Peace Through Us

Jesus tells us first and foremost to love God with all our heart, with all our soul, and with all our mind.  He tells us second to love our neighbor as ourselves.*  

In these two most important commandments, Jesus directs us to love.  We are to let love flow out of us to God and to our neighbor.  God asks us to open our hearts to the Holy Spirit, to help us to love Him.**  God asks us to consent to Him loving our neighbor through us.  

To love God, I must also love my neighbor.  Anyone who claims to love God but hates his or her neighbor is a liar.***  

To love my neighbor, I must not judge my neighbor.****  If I am judging my neighbor, there is no room in my heart to love my neighbor.   

We judge persons when we see what we do not like in them.  When I encounter thoughts, words and actions I dislike, I am to despise them in myself.  I am to be outraged at the appalling tendencies I notice in myself.  

I believe that the path to salvation is paved with despising my own horrible tendencies and begging God to forgive me out of His great mercy. We receive the infinite gift of God's immense mercy when we turn to look at ourselves, acknowledge our own sinfulness, and implore His mercy.  

Since I prefer to direct my energies toward how I need to improve, rather than on where other people might need to change, last week I made a choice reflecting this aspiration I have.  As I have previously mentioned, Catholic Workers regularly protest outside the facilities of a manufacturer of armaments here in the San Francisco Bay Area.  Last week I was asked to choose the short writings we would read before and after our protest.  

In line with the sentiments I have expressed about trying to focus on how I need to improve, for our brief reading just before the protest, I selected a composition in which the Trappist monk Thomas Merton wrote 

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 another.  

I strive to love my neighbor, though often I find it challenging, and although often I fail.  We love our neighbor by taking an honest look at ourselves and how we need to improve so we can better love our neighbor.  

Thus I prefer to focus on what I need to do to treat people better than I do.  To help work for peace, we can examine our own thoughts, words and actions.  As Gandhi suggested, "You must be the change you want to see in the world."  

Herein rests the reason why I don't protest more than I do and why I don't write about protesting more than I do.  While I find it important to speak out against injustice, I strongly contend that it is far more appropriate to try to improve myself than it is to point out why others are inappropriately acting. Since I wish to witness to peace, I want God to bring about peace through me.  For God to bring about peace through me, I must open my heart to God so He can transform me and thus create peace in the world, right now, in this very moment.  

Consequently, for our short reading together immediately after the protest, I selected the prayer commonly attributed to Saint Francis, which beseeches God 

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me bring love.
Where there is offense, let me bring pardon.
Where there is discord, let me bring union.
Where there is error, let me bring truth.
Where there is doubt, let me bring faith.
Where there is despair, let me bring hope.
Where there is darkness, let me bring your light.
Where there is sadness, let me bring joy.
O Master, let me not seek as much
to be consoled as to console,
to be understood as to understand,
to be loved as to love,
for it is in giving that one receives,
it is in self-forgetting that one finds,
it is in pardoning that one is pardoned,
it is in dying that one is raised to eternal life.  

We can agree to God's plan to be channels of His peace.  We can consent to God bringing peace to the world through us.  

In every little fragment of time, in the present moment God is always extending His hand to us, inviting us to open our hearts to Him.  He is requesting that we assent to His will and open our hearts to Him, and love Him, so that He may enter into our hearts and love our neighbor through us, and thus bring peace into the world through us.  Let us open our hearts to God so He may abide in us,***** love through us and bring us peace.  Amen.  

* Matthew 22:37-39; Mark 12:30-31; Luke 10:27; Leviticus 19:18; Deuteronomy 6:5; Romans 13:9; Galatians 5:14 
** Romans 5:5 
*** 1 John 4:20 
**** Matthew 7:1; Luke 6:37 
***** John 15:7 

Divesting From Oppression

Yesterday someone I know closed his bank account with Wells Fargo.  He told me that he was taking all of his money out of Wells Fargo because that bank was one of the funders of the Dakota Access Pipeline, often abbreviated as DAPL.  DAPL threatens Native Americans' water supply.  Further, tribal leaders contend that they were not properly consulted regarding the construction of this oil pipeline and about how they would be affected by it; hence, tribal leaders say, this pipeline violates federal law as well as treaties between Native Americans and the U.S. government.  

