Sister Earth

St. Martin of Tours

November 11th is the day when many countries, particularly in the British Commonwealth, officially remember their war dead. In Canada we call it Remembrance Day, but in some countries it is still known by its original name, Armistice Day. The Armistice treaty ending World War I was signed on November 11, 1918, but this was not a date chosen at random or determined by circumstance.

Europeans had for centuries celebrated the feast of St. Martin of Tours on this day, the anniversary of his burial in the year 397. He is considered to be the Patron Saint of soldiers, despite the fact that he renounced the military when he became a Christian. He was born a pagan but developed an interest in Christianity as a youth. His father forced him into the Roman army, but after receiving a vision of Christ he immediately had himself baptized and left the army (which involved a short period of imprisonment). Because he was a former soldier he could not be ordained even as a deacon, but that did not stop him from preaching and eventually being chosen by the people of Tours to be their bishop.

It is a shame that St. Martin has been forgotten in our remembrances of war, though it is not surprising because he brings up an uncomfortable truth: for early Christians, and for anyone who takes seriously Christ's exhortation to love our enemies, Christianity and military service are incompatible. It is certainly fitting, though, that his feast day be the day we commemorate the end of the horror we know as World War I.

St. Martin Renounces the Sword. Simone Martini, 1317, Lower Church of San Francesco Assisi. See the complete set of frescoes here.

The Line Dividing Good and Evil

If it were all so simple! If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds and it were necessary to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart?

—Alexander Solzhenitsyn, The Gulag Archipelago

Words to Live By

I will be truthful.
I will suffer no injustice.
I will be free from fear.
I will not use force.
I will be of good will to all men.

—Mahatma Gandhi

The Contagion of Violence

Here is a very perceptive analysis of the civil strife in the Palestinian territories (written a few weeks before the coup in Gaza):

...the most dangerous thing about this ... is that the all-against-all infighting and its basic code have become the mental and psychological makeup of the Palestinian people, as a natural result of the predominant discourse of hostility and incitement. [This discourse] has been adopted by Palestinians of all persuasions and in all the factions - religious, pan-Arab revolutionary, and leftist. It is a discourse whose aim was sowing hatred, having recourse to violence, and enjoying spilling blood....

The culture and psychology of violence has been able to take possession of the Palestinian people for two reasons. The first is that the discourse of violence had already managed to be the only one on the scene, which was emptied of any counter-discourse when the rational thinkers fled or were forced to keep out of sight - [either] out of desperation or in order to preserve the wellbeing of themselves and their families amidst the vast flood of feelings of violence that began to sweep away everything in its path.

Baptism, mercy, forgiveness, and nonviolence

The Christian practice of nonviolence begins with forgiveness—not with one person's forgiveness of another, but with the prior forgiveness of the person by God. Baptism signifies that the Christian's new life begins with an awareness of having been himself or herself forgiven: "The Lord has forgiven you; now you must do the same."
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But if no one will forgive, then human beings have no recourse but to a shame/revenge mechanism. Here, people are defined by what they have done, or by what other people have done in their name. They may even be defined by what has been done to them, as when a raped woman is considered to be "spoilt property," to have been "shamed"and so to have "brought shame on" her family. A society that uses shame rather than guilt as a regulating device usually believes also in fate, which, as we have seen, Christianity rejects. Instead Christianity advocates forgiveness, which enables human beings to feel guilt rather than shame for the wrong they have done—guilt being preferable to shame precisely because guilt, unlike shame, can be forgiven. Revenge, which is indispensable for the recuperation of honour after its loss through shame, can be renounced if guilt replaces shame. This is the meaning of Christ's difficult demands that his followers "turn the other cheek" rather than strike back, and forgive others over and over again. But forgiveness is possible only when people feel that they themselves have received mercy. Mercy "in the beginning," from God, is a further meaning of baptism.

—Margaret Visser, The Geometry of Love

Benedict XVI on the Ecology of Peace

The “ecology of peace”

In his Encyclical Letter Centesimus Annus, Pope John Paul II wrote: “Not only has God given the earth to man, who must use it with respect for the original good purpose for which it was given to him, but man too is God's gift to man. He must therefore respect the natural and moral structure with which he has been endowed.” By responding to this charge, entrusted to them by the Creator, men and women can join in bringing about a world of peace. Alongside the ecology of nature, there exists what can be called a “human” ecology, which in turn demands a “social” ecology. All this means that humanity, if it truly desires peace, must be increasingly conscious of the links between natural ecology, or respect for nature, and human ecology. Experience shows that disregard for the environment always harms human coexistence, and vice versa. It becomes more and more evident that there is an inseparable link between peace with creation and peace among men. Both of these presuppose peace with God. The poem-prayer of Saint Francis, known as “the Canticle of Brother Sun”, is a wonderful and ever timely example of this multifaceted ecology of peace.

