Prince of Peace, nuclear weapons, and the challenge of peace

I have read that President-elect Trump has advocated more nuclear weapons. A tweet from him stated:

“The United States must greatly strengthen and expand its nuclear capability until such time as the world comes to its senses regarding nukes.”

To put this in context, according to a BBC report

Jason Miller, the communications manager for the Trump transition team, explained he "was referring to the threat of nuclear proliferation and the critical need to prevent it - particularly to and among terrorist organizations and unstable and rogue regimes".

Mr Miller also added that the president-elect "emphasised the need to improve and modernize our deterrent capability as a vital way to pursue peace through strength".

I will save another post to write about nuclear deterrence but I wanted to offer a few thoughts

In the days before we come to celebrate the birth of the Prince of Peace, who came as a vulnerable baby and died on a cross, bringing “peace through the blood of the Cross” (Colossians 1:20), I find myself grieving. I thought we were moving beyond this, although I recognize that President Obama had plans to invest about one trillion dollars in the nuclear arsenal.

In the face of this I think it is important to re-read the 1983 pastoral letter of the US Catholic Bishops.

One of the strongest statements can be found in the Summary:

In the words of the Holy Father [Pope Saint John Paul II], we need a "moral about-face." The whole world must summon the moral courage and technical means to say no to nuclear conflict; no to weapons of mass destruction; no to an arms race which robs the poor and the vulnerable; and no to the moral danger of a nuclear age which places before humankind indefensible choices of constant terror or surrender. Peacemaking is not an optional commitment. It is a requirement of our faith. We are called to be peacemakers, not by some movement of the moment, but by our Lord Jesus. The content and context of our peacemaking is set not by some political agenda or ideological program, but by the teaching of his Church.

This is, at heart, a question of our spirituality. Are we willing to work beyond fear and threats? Are we willing to open our hearts to all peoples? Are we able to develop our minds to imagine and make real new and peaceful ways of responding to conflict and violence?

Or are we stuck in the old ways of fear, anxiety, recrimination, domination, power, and force?

We need a “moral-about-face.”

These days our bishop is confirming almost 300 young people in our parish. Yesterday afternoon the second reading was from Paul’s letter to the Galatians (5: 16-25) in which he contrasts the works of the flesh (the unredeemed world) with the fruits of the spirit.

It might be useful to use these lists from the first century to discern what a moral-about –face might mean for the United States, the world, and our very selves.

The works of the flesh are:

immorality, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, hatreds, rivalry, jealousy, outbursts of fury, acts of selfishness, dissensions, factions, occasions of envy, drinking bouts, orgies, and the like. (New American Bible translation)

or, in N. T. Wright’s The Kingdom New Testament translation:

fornication, uncleanness, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, hostilities, strife, jealousy, bursts of rage, selfish ambition, factiousness, divisions, moods of envy, drunkenness, wild partying, and similar things.

The fruits of the spirit are:

love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. (New American Bible translation)

or, in N. T. Wright’s The Kingdom New Testament translation:

love, joy, peace, great-heartedness, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.

In two days we will celebrate the Son of God made flesh, welcomed with the song of angels, “Glory to God in the highest and peace on earth to people of good will.”

Let us give glory to God in our lives; let us be people of "good will." And above all, let us welcome Jesus with open arms and not with nuclear arms - loving God and our neighbors, even our enemies.

A nativity scene in an exhibition in the Ravenna cathedral, 2013.

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 More photos of nativity scenes from the exhibition can be found here.

Praying and fasting for peace

Pope Francis has asked us to pray and fast today for peace – in Syria and throughout the world.

I am not a historian but I don’t know of any precedents, of any popes who asked the church to fast for peace – and against a specific war.

Pope John Paul II spoke strongly against the Iraq war and was largely ignored by the US, including many of the US bishops. (See the strong blog entry of Bishop Robert Lynch.) Pope John XXIII worked behind the scenes to prevent the Cuban missile crisis from escalating into war.

But what pope has done this – calling for a day of prayer and fasting and setting aside several hours for public prayer for peace.

In their 1963 pastoral letter on peace, The Challenge of Peace, ¶ 298, the US bishops asked Catholics to devote Friday as a day of prayer and fasting for peace, as a sign of conversion:

As a tangible sign of our need and desire to do penance we, for the cause of peace, commit ourselves to fast and abstinence on each Friday of the year. We call upon our people voluntarily to do penance on Friday by eating less food and by abstaining from meat. This return to a traditional practice of penance, once well observed in the U.S. Church, should be accompanied by works of charity and service toward our neighbors. Every Friday should be a day significantly devoted to prayer, penance, and almsgiving for peace.

