As I write, the leaves will soon begin to change and no doubt the trees will be quite bare as this reflection finds its way to you. I reminisce about the years of life that I have spent, knowing that every season of my life held just a thimbleful of the beauty and the majesty of God. These are so wonderfully reflected in that treasured gift which is the compilation of all the seasons of my life. My autumns, for example, seem far too short to be a lifetime, and yet that is what they are. The distance in between with its gray and often bleak surroundings always makes me long for yet another paint-brushed bright and vibrant fall. November will be here, the time of remembrance, the anticipation of Thanksgiving. I pray that our country will not be spread upon a battlefield and that peace will have its way. For, despite the wars and rumors of war, I still encourage children to be gentle, peaceful harbingers of God’s manifold grace and love. We spend such a brief time upon this earth, for life at its longest is short. There is simply no time for hatred, war or violence. And what better proof is there, than the melting of one autumn into a kaleidoscope of all the others? The autumns come and go marking yet another year, and their color, though with us for so short a time, reminds us of the plans God has for us if only we are open to the change and to the challenge that awaits each new and shining day.
I think of family members in this autumn time, those still living and those who are at home with God. I think of other families who share our common humanity and are settled all across the world. I think of the Afghani and Iraqi children as often as I think of ours. I sense a kinship, a connection and a sadness for the fear that haunts their parents in those far off lands beyond the sea. Is there anything you would not do to save your child? Is there any length you would not go to spare your children pain? Could you bear to hear your child beg for bread that is not there, to cry for healing from the pain and find no source of comfort? These are the realities that sear the minds and hearts of so many in our broken, shattered world.
We are still reeling from the horror and the heartbreak of that bright September day that brought such loss and devastation and left us with an overwhelming sense of darkness and evil. We pledged everything within our power to assure that it will not strike again. We are convinced of the need to spare our country grief at almost any cost, but is the call to war and violence, a justified and moral answer for our fears? There will always be Hussiens, Bin Ladens and their like, maniacal tyrants who seek to destroy the fabric of our lives. And yet, can we call for war and still credibly lead our children to peaceful conversations, and non-violent attitudes toward life; the greatest gift we share? The world still looks at peace and justice issues through the lens of dominance and power. The Christian models life upon the Master of NON-violence, not only in the good times, but also in the days of heartbreak and despair. We all have different feelings about the role America must play on this grand and wide spread stage of life. I cannot fault the leaders of my country as they pledge protection of her citizens. And though my feelings are ambivalent about the path that we will choose to walk, I do believe I have been called to educate the young to peaceful ways, to teach them of forgiveness and reconciliation, of Sacrament and service, of compassion and real strength.
Will ANY nation of the world "beat its swords into plowshares" if the GREATEST nation in the world, built solidly on Judeo Christian values, calls the drum roll for pre-emptive strikes, assassination, exploitation and destruction? I am confused, anxious, saddened and afraid. This violent world is so explosive in intent and yet I hope I will not be among the first to demand an "eye for an eye." Diplomacy and conversation, openness and trust must find a way to salvage what is left of peace. I pray that we have not begun the process of the world’s annihilation? We have within our power, the capacity to open wide the floodgates of hatred and revenge, by our superiority, our dominance, our determination to rid the world of evil. And yet, the second state of life may be far more brutal than the past! Archbishop Desmond Tutu speaks about the fragmentation and isolation of our day as a "radical brokennness in all of existence." John Donne, so many years ago said it in a different way: "No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main; if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were; as well as if a manor of thy friend or thine own were; any man’s death diminishes me because I am involved in mankind; and therefore, never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee." In another of Donne’s sermons it is written: "All mankind is one volume. When one man dies, one chapter is torn out of the book and translated into a better language. And every chapter must be so translated. God employs several translations. Some pieces are translated by age, some by sickness, some by war, some by justice. But God’s Hand shall bind up all our scattered leaves again for that library where every book shall lie open to another."
We need to be truly present to each other, to welcome our diversity, to celebrate our humanity, to forgive our transgressors, to heal our rejections, to communicate and "L’Chaim" with each other. Nothing lives in isolation but only in relationship to something else, to someone else. To this end, I believe that people want to care about one another, to celebrate the innate goodness that inhabits every human soul, to recognize a higher order and to strengthen firm and just resolutions for peace. It seems to me that this tactical heightened rhetoric for fear is corrosive to a civilized society, and movement toward unprovoked preemptive war is the antithesis of American democracy. There is no moral justification for a war against a "feared" but non-striking enemy. The rage that America will incur from every civilized nation may reap a cataclysmic violence perpetrated by every radical group on the face of the earth. These "avengers" will call their anger justified against the new "Goliath," and their hatred will fester and multiply through all the ages yet to come.
