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I continue to pray, write letters and hope that the War in Iraq can be stopped and that peace can be given a chance. I hope that the Bush Administration will not start a pre-emptive war with Iran. In the past nearly five years I have continued to hope and pray for peace. I run several times per week and I run for peace. Today I received an email from Pace e Bene Nonviolence Service with an invitation to sign a Declaration of Peace. Follow this link if you are interested in signing the Declaration of Peace.

The Declaration of Peace has gained the endorsements of numerous peace fellowships including Pax Christi USA, The Episcopal Peace Fellowship, Buddhist Peace Fellowship, and the Network of Spiritual Progressives. I continue to hope that the message of peace will prevail. Peace.

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There is a lot of talk today in some circles of kicking the oil habit. For politicians it is largely lip service but for folks in the grassroots there is a growing activism among people who long for alternative ways to power their cars and to heat and cool their homes. The week President Bush was sworn into his first term, the average price of a gallon of regular gas was $1.47 nationwide. Now the average is nearly $3, with some parts of the country paying significantly more.

Leaving partisan politics aside there are some folks who are organizing and demanding that we move off the oil standard. One of the groups attempting to make a difference is Kick the Oil Habit. Peace.

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This year was our first as empty nesters. We had two children in college. Now, we have a recent college graduate working away from home and trying to get established in a new career. Into this vacuum comes a cardinal family. Here is a picture of mother cardinal standing on the edge of the nest as one of her young has an open mouth eagerly waiting to be fed. All of this is occurring just outside our kitchen window. My wife’s maternal instincts are being stimulated keeping an eye on this young family just outside our window. We live on the edge of the “hundred acre wood.” We have lots of great creatures in our backyard including a three eared rabbit. There is always the fascination of new life and the eagerness to help another family with their young even if that family is winged.

I’m reminded of St. Francis preaching to the birds. I have prayed that animals would find a home in our yard and they have.

“My brother and sister birds, you should praise your Creator and always love him: He gave you feathers for clothes, wings to fly and all other things that you need. It is God who made you noble among all creatures, making your home in thin, pure air. Without sowing or reaping, you receive God’s guidance and protection.”–St. Francis of Assisi.” We’re not preaching to the birds. It seems they are preaching to us with their presence. Peace.

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Sometimes topics and ideas seem to come in waves. Tonight while reading on the internet I came to Fr. John Dear’s website and came across a great article written about St. Francis and a topic I wrote about just last night.

Here is an excerpt from that article.

Francis embodies the Gospel journey from violence to nonviolence, wealth to poverty, power to powerlessness, selfishness to selfless service, pride to humility, indifference to love, cruelty to compassion, vengeance to forgiveness, revenge to reconciliation, war to peace, killing enemies to loving enemies. More than any other Christian, he epitomizes discipleship to Jesus. His witness continues to shine throughout the world. Read More here… Peace.

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In the United States we celebrate Memorial Day everyday on the last Monday of May. This is a United States only holiday and its principle aim seems to be honoring and glorifing war dead. I just heard President Bush use all the politically correct cliches to affirm his policy of war without end. No doubt most of the common soldiers that get killed in wars go to their deaths for a variety of reasons. My mother gets very emotional when talking about her war, World War II. I get emotional when discussing Vietnam and the current illegal war in Iraq.

Listening to President Bush today one could get the mistaken impression that the only way freedom is won or secured is through armed conflict. In truth armed conflict represents a failure of humanity, not a reason to rejoice. President Bush did a lot of drum beating today in Arlington, but why then has he failed to attend at least one funeral of any soldier killed in Iraq or Afghanistan? Why has his administration put coffins arriving at Dover Air Force Base off limits to the media?

I think we ought to memorialize those Americans who advanced the cause of freedom and liberty without firing a shot. Why not memorialize Martin Luther King and the civil rights movement. What about memorializing Women’s Suffrage? Instead of 21 gun salutes how about a moment or minute of silence.

We’ll keep Memorial Day until America tires of war. Peace.

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There is a well written piece by Steve Bogner expressing his thoughts on the minimum wage and it’s relationship to Catholic social teaching. It’s worth your time to check it out. Peace.

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minimum wage, catholic teaching

“You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ “But I say to you, offer no resistance to one who is evil. When someone strikes you on (your) right cheek, turn the other one to him as well. If anyone wants to go to law with you over your tunic, hand him your cloak as well. Should anyone press you into service for one mile, go with him for two miles. Give to the one who asks of you, and do not turn your back on one who wants to borrow.”You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’But I say to you, love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you,that you may be children of your heavenly Father, for he makes his sun rise on the bad and the good, and causes rain to fall on the just and the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what recompense will you have? Do not the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet your brothers only, what is unusual about that? Do not the pagans do the same? So be perfect,just as your heavenly Father is perfect.

