Non-violence, more than a New Year’s resolution
Print Friendly Version| On the Road to Peace by John Dear S.J. | Tuesday, Jan. 2, 2007 |
| Vol. 1, No. 20 |
New Year's weekend brought three and a half feet of snow to the mesa high in the New Mexico desert where I live. So I've been sitting by a fire, trying to keep warm, reading and reflecting, enjoying the silence and solitude. The beginning of a new year is a good time for resolutions, but I think, given the world, we need more than resolutions, even good intentions -- we need solemn, religious vows, a whole new commitment to God's way of peace and love.
Twenty five years ago, some friends and I professed a vow of non-violence, as Gandhi did a hundred years ago. Not long afterwards, Pax Christi asked Eileen Egan and me to draft a vow, which they offered to Pax Christi members as a way to dedicate our lives to the Gospel path of non-violence. Since then, tens of thousands have professed it.
Thinking about the world's violence, poverty, wars and weapons, and enjoying the glorious snow covered desert scenery and distant mountains, I give thanks for that vow of non-violence and the journey it opened up for me. I certainly am not perfectly non-violent, but I have kept at the journey, and the older I get, the more I discover that the spiritual journey itself may be what counts most for it holds the greatest blessings.
I think Gandhi was right: the only solution to our personal, national and global violence is creative loving non-violence. The greatest challenge facing us as individuals and as a race is to become people of creative non-violence, which means from now on, we need to be non-violent to our spouses, children, parents, relatives, neighbors and everyone we meet, as well as non-violent to ourselves, non-violent in our work, non-violent in our language, non-violent in our politics and policies and attitudes toward humanity and creation itself.
This commitment requires daily meditation, ongoing study, Gospel-reading, community building, periodic training, and public action. Somehow, it means placing the God of peace at the center of our lives, as the goal of our common life journey, as the measure of all we do. If we can surrender ourselves completely, over and over again to the God of peace, we may find ourselves walking the path of non-violence and becoming instruments of peace. Non-violence, then, becomes a way of life, a journey of peace to the God of peace.
My friend Gerard Vanderhaar, a long time Pax Christi activist, completed an excellent new book just before his death in 2005. Personal Non-violence: A Practice Spirituality for Peacemakers, (published by www.paxchristiusa.org) helps me to see where I am on the journey of non-violence, and how I can move from violence to non-violence. His reflections on such everyday topics as stress, anger, resentment, language, attitude, listening, leadership, driving, and bearing public witness for peace offer concrete ways toward growth and help me become a better person, more non-violent.
As we begin a new year and start again the work to abolish war, poverty and nuclear weapons, I thought I'd share with readers the original Pax Christi Vow of Non-violence as a way to recommit ourselves to the non-violent Jesus and his life of love and peace. It fits well within our long tradition of solemn, religious vows, and can be pronounced privately, in a local peace community, or at a parish liturgy. You can share it with family, friends, co-workers, neighbors and parishioners. Some people read it every morning as a way to remind themselves that they are invited to walk a path of non-violence.
If taken seriously, this vow can set us on a new course which will bring immeasurable blessings, perhaps even a lifetime commitment to peace, forgiveness, compassion and suffering love, a true, lifelong fidelity to the non-violent Jesus.
Recognizing the violence in my own heart, yet trusting in the goodness and mercy of God, I vow to practice the non-violence of Jesus who taught us in the Sermon on the Mount:
Blessed are the peacemakers, they will be called the sons and daughters of God. … You have heard that it was said, "You must love your neighbor and hate your enemy"; but I say to you, "Love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you. In this way, you will be daughters and sons of your Creator in heaven."
Before God the Creator and the Holy Spirit, I vow to carry out in my life the love and example of Jesus
• by striving for peace within myself and seeking to be a peacemaker in my daily life;
• by accepting suffering in the struggle for justice rather than inflicting it;
• by refusing to retaliate in the face of provocation and violence;
• by persevering in non-violence of tongue and heart;
• by living conscientiously and simply so that I do not deprive others of the means to live or harm creation;
• by actively resisting evil and working non-violently to abolish war and the causes of war from my own heart and from the face of the earth.
