5-28-15
NYT-Iraqi civilians fleeing fighting in Ramadi crossed the Bzebiz Bridge, which
offers passage into Baghdad from Anbar Province—photo by Karim Kadim-AP
“Nearly 60 million people have been driven
from their homes by war and persecution, an unprecedented global exodus that
has burdened fragile countries with waves of newcomers and littered deserts and seas
with the bodies of those who died trying to reach safety.”
“Half of the displaced
are children.”
“That included 11
million people who scattered within the borders of their own countries, the
highest figure ever recorded in the agency’s 50-year history.”
The total dead and casualties of our recent worldwide
warfares have not been counted, probably never will be totaled. The world does not want to know.
This current wave of war’s disaster has crested 14 years
after the onslaught of our War on Terrorism, and do we feel any more secure having
erected a massive Department of Homeland Security? The middle class is bowed down under the
weight of military + security war-chests.
Terrorism is on the increase worldwide.
We help create the monster we fight, using variants of the lethal tools
they employ.
We
live inside the belly of a war machine,
Like
Jonah in the cavernous whale,
We
don’t see the bloodshed in which Our Leviathan swims,
Slowly we dissolve within its
digestive juices.
By the repentance spirit of Nineveh,
O God save us!
Jonah in the belly of the whale {expelled on borders of Nineveh}. Russian icon, Tobolsk, 18th century
There is no hope in these presumptive wars, displays of
false power that mimic the distortions made of an Old Testament god. But in this present moment we have Good News—Jesus
puts us on the way to be the sons and daughters of God—blessed are the
peacemakers.
Lord, grant us the grace to put away the sword of war so
that we can begin to truly follow your new commandment, “Love one another as I
have loved you.” And thus—feed the
hungry, give drink to the thirsty, heal the sick, visit the imprisoned, comfort
the afflicted, shelter the homeless.
As it is, our warfare state overwhelms and compounds the
problems of our welfare state.
May we throw off the bonds of the warfare state, and
create a truly conservative, industrious, common sense and common good, welfare
state.
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