This man who stopped doing business with Wells Fargo explained to me that he has long felt grieved over how the U.S. government slaughtered Native Americans for decades.  He has felt pained that this native people were made refugees on the land where they had been living for countless generations.  

This man related how, for decades he maintained that he never would have participated in the exploitation and degradation of Native Americans had he lived in the 1600s, 1700s or 1800s.  He described how he would have respected their human rights.  
Then this particular person painted the picture of how he had known for months that DAPL endangered Native Americans' water supply.  He shared too how he knew that tribal leaders had felt that they had not been properly consulted about the construction of the oil pipeline.  Although he protested against DAPL, for months he failed to withdraw his funds from the bank funding this oil pipeline.  

Then he remembered the words of Jesus, when Jesus berated the scribes and the Pharisees, telling them 

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites.  
You are like whitewashed tombs, 
which appear beautiful on the outside, 
but inside are full of dead men’s bones 
and every kind of filth.  
Even so, on the outside you appear righteous, 
but inside you are filled with hypocrisy and evildoing.  
Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites.  
You build the tombs of the prophets 
and adorn the memorials of the righteous, 
and you say, 'If we had lived in the days of our ancestors, 
we would not have joined them 
in shedding the prophets' blood.'  
Thus you bear witness against yourselves 
that you are the children of those who murdered the prophets; 
now fill up what your ancestors measured out!"*  

This person who yesterday closed his bank account with a bank funding the pipeline, felt rightly accused by Jesus' words.  He realized that he was one of the hypocrites who Jesus had described.  He had insisted that he would not have oppressed Native Americans centuries ago.  However, he had continued to do business with a bank that was funding a pipeline that was being installed without proper consultation with Native American tribes: he had stood by while his money supported an institution which had supported disrespect of Native Americans.  He had supported repression of the people he had claimed he supported.  

During his languishing and dragging his feet, as he continued to do business with the bank funding the pipeline, during Lent he considered Scripture passages on fasting.  He felt led to withdraw his money out of Wells Fargo given the words of the prophet Isaiah, who recorded how God told him 

Is this not . . . the fast that I choose: 
releasing those bound unjustly,  
untying the thongs of the yoke; 
Setting free the oppressed, 
breaking off every yoke?  
Is it not sharing your bread with the hungry, 
bringing the afflicted and the homeless into your house; 
Clothing the naked when you see them, 
and not turning your back on your own flesh?**  

He felt that the time had long since arrived for him to withdraw his money from Wells Fargo.  He felt driven to stop participating in the oppression of Native Americans.  

He felt that the time had come a long time ago to start following the Word of God.  I must say I agree with him.  You see, this man I have been describing is me.  

* Matthew 23:27-32
** Isaiah 58:6-7 

Gift Of Life

None of us would be here if God hadn't created us.  Our lives are gifts from God.  Owing all of our being to God, we are thus called to value and love our lives, and the life of every other person.  

If we realize that we have everything we have because they are all gifts from God, we treasure all that God gives us.  If we truly cherish what God gives, then we value all life, for all life is a gift from God.  

If we truly view all life as precious, then we seek to protect life which will come into being.  When we honestly consider all life valuable, then we seek to protect a fertilized egg which is called to be born as a human being.  

For a while now I have thought about how, once a woman is pregnant, if she takes no steps to intervene in what has already started, then she will give birth to a child.  A process has begun which will result in a human being in the world.  

And so, insofar as I hold dear and respect the sanctity of all human lives, whether they have already been born or will soon be born, for some time I have been wanting to protest against abortion.  Thus when I saw pro-life protesters outside an abortion clinic as I was driving home from Mass today, I pulled over and joined them.  

I walked up to some of the protesters and greeted them.  I picked up one of the spare signs they had resting in a box.  I held the sign as I alternately stood and sat on the sidewalk.  

We were gathered on a busy street.  In each direction three lanes of traffic were flowing.  The speed limit there is 35 miles per hour.  