Human goodness must outweigh the evil of despair and hatred, revenge and retribution but it must have a chance to be realized! We know through the history of humankind that nothing in this world can ultimately destroy the human spirit. It is resilient, capable of change, profoundly aware and deeply rooted in the good, the noble and the beautiful. Indeed, there are fanatics in our world but surely the dreamers, the seekers, the emancipators, the builders, the lovers of life and personhood, of brotherhood and friendship, far outnumber them.
Even Charles Darwin, that controversial evolutionist who perceived all of life as a struggle for survival, had mixed emotions when he witnessed in the great outdoors, the natural habitat of life, a reality he named, "the smiling fields." He could experience the gentleness of the earth and the harmony of nature even though all his writings spoke of battlefields and war, survival of the fittest and ultimately, of death itself. He understood these entities and he viewed them as prominent realities, yet somewhat paradoxically he wrote: "It is difficult to believe in the dreadful but quiet war of organic beings, going on in the quiet woods of the smiling fields." This is true of people if we would only give them the chance to communicate who they are and who they wish to become. What are their dreams, their aspirations, their values and their hopes? What are their conflicts, their limitations, their anxieties and their fears? Unless we work honestly to build a better future for us ALL, we will simply be left with no future at all! Somewhere along life’s way, we forgot our interconnectedness and "no healing will take place until we reconnect that which is fragmented and return to the essential unity of life." The "smiling fields" are all around us veiled in silence and in shadow. Our task is to remove the veil and move into the sunshine of peace and reconciliation.
Nature is a wonderful director of healing, of transformation as simple as the color change within the leaves, or the warm protective blanket of the newly driven snow or the tiny flowers that poke their heads through hardened clay to bloom amid the crabgrass and the dandelions. We should revere, not fear, the differences inherent in humanity. We need the "differences" in our cultures, in our traditions, in our dreams and in our plans. It is through these differences that we might offer to the world, a mosaic of the variegated colors of our lives as well as those who share the boundaries of this fragile planet we call earth and home. It is even written in the Koran, "If God had wanted us to be the same, He would have created us that way!" And yet, we do have similar hopes! Is there a human being who shuns happiness, meaning, identity, freedom or love? If there is, I dare say, the creature is not fully human. In Indra’s Net from the Rig Veda as described by Anne Adams we read: "There is an endless net of threads throughout the universe… At every crossing of the threads there is an individual. And every individual is a crystal bead. And every crystal bead reflects not only the light from every other crystal in the net but also every other reflection throughout the entire universe." We are inter-connected in that vast and awesome web of life. A dear friend just recently reminded me of God’s great love for our individuality and the uniqueness of our person. He loves us as though we are the only one, for each of us is "His word spoken to the world only once!" We should hope and pray therefore that the expression of our word will be peaceful and non-violent. Ursula Le Guin writes, "It is good to have an end to journey towards, but it is the journey that matters in the end." We must enable each other to move out of the shadows and into the Kingdom of God, for that Kingdom is indeed, within us.
I have always loved the Hebrew expression "L’Chaim" which finds its root in Deuteronomy’s mandate to "Choose Life." Sister Helen Kelley paraphrases it so beautifully: "Choose life, only that and always, and at whatever risk. To let life leak out, to let it wear away by the mere passage of time, to withhold giving it and spreading it, is to choose nothing!" This "choose life" theme ultimately bids us to reflect upon our purpose, and to be gentle with the gifts of life. It challenges us to be present to the persons in our lives, be they friends or strangers, to be convinced that they are instruments of God’s grace for us, in all their fragility and brokenness, even in their anger and their pain. And so, this autumn, one of the splendid gifts that each year brings, let us think of birth and life, regeneration, dying and rising again. Certainly the dying, the letting go, as the trees will soon let go despite the majesty and brilliance of their color, will call us to a radical transformation. The leaves will be true to their role and they WILL let go. So too should we let go of all anger and hostility, anxiety and revenge. that we may stir our hearts anew with the wistful promise that the color will return both in the leaves and in our lives.
Of course, this is MY reflection and I am sure that each of you has your own mandates resonating from your conscience. No doubt there will be as many to disagree, as agree with my premise, and that is understandable. If I were to deny this reality, I would not be true to my belief that we need our differences to complete the mosaic of life. Does that make me a dove instead of a hawk? Does it accentuate my naivete’ regarding the holocausts that may yet come? I know that alone we cannot make peace with evil, and as I said earlier, I am confused about our role in this sad era of human history. But I have to believe in the mandates of a God Who cautions us to live non-violently, and to do all within our power to negotiate for peace. In the end, whether we agree or disagree on the particulars of potential threat and the path that we may choose, let us at least be united in our desire and our Christian witness, to shape peaceful, moral citizens of the world and of the Kingdom. Let us hope that we will make our personal mark for peace in whatever fashion it may take, that our children and the children of the world will have many autumns to play among the leaves and thank God for the color in their lives. Let us teach them about autumn and flowers and stars, about smiling fields and peaceful non-polluted streams, of building and seeking and dreaming, of goodness and mercy and truth, of compassion and sacrifice and peace.