Changing Landscapes

Summary of a Fr. Gerry Creedon homily from January 1, 2005

"Let the peace of Christ control your hearts." Col. 3:15

TODAY, JANUARY 1, 2005, we celebrate the Feast of Mary the Mother of God and the Day of Prayer for World Peace. Eve is the mother of all humankind. Mary is not only the Mother of God but the mother of all the redeemed.

This past week brought news of the earthquake in South East Asia. We entrust our fragile planet to the protection of Mary.

Among the descriptions of destruction that have filled our news are stories about mothers and children. There was the mother who visited her daughter studying in Thailand. They were trapped by the tsunami in a hotel room. The mother was stuck to a door and could not rise with the water. Her daughter broke the glass in the door, releasing the pressure, and saved her mother's life. Another mother, who thought she had lost her child, found her in the morning unharmed on a floating mattress. Every mother and every child, every human, have been united in a dreadful moment and in a new bond of solidarity.

A silver lining in this disaster is the outpouring of compassion in the rescue mission. It is wonderful to see heads of nations compete with one another in generosity.

Pope John Paul in his New Year's Message continues a tradition of papal teaching on peace. The Popes have taught that "Development is the new name for peace." (Paul VI). Our current Pope deepens this same vein: "The inner logic of Christian love, which in the gospel is the living source of moral goodness, leads even to love of one's enemies; " If your enemy is hungry, feed him: if he is thirsty, give him something to drink" (Rom 12, 20) Colin Powell has emphasized that our rescue efforts in South East Asia need to go beyond relief to reconstruction and development. What if we were to take the same approach to those with whom we are in conflict? Is it not much wiser to spend millions in developing friends than to spend billions in developing enemies? Food and water are the basic necessities. A salient fact in the Palestinian Israeli situation is the reality that 80% of the water sources are in Israeli hands. We forget that for most of the world's people water is the issue not oil. It is a strange paradox that the huge waves that engulf Indonesia imperil the supply of potable water.

In the Papal address you will look in vain for the application of the principles of the just war theory to justify wars. Pope John Paul approximates the thinking of Martin Luther King, without his poetry. "To attain the good of peace there must be clear and conscious acknowledgement that violence is an unacceptable evil and that it never solves problems. Violence is a lie for it goes against the truth of our faith, the truth of our humanity. Violence destroys what it claims to defend: the dignity, the life, the freedom of human beings." Our Church knows first hand the futility of violence in promoting the faith. We have learned the painful lessons of the conquistadors and the Inquisition. Violence is not an instrument that can defend or promote either faith or freedom. The way out of the vicious circle of requiting evil is to accept the apostle's words: "Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good." (Rom 12, 21)

Let us pray with all believers that this natural crisis may produce a shift in the world's priorities, so that all may begin to share more equitably the basic goods of the earth, such as water, food and the means of communications. May the Mother of God and the mother of all humanity spread her mantle of care and protection.