It's a busier street than the one where I go with other Catholic Workers to protest at least once a month outside the facilities of a manufacturer of armaments.  Thus I suppose it's understandable that today in this pro-life protest, I witnessed more feedback, both positive and negative, than all the reactions I've seen in the dozen or so times I've protested outside the arms manufacturer's location.  

I am not the only Catholic Worker who protests both war-making and abortion.  I see a common thread in protesting both war and abortion, namely the sanctity of life.  I protest nuclear weapons because I value life so much that I do not want human beings to be vaporized by nuclear warheads.  I protest abortion because I value life so much that I do not want fetuses to be robbed of the life they will experience as human beings outside of the womb, which they are already on the path to experiencing.  

In short, I value life.  I oppose abortion.  I aim to stop the arms trade.  I am not in support of people executing anyone through the death penalty.  I do not favor physicians helping patients to commit suicide.  I respect and honor all life; I oppose all attempts to prevent and extinguish life.  

I want to encourage others to value life.  I am glad I was born; I am grateful to God for the life He has given me.  

Life comes into being when a man and a woman choose to share in the reproductive act and thus participate in the miracle of life.  If this process has started, it should be allowed to run its natural course.  What God has allowed to come together, let no person put asunder.  

God holds each life in the palm of His hand.  Let us trust in God to let each life unfold according to His divine plan.  

Let us value the life we have, in our bodies, and in the bodies of others.  Let us appreciate the gifts God has given us and others.  Let us value the lives others can live; let us give them the chances we have had.  Let us value others' lives as we value our own lives.  Let us love others as we love ourselves,* as Jesus has instructed us to do.    

* Matthew 22:39; Mark 12:31; Luke 10:27; Leviticus 19:18; Romans 13:9; Galatians 5:14 

Faith Works Wonders

"Are you doing everything you can?"  Someone asked me that question months ago and it has been echoing in my mind since then.  In October last year, I attended the International Gathering of Catholic Workers, which took place in Nevada.  During the gathering, we participated in workshops on different topics related to our ministries as Catholic Workers.  Over the course of the few days we were together, we also walked in a couple of protests.  

In one of the protests, we went to Creech Air Force Base to protest the use of drones.  When drones are used to attack, those who deploy the drones are able to be further removed from the people who are killed and from the property which is damaged.  I took part in that protest because I want people to be conscious, aware, cognizant of what actions they are choosing to take and to recognize and realize the visible consequences of those acts.  

When we had finished the protest, I was speaking with an unusually cordial, polite law enforcement officer.  He appeared so collected in his demeanor that he seemed almost contemplative in how calmly he spoke.  He also struck me in how he seemed to be listening so attentively to me.  I was having with him the kind of calm, considerate, respectful exchange I envision ideally having with people who are in positions opposite me, that is, when I am conversing with someone who has views markedly different from the ones I hold.  In addition to being surprised by his demeanor and by his listening skills, he also took me off guard by asking me, in the context of whether we were accomplishing what we wanted to do through protesting, "Are you doing everything you can?"  

I replied, "It's a very good question.  In fact, it's a question which each and every one of us should always be asking ourselves."  

Now it looked like it was his turn to be taken off guard.  It seemed that he did not expect me to suggest that he should ponder that same question.  However, in keeping with how seemed to contemplate and process what was being said, I was not at all surprised that he appeared to be considering his own question.  

It is a question for everyone to ask themselves.  Are you doing everything you can?  Are you concerned about the state of the world today?  If so, what are you doing about it?  And, if you are doing something about it, could you also be taking additional actions in addition to what you are already doing?  

It is in this vein that I responded to a recent query from a friend.  She asked, that in the midst of current affairs, if I was considering using certain means at my disposal for the greater good.  I replied that yes, I do intend to do so in some form, since I want to be firing on all cylinders.  That is, I am trying to use every last means at my disposal to have a positive impact on the world right now, given the present state of the world.  

And so, as I have previously indicated, I protest.  However, I do not endorse the use of violence, whether in protests or otherwise.  I am greatly saddened and disturbed, and find unfortunate and distressing the resort to violence in protests this week as well as during protests in years past.  I believe that violence towards others is unjustified, even when we find what others say to be offensive.  If we become hateful, we become what we despise.  Then we become hate.  

