzled. He asks what kind of people the young man is referring to.
"People like me. Broken people."
Then comes the electric line. Rogers tilts his head, then shakes it, gazing at the young man.
"You are NOT broken!" he affirms.
Perhaps many people shake their heads at this line, at the perceived stupidity of Mr. Rogers' words.
Because, admit it, how many times in your life have you felt completely, irretrievably broken, like a glass shattered on the floor, ready to be swept up and thrown in the trash? Maybe grief has broken your heart, or else shattered dreams, tragedy, the sinfulness of destructive, uncontrolled emotions, or addiction have torn you apart. You may be enduring depression, doubt, or feeling completely numb and burned out. You may feel as if your life has lost its purpose and you wander in the dark, directionless. You feel so completely broken that you believe that you can never be put together again, never recover. Maybe you feel that way right now.
I don't think that Mr. Rogers has illusions about this young man who is slowly becoming his friend. I think that what Mr. Rogers is really saying is this:
"I know you are wounded and hurting. I know you feel as if you are completely broken. But - you are not! WHO YOU ARE is not broken. THE DEEPEST, REALEST CENTER OF YOU has not shattered into so many pieces that you are only fit to be swept up and put in the garbage. The core of YOU is still whole. The part of you - and Mr. Rogers, a minister, would call this your soul - that is MOST TRULY YOU is still alive, beautiful, untouched, pure, light-filled, holy. You can live from out of the depths of your luminous soul, your spiritual identity, and you will slowly heal and become whole again.
It is only knowing that our spiritual core is unbroken and untouched that gives us the inner courage to confront the truth that we ARE wounded and in need of healing. It is only in living out of our spiritual core that we can be filled with Hope to reach out for healing.
Think of your soul as a beautiful lit candle whose light can erase the darkness of the despairing shadows that surround you. That candle is lit by the Light of the World Who dwells in the center of your soul. At this time of Advent, as the darkness in the world advances towards the shortest day of the year, it is so good and holy to tell ourselves "I am not broken. I am wounded, but, with the help of God, I can heal."
Even the darkness of our woundedness can be used by Christ, the Light of the World, to teach us and heal us, though the process of healing is difficult..
Fr. Richard Rohr says,
"Experiences of darkness are good and necessary teachers. They are not to be avoided, denied, run from, or explained away. Even if we don’t experience clinical or diagnosed depression, most of us will go through a period of darkness, doubt, and malaise at some point in our lives. I hope during these times we can reach out to someone—a therapist, spiritual director, friend—to support us. And when we feel strong may we be the shoulder someone else can lean on.
"There’s a darkness that we are led into by our own sin (the illusion of separation), and selfishness (living out of the false or separate self), and stupidity. We have to work our way out of this kind of darkness by brutal honesty, confession, surrender, forgiveness, apology, and restitution. It may feel simultaneously like dying and being liberated.
"But there’s another darkness that we’re led into by God, grace, and the nature of life itself. In many ways, the loss of meaning, motivation, purpose, and direction might feel even greater here. Some call it 'the dark night of the soul.' Yet even while we feel alone and that God has abandoned us, we can also sense that we have been led here intentionally. We know we are in 'liminal space,' betwixt and between, on the threshold—and we have to stay here until we have learned something essential. It is still no fun and filled with doubt and 'demons' of every sort. But it is the darkness of being held closely by God without our awareness. This is where transformation happens."
Christ, the Light of the World, is our Healer, the Agent of our ongoing Transformation. Advent celebrates His coming - His coming as a Babe in Bethlehem, His coming at the End of Time when His Kingdom will finally reign, - and also his constant Coming - every minute of every day. For Christ is Emmanuel, God-With-Us. God is ALWAYS with us! His constant-coming Love reminds us that we are our Father's precious Child, never broken trash to be swept up and thrown out. Our invincible, luminous souls, candles lit by God, always stay alive and aware, no matter what darkness surrounds us.
When you feel imprisoned in darkness, remember John the Baptist, who from his prison cell, sends a messenger to ask Jesus if he is indeed the Messiah. Jesus doesn't come up with some theological abstraction explaining that He is truly Son of God and Son of Man. Instead he sends the messenger back with a description of Jesus' actions, his "street credibility." Because for Jesus the Christ, God-with-us, Who is constantly coming, coming is ACTING! Bishop Robert Barron repeats Jesus' words and explains them.
"'Go tell John what you see and hear: the blind regain their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have the good news proclaimed to them.'
" Was Jesus doing all of this in the literal sense? Yes! That he was a miracle worker and a healer was one of the most fundamental perceptions regarding Jesus. When God came among us in Christ, he affected the work of repairing his broken and hurting creation. He is not interested simply in souls but in bodies as well.
"And so we hear indeed of the man born blind, of Bartimaeus, of the paralyzed man lowered down through the roof to Jesus, of the woman with the flow of blood, of the man who is deaf and dumb to whom Jesus says 'Ephphatha!' (Be opened!). We hear of Lazarus and the daughter of Jairus and the son of the widow of Naim." (Advent reflection for Sunday, December 15, 2019,THIRD SUNDAY OF ADVENT, MATTHEW 11:2-11)
We cannot know the ways in which Christ will heal us or our loved ones. We must have faith - a reaching out to the One Who loves us in and through the darkness - and trust that God is always acting, in ways we know nothing about. That even inside us and the ones we love who are hurting there shines an invincible, God-lit soul that is not broken.
No, you are not broken. WHO YOU ARE is not broken. In fact, none of us are broken. Even in the deepest darkness, the DEEPEST, REALEST CENTER of us, our souls, with God as their center, shine on, unconquered. God is always acting for our benefit. God can walk into our own individual land of darkness and heal our deepest depression, doubt, feelings of worthlessness, addictions, compulsions, numbness, burn-out, uncontrolled emotions, feelings that life has no purpose. God can hold us in our grief with Christ's own wounded hands. God can walk us through the spiritual dark night of the soul.
The deepest healing will happen when we come out on the other side of darkness and woundedness and are finally able to savor the life lessons we learned while we sojourned in the dark: Lessons that were essential for our spiritual growth. Then, illuminated by Faith, we will behold with joy that, in the midst of our darkness, Christ Our Light has truly come. Christ is indeed always truly with us. And in the Light of His burning, passionate, purifying, healing Gaze, we have been transformed!