I was reading Sister Joan Chittister’s column in the National Catholic Reporter today. I also read a link about how Cindy Sheehan and some other lady were put out of the president’s state of the union address on Tuesday night. I read earlier in the week about some citizen in New York State who will soon stand trial for wearing an anti-war t-shirt in a shopping mall near Albany, New York. This all got me to thinking and contemplating what it means to me. I am opposed to all war. I have been ever since I can remember. I first gave all this a lot of thought when I was an early teen. It doesn’t seem to me that anyone who reads the Gospels could support war. I don’t see anything in Matthew, Mark, Luke or John that endorses or condones war, killing or injuring people. It just doesn’t make any sense at any level of discussion for me.
If you have to be “pro-war” to be patriotic in the United States today then I don’t fit. Don’t you find it wierd that the same folks who make such a big deal about abortion are in favor of capital punishment and war? Do these folks ever listen to themselves?
“Do I ever feel angry? Of course I do. Who doesn’t? There are seeds of violence in everyone I guess, but how do I act on them. I’m opposed to the war on every ground I can think of, but I still love our president, all our leaders, and all our troops and even our enemies because that is what I am called to do. Everyone is a child of God, made in the image and likeness of the most high.”Why the hell can’t we take sides it would be so much easier? Us and them, with us and againt us are not Gospel options. I’ve been hurt really bad a number of times in my life, but violence never solved any of those hurts. Forgiving my enemy healed them all. Peace.