In contrast, when we peacefully protest, we seek truth since we are objecting to injustice.  When we seek truth, we love.  To fulfill our duty to our neighbor, we protest and we also take other actions.  

If we care, we will act.  If we love our neighbor, we will take action.  We act, rising up out of contemplation to apply those contemplative fruits for the benefit of both ourselves and our neighbor.  

Most certainly we are to pray.  Aware that we are nothing without God, we are to pray with devoted faith, sure of His great love for us.  We are to petition Him to help us love each other here and now in this lifetime.  

As vital as prayer is, we do not fulfill our duty to God solely through prayer.  Faith without works is dead.*  If we have true faith, we will act to show our love for our neighbor.  

And if you truly love someone, you want to do all you can for that person.  You utilize all the means at your disposal to love that person.  

Since I love my neighbor, I seek truth, which I do when I peacefully protest, to object to injustices done.  I protest to cry out against people's rights being violated.  

In addition to peacefully protesting, I write to my representative in Congress and to my Senators.  If we do not voice our opinions on what policies trouble us, how can we complain if and when those policies are later implemented?  

If we do not do what we can when we can, later we will regret it.  If we do not act now, we lose the time to act, which is now.  

Saint Catherine of Siena has related to us that God told her that at the moment of death, our consciences will accuse us.  We will be faced with what we could have done, but did not do.  We must remember at that critical moment of our existence, that God has immense mercy.  At that crucial point in our existence, we must not despair.  We must call out to God and beg earnestly for mercy, for not having loved Him and our neighbor better than we did.  For we will fall short.  None of us can ever possibly do well enough to have no need of God's mercy.  All of us are sinners. 

I know God is merciful.  As Pope Francis has told us, the name of God is mercy.  God is merciful because God is love.**  God is infinitely merciful, because God is infinitely loving.  Insofar as God is infinitely loving, when we see God, we will be basking in a vast peace and a boundless joy which is infinitely beyond anything we have experienced or ever could experience in this life.  We cannot comprehend how amazing God is.  No one can see the face of God and live.***  When our souls pass out of our bodies, you can call it death, but it is truly eternal life if you are going to Heaven.  I know that what awaits there is remarkable beyond measure.  Therefore, I focus on what is coming.  

I am not saying that you should not worry because everything will be all right.  I am certain that dark times are ahead here on this earth.  You should not worry because you cannot change anything by worrying.  As Jesus asked us, can any of us add a single moment to our lives by worrying?****  So He told us, "Do not worry."*****  On any given day, do what you can.  Then rest.  Rest, and get the proper nourishment and sustenance you need, or else the journey will be too much for you.******  

Rest in a sure and certain peace.  I have a deep peace and an abiding calm in me.  I know what awaits me on the other side of death.  It is infinitely better than anything we can possibly imagine. 

I try to do everything I possibly can to try to help my fellow humans now in this world.  I aim to die as much as possible at peace with what I have done.  Then, at that moment of passing away, I will turn over to God whatever regrets I might have over having offended Him, and I will trust in His mercy.  I rest confident in the gift of this faith God has given to me; I rest secure in the sure hope of the promise of God's great mercy.  

* James 2:17 
** 1 John 4:8; 1 John 4:16  
*** Exodus 19:21, 33:20 
**** Matthew 6:27 
***** Matthew 6:31 
****** 1 Kings 19:7 

Stop Trading Arms

Why do I protest?  I protest partly out of obedience to the Catholic Church.  

In a speech Pope Francis delivered to a joint session of Congress, the Pope told us, "It is our duty to stop the arms trade."  Therefore, I must do something to do my part to try to stop the arms trade.  I need not protest, but I must do something to try to stop the production, sale and transfer of armaments.  I try to fulfill my duty to stop the arms trade partly by protesting.  

