Becoming peace

The Benedictine Monk of Weston Priory know the power of prayer in the work for peace. Their bulletin from Fall/Winter 2001 contains an important article entitled Becoming the Peace We Pray For.

Our present suffering and anxiety can become an opportunity. Our English word "crisis" comes from the Greek word krisis, which means "opportunity." To recognize in the signs of these times an opportunity for a new, humane, and moral response to evil requires the cultivation of vision.

Yet the rush to aerial bombardment and other means of warfare tragically has revealed a lack of moral vision and creativity. Counter-violence will never stop terrorism; it never has. Has the Twentieth Century taught us nothing?
. . .
In order for these times to become an opportunity, we will have to embrace a difficult, soul-searching work, and not shrink back from asking fundamental questions.

Surrounded by so much violence and counter-violence, it is hard to even imagine a world without terrorism or war. But, without a vision of such a world, we can never begin to address the many-layered causes fueling despair.

You can find the rest of the article here. (A tip of the hat to Fr. Dennis Tamburello, who led us to this site from his blog here.)