From War to Peace, from Death to Life. One must first admit grave error, as in the Iraq War, before one can correct it, and cooperate in the redemption of our war wearied world. To help us receive this grace here is a prayer Fr. E. C. McCarthy has offered for this season.
LENTEN PRAYER OF PETITION
FOR THE RETURN OF ALL CHURCHES TO
THE TRUTH OF THE NONVIOLENT JESUS
AND HIS WAY OF NONVIOLENT LOVE
bba, in the name of Jesus
we ask you to send the Holy Spirit
to gather the Churches together,
so that with one mind, one heart and one voice,
they may proclaim as God’s Way
Jesus’ Way of Nonviolent Love of all people—friends and enemies—
and thereby teach that
violence and enmity are not God’s Way
violence and enmity are not the Christian Way,
violence and enmity are not the Holy Way,
violence and enmity are not the Catholic Way,
violence and enmity are not the Apostolic Way,
violence and enmity are inot the Way of Jesus,
and thus set Christians free forever
from bondage to the
unholy, uncatholic, unapostolic, unChrist-like
ways of the counterfeit gods and philosophies justifying
war, capital punishment and abortion.
.
We plead this grace so that
the Nonviolent Lamb
may be our Lord in deed,
as well as in word and sacrament.
We request this gift
so that the Christian Community
may be for afflicted humanity
a faithful witness
to Jesus’ Way of conquering evil.
We implore this healing
so that the Church may be
an authentic extension in time and space
of the Way of the Lamb of God,
of the Way of the Nonviolent Jesus
which is the Way
to renew the face of the earth. Amen.
UR LAMB HAS CONQUERED; LET US FOLLOW.
By Fr. Emanuel Charles McCarthy
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AGAIN - Please consider copying and sending the proposed resolution below to your state & national legislators, and request that they submit it to become law. Also bring it to your church local & national assemblies for enactment as a faith declaration. Be patient and persistent, hoping for some action on this in time for next March 19th. Thank you.
Resolution for "Unjust War Remembrance Day" March 19th
· Whereas the United States entered into a war with Iraq on Mar 19, 2003 with no credible evidence of weapons of mass destruction, or imminent threat to our nation.
· Whereas the leaders of our nation and the national media rushed to war without due consideration and for reasons that remain to be clearly stated or investigated.
· Whereas the citizens of our nation, even those opposed to this war, by and large acquiesced to this war’s prosecution.
· Whereas hundreds of thousands of Iraq civilians, thousands of our soldiers, and a probable tens of thousands of Iraqi insurgents died in this war. Many more than all these dead were the severely wounded casualties of this war.
· Whereas Iraqi infrastructure and economy has been decimated, and our own economy has been definitively damaged by this unnecessary war.
· Whereas this Iraq war did not meet the moral standards required of the just war theory.
· Whereas many prominent religious leaders call us to reject just war theory as impossible in modern warfare, and urge a much deeper faith respecting all human life.
Be it resolved to declare March 19 a national holiday of reflection, Unjust War Remembrance Day, in which everyone should work and pray to develop projects and strategies on local, national, and international levels that resolve conflicts between nations and peoples effectively without resorting to the organized overwhelming violence of war.
· Whereas the leaders of our nation and the national media rushed to war without due consideration and for reasons that remain to be clearly stated or investigated.
· Whereas the citizens of our nation, even those opposed to this war, by and large acquiesced to this war’s prosecution.
· Whereas hundreds of thousands of Iraq civilians, thousands of our soldiers, and a probable tens of thousands of Iraqi insurgents died in this war. Many more than all these dead were the severely wounded casualties of this war.
· Whereas Iraqi infrastructure and economy has been decimated, and our own economy has been definitively damaged by this unnecessary war.
· Whereas this Iraq war did not meet the moral standards required of the just war theory.
· Whereas many prominent religious leaders call us to reject just war theory as impossible in modern warfare, and urge a much deeper faith respecting all human life.
Be it resolved to declare March 19 a national holiday of reflection, Unjust War Remembrance Day, in which everyone should work and pray to develop projects and strategies on local, national, and international levels that resolve conflicts between nations and peoples effectively without resorting to the organized overwhelming violence of war.
Be it resolved also that this resolution, in some form particular to each nation, should be adopted by the United Nations, as every nation has some time in the history of their peoples participated in unjust war.
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St. Joseph the Worker, turn our hands from weapons of war to creative endeavor.
Violence does not build up the kingdom of God, the kingdom of humanity. On the contrary it is the favorite instrument of the Antichrist, however idealistic its religious motivation may be. p. 15
The Cross is and remains the sign of “the Son of Man”: ultimately, in the battle against lies and violence, truth and love have no other weapons than the witness of suffering. p.49 f From “Jesus of Nazareth” by Pope Benedict XVI
Illuminations by Kathy Brahney
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