Thus this morning other Catholic Workers and I protested on a street corner near the facilities of a prime producer of armaments here in the San Francisco Bay Area.  This particular manufacturer has developed intercontinental ballistic missiles as well as air-to-air missiles.  On the street corner, I was holding a sign which said 

IT IS OUR DUTY TO STOP THE ARMS TRADE 
- Pope Francis 

In standing on street corners outside the facilities of a major arms manufacturer, as Catholic Workers we seek to afflict the comfortable.  We aim to nudge out of their comfort zone those who are numb to the consequences of their producing armaments.  We invite those involved in the production of armaments to question the work they are doing, why they are doing it, who they are affecting and how they are affecting them.  

Dorothy Day, who founded the Catholic Worker movement in 1933 along with Peter Maurin, sought to afflict the comfortable in addition to comforting the afflicted.  She fed hungry impoverished people who stood in the breadline outside the Catholic Worker House in the Bowery neighborhood of New York City.  

As Catholic Workers we work for justice by feeding those who are hungry.  Pope Paul VI said, "If you want peace, work for justice."   Catholic Workers offer food and housing to those who are indigent, helping to respect these persons' basic human rights.  Catholic Workers labor for justice by striving to ensure that all of our brothers and sisters are treated with dignity.  In so working for justice, we work for peace.  

Yet we also realize peace by choosing peace rather than violence.  When the chief priests and Pharisees and guards arrived at the Garden of Gethsemane to arrest Jesus, Saint Peter drew his sword and cut off the ear of Malchus, the high priest's servant.  Jesus told Saint Peter to put his sword back in its scabbard.*  At that point, Jesus taught against resorting to violence, warning, "All who draw the sword will die by the sword."**  

Jesus told Saint Peter, the man who was to become the rock upon which His church was going to be founded, to put away his sword.  In so directing him, and in His coming, Jesus fulfilled the words of the prophets.  The prophet Isaiah prophesied 

In days to come, 
The mountain of the Lord's house 
shall be established as the highest mountain 
and raised above the hills.  
All nations shall stream toward it.  
Many peoples shall come and say: 
"Come, let us go up to the Lord's mountain, 
to the house of the God of Jacob, 
That he may instruct us in His ways, 
and we may walk in His paths."  
For from Zion shall go forth instruction, 
and the Word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
He shall judge between the nations, 
and set terms for many peoples.
They shall beat their swords into plowshares 
and their spears into pruning hooks; 
One nation shall not raise the sword against another 
nor shall they train for war again.***  

Today we can beat our swords into plowshares and our spears into pruning hooks.  Today we can convert our spending on the development of missiles into spending on the development of the capabilities of human beings.  As a Christian, and as a Catholic, I am compelled to speak out against immense budgetary outlays for military spending.  When we have so many homeless people sleeping in bushes, we are not seeing justice realized, and thus we are endangering peace.  Rather than spending $582,000,000,000 on defense in 2015,**** in the United States we could have re-allocated some of that gigantic sum toward building low-income housing and to providing more mental health services and drug rehabilitation programs to care for our poor brothers and sisters.  Jesus has described that after we die, He will say, "In truth I tell you, insofar as you did this to one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did it to me."*****  By redirecting our funds from stockpiling armaments to caring for our poor neighbor, we turn our attention and energies to Jesus Himself.  

We are either caring for those who are poor or we are taking steps to make life more insecure for them.  Similarly, we are either directing our energies toward peace, or we are doing something to bring the world closer to war.  We bring the world closer to either peace or war through our deeds, our words, and our thoughts.  When Our Blessed Mother Mary appeared to the children Lucia, Francisco and Jacinta in Fatima, Portugal in 1917, she urged them to pray the rosary everyday for world peace.   

We are either doing what we can to strive for peace or to work for war.  As Albert Einstein noted, "You cannot simultaneously prevent and prepare for war."  

When we stockpile weapons, we act out of fear.  In love there is no room for fear.******  When we truly have faith in God, we do not fear, for we trust in God.  With faith in God, we have sure confidence in Him.  Trusting God, we choose love rather than fear.  

With true faith, it is easy to have the imagination necessary to envision a better world.  Seeing what lies ahead for us, we know that we must love our neighbor, to care for those who are least among us.  

Then we are aware that we need not worry about protecting ourselves at the expense of loving our neighbor; if we were to choose to try to protect ourselves, we would harm both ourselves and our neighbor.  In choosing not to love our neighbor, we become less than what we have always been meant to be.  We harm ourselves when we refuse to love, for we deny our true potential.  