The close connection between these two ecologies can be understood from the increasingly serious problem of energy supplies. In recent years, new nations have entered enthusiastically into industrial production, thereby increasing their energy needs. This has led to an unprecedented race for available resources. Meanwhile, some parts of the planet remain backward and development is effectively blocked, partly because of the rise in energy prices. What will happen to those peoples? What kind of development or non-development will be imposed on them by the scarcity of energy supplies? What injustices and conflicts will be provoked by the race for energy sources? And what will be the reaction of those who are excluded from this race? These are questions that show how respect for nature is closely linked to the need to establish, between individuals and between nations, relationships that are attentive to the dignity of the person and capable of satisfying his or her authentic needs. The destruction of the environment, its improper or selfish use, and the violent hoarding of the earth's resources cause grievances, conflicts and wars, precisely because they are the consequences of an inhumane concept of development. Indeed, if development were limited to the technical-economic aspect, obscuring the moral-religious dimension, it would not be an integral human development, but a one-sided distortion which would end up by unleashing man's destructive capacities.

—Pope Benedict XVI, The Human Person, the Heart of Peace (Message for the Celebration of the World Day of Peace, January 1, 2007)

St. Francis, a Man for Our Times

I couldn't let the feast of St. Francis of Assisi pass by without a mention. Today I've been reading a big about his dealings with Islam. In 1215 the fathers of the Fourth Lateran Council expressed "an ardent desire to liberate the Holy Land from the hands of the ungodly." Though they clearly envisioned a military response, which indeed followed shortly, Francis and his followers took a much humbler path. Francis instructed his friars as follows:

All Beings Love Life

All beings tremble before violence. All fear death, all love life. See yourself in others. Then whom can you hurt? What harm can you do?

—Guatama Buddha

Happy 2550th birthday, Buddha!

8/9/45: Christians Drop the Atomic Bomb … on Christians

Transcribed from a lecture by Father Emmanuel Charles McCarthy (co-founder of Pax Christi USA):

…we come to what perhaps is the symbolic low point of the whole dark process of Constantinian Christianity, a Christianity of violent power, prestige, prerogative, and property, all supported by ways and means contrary to the explicit teaching of Jesus. The low point of this process, it seems to me, occurs on August 9th, 1945. For on August 9th, 1945, a Christian bomb crew takes off from Tinian Island in the South Pacific, with the blessing of the Catholic and Protestant chaplains, and flies to drop the second atomic bomb. It’s original destination is Kokura Japan, but, in the mystery of reality, Kokura is clouded in, and it can’t drop the bomb, so it goes on to the secondary target, Nagasaki. And it gets over Nagasaki and it too is clouded in, and so there’s a problem. But then there’s a break in the clouds, and what they see below is the landmark they need to see, that they’ve been briefed on: the largest Christian church in all of Japan, the Nagasaki Urakami Cathedral. And using that as Ground Zero, they released the second of the atomic bombs. They release it on Nagasaki, the original, the oldest, and the largest Christian community in all of Japan. The community that Saint Francis Xavier founded when he went there.

Today's Latin Lesson

Lex talionis: The "law of retaliation," whereby a punishment resembles the offence committed, in kind and degree; an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.

Let us keep in mind that the sad and shocking events in London are but small recompense (so to speak) for the tens of thousands of innocent civilians killed by US and UK forces in Iraq and Afghanistan. The human race has yet to learn that vengeance, whether it is called "justice," "just war," or "jihad," can never bring the emotional resolution or peace it promises. Tony Blair is right: the terrorists will never win, but neither will he as long as he employs violence. It is a fantasy to believe that violence can stop violence. The reality is that "an eye for an eye makes the whole world blind."

"You have heard that it was said, "An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.' But I say to you, Do not resist an evildoer. But if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also; and if anyone wants to sue you and take your coat, give your cloak as well; and if anyone forces you to go one mile, go also the second mile. Give to everyone who begs from you, and do not refuse anyone who wants to borrow from you.

"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, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

—Matthew 5:38-48

Another thing to take note of is that the lex talionis, far from instituting retaliation as a duty (hardly necessary considering human nature), was meant to put a lid on retaliatory violence, which has a tendency to get out of proportion. We need look no farther for an example of this than the current "war on terror." Less than 3000 were killed in the September 11th attacks, and yet around 100,000 people have been killed in response, and two entire countries have been bombed into disordered and degraded living conditions. It is a sad comment on humanity's lack of development over the last 3500 years that the lex talionis would still be an improvement over the status quo. Perhaps it is not realistic to expect humans to only partially indulge their desire for retaliation. It may actually be more practical for us to abandon vengeance entirely, as Christ taught, and seek no satisfaction ourselves.

Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave room for the wrath of God; for it is written, "Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord."

—Romans 12:19

That is not to say that we should do nothing. People do not commit these sort of acts without reason. Though violence can never be justified or excused, its underlying causes must be recognized and rectified. The "Make Poverty History" campaign has rightly called on the G8 countries to rectify its economically unjust relations with Africa. The terrorists, in their misguided way, are also calling on the G8 to rectify their past and present unjust relations with many parts of the Muslim world. Let's stop pretending not to understand their pleas just because they use language we don't like. Even their ignorance and prejudice is a plea for education and honest exchange. We are the ones in power. They can do little to hurt us, but we can do much to either hurt or heal them. We've tried the former option, and it has only increased their hatred. Isn't it time to try something else?