The preceding sentences come from the 5th Chapter of St. Matthew’s Gospel. I can’t find anything in any of the gospels that justifies striking your enemy in any way. My research indicates in the early days of Christianity followers refused service in the Roman Army. Christians refused to take up arms. That all changed in the 5th Century when Augustine of Hippo came up with what is now called the “just war” theory. So it was Augustine and not Jesus the Christ, the Prince of Peace who articulated the “just war” theory. Just war is then anti-Christian or a watering down of the Gospel message.

At Assisi in the Province of Umbria in 1182 the “alter Christus” Francesco Bernardone was born. Following a dissolute early life punctuated by military service Francis experienced a conversion so powerful that he sought to literally follow the Lord Jesus. It was St. Francis and his followers who literally ended the Crusades by the unwillingness to take up arms. Francis brought a renewal to the church. Secular Franciscans today are called to conform their thoughts and deeds to those of Christ by means of that radical interior change which the gospel calls ‘conversion’. I’m a Franciscan who believes that there is no such thing as just war. Just war produces just that ‘just war’.

Those who chose to follow Augustine rather than Christ should call themselves Augustinians or Augustinian Christians that would seem appropriate. Peace.

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Are we witnesses to the Resurrection of Jesus? Do our lives reflect that truth? Those were a couple of questions Fr. Bob asked us to reflect on this morning at Mass. What in our lives invites us to resurrection? When questions like these arise I tend to shrink away. What evidence of the healing presence of the risen Lord are evident in my life. Actually, there is more evidence of these ordinary resurrections in my and our lives than we think at first. My tendency is to discount the ordinary in my life and instead look for the extraordinary, but it is a celebration of the ordinary that brings the glory of God to me and us in personal ways. This celebration of the ordinary and acceptance of ourselves as flawed yet blessed is the secret to holiness. Saints are not extraordinary people performing extraordinary feats. They are instead ordinary people loving, forgiving and consecrating ordinary events in ordinary people’s lives. It is our imperfections that draw us to each other and give us the grace to heal and bless others. Peace.

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I’ve been reading about the horrible atrocities that occured at Haditha, Iraq. Yes, an American Marine was killed and his buddies reacted in the fog of war and killed a couple dozen innocent Iraqi citizens. It’s not the fault of the Marines although they are the guys who pulled the triggers. It is the fault of a government and a people who didn’t object strongly enough to war. We say we’re a Christian nation and that “In God we trust.” It’s on our currency. We have politicians, pundits and others who want to post the Ten Commandments wherever they can find a place to hang them.

This atrocity in Haditha while terrible is nothing new. December 20, 1864, at Sand Creek in the Colorado territory hundreds of innocent Native American women and children were slaughtered by elements of the United States Army. The United States Cavalry massacred 150 Sioux Indians at Wounded Knee in 1890. We have a long history of murder and genocide. We’re not alone. Our principal ally in the Iraq fiasco, the British, have their own history of slaughter. The Massacre at Amritsar at which 400 civilians were killed and 1200 wounded. On March 16, 1968, Charlie Company, 11th Brigade, Americal Division wrote their names in the blood of history with the massacre of 300 unarmed civilians.

Is it any wonder that the unbelievers of the world doubt what we say about Jesus and the Gospel. Mahatma Gandhi said, “I like your Christ. I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.” Is it any wonder that the rest of the world doubts our intent? What will it take to atone for the atrocities of Haditha and elsewhere in Iraq? Pray for the United States Marines. Pray for Haditha and all Iraq. Peace.

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Yesterday I was having lunch with my mother. We were having a conversation about the consolidation of parishes in the Diocese of Buffalo, New York brought on by a shortage of priests to fill those vacancies. Mom’s parish, SS. Peter & Paul in Arcade, New York has the responsibility to cover the parish of St. Mary’s in East Arcade. St. Mary’s is actually the older of the two parishes, but it has less parishioners than SS. Peter & Paul and might have to be closed. It seems that one of the older parishioners at St. Mary’s is so alarmed by this prospect that this person is insisting that the name of SS. Peter & Paul be changed to St. Mary’s. One of the parishioners at SS. Peter & Paul recommended a compromise suggesting the name be, SS. Peter, Paul & Mary. I liked her sense of humor.

This reminded me of some of the fictional parish names that comedian George Carlin had coined over the years: St. Rita Moreno, Our Lady of Perpetual Suffering, Our Lady of Perpetual Motion. Take time to enjoy this weekend. This is Memorial Day Weekend in the United States. Be nice to a veteran today and pray for peace. Peace.

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