But a pope asking all the world’s Catholics to join in prayer and fasting seems altogether new. The response of leaders of other religions has been very heartening.

But the message of Pope Francis is stronger than much of what we Catholics hear from our religious leaders. In his September 1 Angelus message, he said:

I wish to make add my voice to the cry which rises up with increasing anguish from every part of the world, from every people, from the heart of each person, from the one great family which is humanity: it is the cry for peace! It is a cry which declares with force: we want a peaceful world, we want to be men and women of peace, and we want in our society, torn apart by divisions and conflict, that peace break out! War never again! Never again war! Peace is a precious gift, which must be promoted and protected….

There is a judgment of God and of history upon our actions which are inescapable! Never has the use of violence brought peace in its wake. War begets war; violence begets violence….

I repeat forcefully: it is neither a culture of confrontation nor a culture of conflict which builds harmony within and between peoples, but rather a culture of encounter and a culture of dialogue; this is the only way to peace. May the plea for peace rise up and touch the heart of everyone so that they may lay down their weapons and be let themselves be led by the desire for peace.

To this end, brothers and sisters, I have decided to proclaim for the whole Church on 7 September next, the vigil of the birth of Mary, Queen of Peace, a day of fasting and prayer for peace in Syria, the Middle East, and throughout the world, and I also invite each person, including our fellow Christians, followers of other religions and all men of good will, to participate, in whatever way they can, in this initiative.

In one way Pope Francis echoes the eloquent plea of Pope Paul VI at the UN in 1965:

No more war, war never again. It is peace, peace which must guide the destinies of peoples and of all mankind.

The words of Pope Francis echo the plea for peace that Pope John Paul II made at Drogheda, Ireland, in 1979:

I proclaim, with the conviction of my faith in Christ and with an awareness of my mission, that violence is evil, that violence is unacceptable as a solution to problems, that violence is unworthy of man. Violence is a lie, for it goes against the truth of our faith, the truth of our humanity. Violence destroys what it claims to defend: the dignity, the life, the freedom of human beings. Violence is a crime against humanity, for it destroys the very fabric of society….

To all of you who are listening I say: do not believe in violence; do not support violence. It is not the Christian way. It is not the way of the Catholic Church. Believe in peace and forgiveness and love; for they are of Christ.

But this pope, named after the peacemaker Francis, is not only talking about peace. He is asking all of us to begin the process of conversion that leads to peace.

And so as we empty our lives of food today may our hearts be opened to all those in need, all those suffering from violence, war, and injustice. And may the hearts of all of us be opened.

Thomas Merton is a good guide for what our prayer should be today. As he wrote in “The Root of War is Fear” in New Seeds of Contemplation in the early 1960s:

When I pray for peace, I pray not only that the enemies of my country may cease to want war, but above all that my own country will cease to do the things that make war inevitable. In other words, when I pray for peace I am not just praying that the Russians will give up without a struggle and let us have our own way. I am praying that both we and the Russians may somehow be restored to sanity and learn how to work out our problems, as best we can, together, instead of preparing for global suicide. …

So instead of loving what you think is peace, love other men and love God above all. And instead of hating the people you think are warmakers, hate the appetites and the disorder in your own soul, which are the causes of war. If you love peace, then hate injustice, hate tyranny, hate greed -- but hate these things in yourself, not in the other.

And so today, I’ll try to fast as I go out to two sector meetings in distant villages and then spend the night in Dulce Nombre to prepare for the parish feast day on Sunday, September 8.

Pray and fast for peace 1: Do not kill.

The harvest of justice is sown in peace

for those who work for peace.

James 3: 18

As Pope Francis calls for a day of prayer and fasting for peace in Syria nad throughout the world, I would like to offer the words of a hymn that I wish were more widely known and sung.

“¡No matarás!” is a hymn from El Salvador, inspired by the words of the martyred Archbishop Oscar Romero, which offers a vision of peace, based on justice, and recognizes that peace demands justice.

Blessed are the peacemakers– but “cursed” are those who kill.

Here’s my loose translation, followed by the Spanish.

Thou shalt not kill!

Do not kill!
For God and for the people,
I order you:
Do not kill. 

1. Cursed it the person who orders
people to be killed.
God is the God of life
and not of death. 

2. Cursed is the person who
denies the workers their rights.
The human is the new people
who will make the earth new. 

3. Cursed is the person
who joins plantation with plantation.
The harvest is for everyone:
let justice be done. 

 4. Cursed is the person
who makes laws and decrees
which oppress the humble
and defend the rich. 

 5. Blessed us the person who struggles
tirelessly for life,
to put death to death
and bring light to the nation.

¡NO MATARÁS!