With faith, we open ourselves to the creativity God wishes to unleash on the world through us.  If we wish to be truly bold, we choose to love when others are not doing so.  If we want to be truly courageous, we will lead on the path of love when no one else appears willing to follow.  

If we would be profoundly brave, we would give up our defenses.  Then we let God work through us.  To have the humility to make ourselves completely vulnerable at the hands of God, to totally trust in God: that is true courage, the most heroic act one can possibly make in this lifetime, and one which will be richly rewarded in the next life.  

* John 18:3, 10-11; Matthew 26:50-51 
** Matthew 26:52 
*** Isaiah 2:2-4 
**** "The Federal Budget in 2015: An Infographic," The Congressional Budget Office 
***** Matthew 25:40 
****** 1 John 4:18 

Protestors Seek Truth

Why do I write?  I write because I feel called to write.  I write because I seek to reveal the truth.  I write because I cherish the truth.  

I protest because I value the truth.  In the film "Paul VI," Pope Paul VI is about to meet with a discontented young man who is politically disenchanted.  Someone asks the pope, "Why are you meeting with him?"  The pope replies, "He who protests seeks the truth."  

In protesting as a Catholic Worker, I am supported by a nationwide community of other Catholic Workers who also protest.  We seek to reveal the truth, to call attention to the truth, and to cry out with loud disapproval, that injustices are occurring.  

People protest because injustices occur.  When injustice occurs, the perpetrators deny the truth that all human beings were created by God with certain rights which may not be denied to them.  God created us to love and adore Him and to love and respect each other: He created us to glorify Him and praise Him and serve Him and love our neighbor.  We are to love our neighbor as ourselves.*  Thus all persons deserve to be treated with respect, so that we all may flourish and grow as individuals.  When people protest, they object to people being denied such basic rights.  

When the leader of a nation mocks a disabled reporter whose job is to report the truth, we are not encouraged to value the truth.  When the chief executive of a country speaks about being able to grab women's genitalia, women are treated as if they were objects.  When people are demeaned in these ways, the truth of each person's dignity is trampled.  Since an injustice against one person is a violation against everyone, protestors take to the streets to demand respect for people's basic human rights.  

I have been distressed at how someone elected to lead a country has deemed it acceptable to debase others in such flagrant ways.  However, I find it far more disturbing that so many people implicitly approve of such degrading behavior.  

Yet we have been long encouraged to lower our standards for who is fit to run our country.  We live in a country in which it has become increasingly evident that our leaders do not value honesty.  We also live in a country in which it is apparently acceptable for our leaders to drift further and further from the truth.  When our leaders lie to us, we are shown that they do not honor the truth.  Years later, when government officials counter the truth with what are then called "alternative facts," we see that we are governed by people who do not value the truth.  

We live under people in power who implicitly encourage us to ignore the truth that all people deserve to be treated with dignity.  And so protestors take to the streets.  We march and we protest to witness to the truth that all human beings must be accorded their basic human rights, that all persons are to be treated with respect.  

And in such circumstances, how are we to treat the duly elected leader of our country?  We are told, "Honor the king."**  If someone was elected to run the country, we acknowledge that that person was indeed elected to that office.  

Furthermore, we are called to repay disrespect with love.  Jesus directed us, "Love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you."***  For if we do otherwise, we become what we despise.  

Jesus instructed us, "Repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God."****  What belongs to God?  We owe God our allegiance to the truth.  We must be willing to defend the truth.  We must defend all of the truth.  If we defend only part of the truth, then we are defending a half truth.  Since we are not defending all of what we know to be true, we are not being true to ourselves.  We are being half of ourselves.  Then we fail to love either ourselves or our neighbor as ourselves.  

Would we cry out at injustice done to ourselves?  Then we must cry out at injustices committed against others.  Love your neighbor as yourself.  

* Matthew 22:39; Mark 12:31; Luke 10:27; Leviticus 19:18; Romans 13:9; Galatians 5:14 
** 1 Peter 2:17 
*** Matthew 5:44 
**** Mark 12:17