God, I trust in your sustaining love and believe that just as you gave me the grace and desire to offer this, so you will also bestow abundant grace to fulfill it.
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Fr. John Dear's new book, Transfiguration, will be published next month by Doubleday (and can be pre-ordered from Amazon.com). He will speak Friday, Jan. 12, in Phoenix, Arizona, on "Dr. King and the Way of Non-violence." For more information, see: www.johndear.org.
To learn more about Pax Christi and the vow of nonvolience, visit www.paxchristiusa.org.
On the road to peace there
On the road to peace there is no place for the weapons of war!
I think we sometimes overlook the verse in the first reading at the Christmas Vigil, from Isaih, which states 'for all the footgear of battle, every cloak rolled in blood is burned, and consumed by fire".
It was fascinating to watch, on T.V., the pomp and ceremony associated with honouring a Child born in a manger. I don't think a simple shepherd would have been able to gain admission to this spectacle.
In a Church which sets a great deal on symbolism, it seems to me that something is amiss, when 'weapons of war' are paraded during the celebration for the Prince of Peace.
Students of History may know, that in the Battle of Flodden between the Scots and the English in 1134, the deciding factor in the battle was the use by the English of a deadly weapon, the Halberd, against the simple sword of the Scots. It was comparable to using a Ak 47, against a Lee Enfield rifle of W.W.II.
During the consecration on 'this Holy Night' the Swiss Guards hold their weapons in their right hand, and salute the elevated Host, with his left hand.
Why do we still have the military in full dress uniform, parading their weapons of war, at a liturgical celebration?
Recently, on 7 Dec 2006, the General Assembly Voted For Historic Arms Trade Treaty Proposal, to prevent international arms transfers, that fuel conflict, poverty and serious human rights violations.The UN General Assembly vote came just three years after the launch of the Control Arms Campaign, which prompted over a million people in 170 countries to call for the treaty.
Is it not time that the Benedict abolished this parade of weapons of war at the celebration for the Prince of peace? Is it not time for the Catholic church to lead by example?
I believe taking this vow is
I believe taking this vow is a must for everyone who cares about peace and is willing to stand up for it... a group of us here professed our vows together in December -- Catholics, Quakers, Methodists, and many others, saying it all together as one. Although the vow is difficult to live up to at times (especially the "nonviolence of tongue" part for me) it was powerful and unforgettable, and a necessary step in our journey toward peace. We are all so blessed in having this inspired vow to guide us.
Father John, May you live
Father John,
May you live long, write often, share your heart/mind connection with the world and be eternally guided by the Christ Consciousness which is the hope of the world.
"We must live together as brothers or perish together as fools." Martin Luther King, Jr.
In the Pax
In the Pax Christi Vow of Nonviolence, There is a fatal flaw.
No Christian can carry out in his life, the love and example of Jesus “by actively resisting evil”. Our Lord did not set the example of “actively resisting evil”. Rather, He tolerated evil to the point of being “led like a lamb to the slaughter”. Yet, He smothered evil with good by an assault on the flank.
The flank assault, as any good soldier knows, is an attempt to strike the enemy at an advantageous angle- not directly. Such an angle, Our lord has demonstrated, is most effective in dealing with the powers of evil. This angle implies not “actively resisting evil”, even though that resistance may be nonviolent. Rather, It suggests the gracious embrace of love on the side.
Concretely, this means that Christians should get rid of the tactics of blocking entrances to missile bases or otherwise harassing the Pentagon. On the side however, we should be supporting the work of Arun Gandhi for he has found that Christlike angle from which to assault the evil of war.
Joseph M. Please explain
Joseph M.
Please explain then what Jesus did when he cleansed the temple? We must imitate him by actively resisting evil.