  No matarás
  No matarás
  Por Dios, por el pueblo:
  te ordeno: 

  no matarás.

1. Maldito el hombre que ordena

    matar a los pobres.

    Dios es un Dios de la vida

    y no de la muerte.

2. Maldito el hombre que niega
    al obrero sus derechos.

    El hombre es el pueblo nuevo
    que hará nueva la tierra.

3. Maldito el hombre que junta
    hacienda con hacienda.

    Para todos la cosecha,

    hágase justicia.

4. Maldito el hombre que hace

    leyes y decretos

    que oprime al humilde

    y al rico lo defienden.

5. Bendito el hombre que lucha

    incansable por la vida

    para dar muerte a la muerte    y luz a la patria.

Five pillars of peace - and mission

After finishing watching the film Of Gods and Men two weeks ago on the killing of seven Trappist monks in Algeria in 1996, I decided to re-read John W. Kiser’s book, The Monks of Tibhirine: Faith, Love, and Terror in Algeria, which I finished today.

The book is good, though it’s easy to get lost in the numerous persons and groups that provide the framework for understanding the lives and deaths of the monks.

But in Kiser's book, I came across a reference to a retreat that the prior, Christian De Chergé, gave just weeks before he was kidnapped.

He spoke of five pillars of peace which I found helpful – not just for understanding what peace is but also as five pillars for mission.

Today I found the talk in La esperanza invincible  [Unconquerable Hope], a book I bought a while ago but never got around to read. Here’s my translation of Dom Christian’s summary of the five pillars of peace:

I believe that without these five pillars no peace is possible. But peace is, above all, a gift of God. It is given to us. We do not say that peace doesn’t exist; it is there. Simply, we must work to let it emerge:

Patience – Patience

Poverty – Pauvreté

Presence – Présence

Prayer – Prière

Pardon /Forgiveness – Pardon

It just so happens that Forgiveness is the first name of God in the [Muslim] litany of the 99 [names of God],  Ar Rahman. And Patience is the last of the 99, Es Sabour. But God Himself is poor, God Himself is present, and God Himself is prayer.

Here is the peace which God give. Not as the peace the world gives.

That was what the monastery of Our Lady of Atlas in Tibhurine, Algeria, tried to live.

I think they also have a lot to say to me, a missionary in Honduras.

Patience is definitely needed. How many times have I felt the need for patience when I’m waiting for someone to show up or when I can’t understand what someone is saying. But I also need patience in relation to myself – my failures, my cultural faux pas, my faulty Spanish, and more. Patience helps me put things in perspective, not jumping as quickly to conclusions that are based in my background as a privileged inhabitant of this planet.

Poverty: In an extremely poor country, I can never be poor or seen as poor, but I can try to live a slightly austere life. Being a vegetarian helps. If I weren’t, the people would kill a chicken every time I visited a village, even though they themselves might eat meat less than five times a month. But taking small portions (partly because I can’t eat as much as many of these hard working people do) is also a part of trying to be closer to the poor. But, above all, poverty means recognizing the dignity and capacities of the poor. I may have more education, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that I really know more than many people I work with. We can learn together – sharing strengths and filling up each others’ weaknesses.

Presence is central. I am not here to save Honduras. I am here to accompany the people – in their joys and sorrows, in their struggles and their victories. That doesn’t mean I don’t have projects that I work on or that I don’t use my education and training in my work with educational projects. It does mean that I work to see that the people here, especially those poor and marginalized, become the protagonists of their life and work.

Prayer is absolutely needed. I need to pray to let my life be based in a relationship with the God of Love, who became flesh as a poor man in a country suffering oppression. Without a vision like this, I don’t think I’d be able to live with such faith and joy.

Pardon: At times I have to ask forgiveness due to my cultural ineptness. But I also need to learn to forgive when I see something as a snub, when it really may just be that my cultural expectations are not likely be met by a different. Forgiveness reminds me that we all are incomplete and need forgiveness. In this I remember Hannah Arendt’s analysis of forgiveness in  The Human Condition: forgiveness breaks the chain of the irreversibility past and enables us to act. We are not bound by what happened; we can go forward – and we can let others go forward.

These are just some preliminary thoughts, inspired by a martyr. I need to pray and reflect on these words since I believe they can help us understand better what  real mission means.