AIDS and Faith

Ian Wylie Toal is a freelance science writer living in Martindale,
Ontario.

These are complicated books that challenge many of our spiritual
assumptions by offering a Christian response to suffering caused by
AIDS.

AIDS and Faith has four distinct sections. In Part 1, the revised
sacrament of the sick is examined and interpreted to mean that a sick
person may use his or her experience to derive new meaning from God. The
characteristics of AIDS allows many of the orthodox interpretations of
God to be overturned, revealing God as a mystery, transforming human
existence, and offering a “future beyond our imagining.”

Part 2 examines how the expression of grief and suffering allows a
person to move from a powerless isolated state to a powerful unity with
God. The author illustrates how Psalms 77, 88, and 143 “reflect the
three stages in the healing of suffering.”

Part 3 discusses how caregivers should respond to AIDS. This section
contains complex analyses of the historical link between disease and
sin, a link that allows us to feel that “‘decent’ people adhere to
a code and practices that, when respected, guarantee a ‘good
life.’” Because epidemics are seen as a threat to societal status
quo, people suffering from the illness are excluded from society.
Professional caregivers, who should understand that morality and disease
are not linked, have a responsibility to transcend societal fears and
treat AIDS patients with respect.

The final section looks at an issue that was examined more completely
in Knowing the God of Compassion: how the suffering of people with AIDS
puts them through the “dark night of the spirit,” when God seems to
abandon them. Yet through this process a person can come to a truer
understanding of God—the God of unconditional love—and emerge from
the dark night a more complete spiritual human being.

Although Christian in focus, these two excellent books speak powerfully
of universal tolerance and understanding, and of striving for unity with
the Creator in the face of immense suffering. Anyone concerned with
spiritual life will find much of value in both books.