Drs. John & Karen Dwyer Pax
Drs. John & Karen Dwyer
Pax Christi Naples
We all do need to practice peace with "our spouses, children, parents, relatives, neighbors and everyone we meet, as well as [be] non-violent to ourselves, non-violent in our work, non-violent in our language, non-violent in our politics and policies and attitudes toward humanity and creation itself."
It's important to present a seamless garment to the world. When the least action or sentence crosses the line toward violence, self-assertion, stubborn resistence, we need to present it upon the altar of peace. The present sacrifice, Saddam's life, upon the altar of vicious coarseness of non-professional executioners is a case against which we all need to publicly register our wholehearted disgust.
The phrase, DEFIANT COURAGE, sums up an attribute in Mr. Hussein’s character that is quite admirable. His behavior during the U.S. incarceration and the courtroom spectacle was surprisingly dignified and, one imagines, quite different from what might be expected from his nemesis, Mr. Bush, in similar circumstances. I, one American citizen among 300 million, proclaim that I admire Mr. Hussein’s unflinching faith and his head-held-high self-possession even in the face of his absurdly indecorous executioners.
Have mercy on him, God, in your kindness.
In your compassion blot out his offense.
Wash him more and more from his guilt
And cleanse him from his sin.
Saddam Hussein’s soul has fled from his breast and our world to its destined place among the steadfast ones. I grieve that our nation applauds the barbarism we (through our stooges) have inflicted upon him.
Even we Catholics must reverently prounounce that there is no God but God and Muhammud is his prophet. What a travesty to say that justice has been served!
JT "Defiant courage"?
JT
"Defiant courage"? Please, just stop it! You can oppose the death penalty for even the most wretched of murderers, but please don't insult the dead this way. Peace is not a fetish.
I also had a lot of trouble
I also had a lot of trouble with the tone of this post. But I don't really understand what you mean by peace is not a fetish. Would you explain?
Good thoughts, father John.
Good thoughts, father John. I too professed the vow of nonviolence that you co wrote. The first time was at the Governor of Louisiana's front lawn before an execution that he had the authority to commute to life without benefit of parole, the second time was the day after Fr. Lawrence Martin Jenco gave the keynote address to the Pax Christi National Assembly in New Orleans. I believe that Jesus was not offered to God as a sacrifice to a pagan god.
May the spirit of Jesus empower us to do what he seemed to be about, international peace.
Peace!
The following is another
The following is another beautiful prayer written by John Dear which complements his Pax Christi vow very well. It seems to sum up everything John has worked for his entire life, and I think praying it is the most perfect way to end the day for all those who love peace.
Prayer of Nonviolence
By John Dear
God of Nonviolence,
Thank you for the gift of your love and your peace.
Give me the grace to live the life of Gospel nonviolence
that I might be a faithful follower of the nonviolent Jesus.
Send the Holy Spirit of nonviolence upon me that I will love everyone,
From my neighbor to my enemies,
That I may see you in everyone, and know everyone as my sister and brother,
and never hurt or fear anyone again.
Make me an instrument of your peace,
that I might give my life in the struggle for justice and disarmament;
that I may work for the abolition of war, poverty and nuclear weapons;
that I may always respond with love and never retaliate with violence;
that I may accept suffering in the struggle of justice and never inflict suffering or death on others;
that I may live more simply, in solidarity with the world's poor;
that I may defend the poor and resist systemic injustice and institutionalized violence;
that I may always choose life and resist the forces of death.
Guide me on the Way of nonviolence.
Help me to speak the truth of peace, to practice boundless compassion, to radiate unconditional love, to forgive everyone who ever hurt me, to embody your nonviolence, to walk with you in contemplative peace, to be your beloved servant and friend.
Disarm my heart, and I shall be your instrument to disarm other hearts and the world. Lead me, God of nonviolence, with the whole human family, into your nonviolent reign of justice and peace where there is no more war, no more injustice, no more poverty, no more nuclear weapons, no more violence.
I ask this in the name of the nonviolent Jesus, our brother and our peace.
Amen.