December 2, 2024
by Eileen Wirth
Creighton University - retired
click here for photo and information about the writer

Monday of the the First Week of Advent
Lectionary: 175

Isaiah 2:1-5
Psalms 122:1-2, 3-4b, 4cd-5, 6-7, 8-9
Matthew 8:5-11

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They shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks;
One nation shall not raise the sword against another, nor shall they train for war again.

Isaiah

It’s tempting to write a one-word reflection on today’s glorious reading from Isiah: AMEN!  I tried that once with a particularly great Scripture passage but our readers expected more. So here goes, although AMEN sums up my feeling about this exhortation to make peace.

It’s tempting to write a denunciation of the world’s multiple wars and the brutal remote conflicts that don’t often make the headlines. But it wouldn’t help anything, The war makers  don’t care what we think. The people they lead either support their violence or don’t oppose it because they are terrified of falling victim to it.  If Vladimir Putin wants to invade another country, my opposition won’t deter him any more than Isaiah’s words.

Yet I’m haunted not only by the image of beating swords into plowshares and Isaiah’s admonition against nations warring against each other but by Edmund Burke’s classic assertion that all that is needed for the triumph of evil is for good men (and women) to do nothing.

Just because our efforts are ineffective, can we in good conscience do nothing to try to stop the killing?

This morning NPR interviewed a young Israeli who had gone to jail for refusing to fight in Gaza. He reminded me of the Vietnam war resisters of my youth. You don’t have to agree with such people to admire them. At least they are trying  to do SOMETHING to bring peace on earth.

I’m meditating on how to do this in my own life and family. Like all families, mine has its share of people who neither agree on issues nor particularly like each other. It’s it’s only too easy to take up “swords” against each other. Too often we move from disagreement over issues to personal hostilities.

Recently when I was  still raw from the election, I even hung up on a relative because he continued to criticize my opinions on hot button issues even after I tried several times to  change the subject. I didn’t exactly turn my spears into pruning hooks.

In replaying this unfortunate conversation, I’m more aware than ever of how easily conflicts arise between nations. This is especially true when both sides have grievances and no reservoir of affection for each other to mitigate the conflict. Too often, we like to cling to our grudges. We can forgive a lot more easily than we forget. We’re just waiting for the next provocation to come out swinging.

I can’t think of a greater challenge for the world in general and us in particular than genuinely resolving differences peacefully.   Putin will pay no attention to us but we can make the difficult choices required to resolve our own differences with people. As the hymn says,   “Let there be peace on earth and let it begin with me.”

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emw@creighton.edu

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