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| The U.S. has killed untold numbers of civilians by unmanned aerial drones, bombing raids, cruise missile attacks, and special operations missions in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iraq, and Somalia—also in Syria and Yemen. (Photo: via EuroYankee)The U.S. has killed untold numbers of civilians by unmanned aerial drones, bombing raids, cruise missile attacks, and special operations missions in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iraq, and Somalia—also in Syria and Yemen. (Photo: via EuroYankee) |
Make His Implements of War
Piety
“The rights of the king who will rule you will be as
follows: He will take your sons and assign them to his chariots and horses, and
they will run before his chariot. He will also appoint from among them his
commanders of groups
of a thousand and of a hundred soldiers. He will set them
to do his plowing and his harvesting, and to make his implements of war and the
equipment of his chariots.” 1 Samuel 8:11-12
Many gathered together so that there was no longer room
for them,
not even around the door, and he preached the word to
them. They came bringing to him a paralytic carried by four men. Unable to get
near Jesus because of the crowd, they opened up the roof above him. After they
had broken through, they let down the mat on which the paralytic was lying. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to him, “Child, your
sins are forgiven.” Mark 2:2-5
Study
Samuel must have been exasperated. Despite his warnings, the people still
clamored for a king. However, the hope
in the Gospel is that despite the problem we may have with secular governance,
we still have time to seek Christ and bring others into friendship with him.
No obstacles need apply. No roofs. No egos.
No elections. No abuse. No cover-ups. Just embrace Jesus, and take up your cross
daily.
Action
Bishop Thomas Gumbleton is a Samuel among us. He recently issued a warning about our
leaders bringing us to the brink of war (again).
After nearly two decades of fighting in Central Asia, documents
recently surfaced, showing how military leaders said one thing in public about
how successful the war was progressing while inside private meetings, they told
a different story. (Bishop Thomas Gumbleton is a retired Roman Catholic
auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Detroit.)
Once again, information has
surfaced regarding United States governmental efforts to mislead and misinform
people about disgraceful, cruel destruction caused by a United States war of
choice against people who meant the U.S. no harm. In the Afghanistan Papers,
the United States government officials acknowledged, privately, their own
uncertainty about why they were going to war against Afghanistan in 2001. The
trove of newly released documents about the 18-year war unmasked years of
high-level deceit and deliberate efforts to obfuscate realities on the ground
in Afghanistan.[i]
Gumbleton continues: “This tragic pattern of killing and
destroying begs the question of our responsibility as Catholic followers of
Christ. The endless War on Terrorism has fallen short of the Church’s Just War
requirements on multiple fronts. Likewise, the United States nuclear weapons
policy, which targets the world’s children, falls short of Just War
requirements. I call on Catholics in the military, including chaplains, as well
as all who work for the military or any branch of the armaments industry to
heed Pope Francis’s call to set aside the futility of war. All Catholics should
refuse to kill and should refuse cooperation with United States wars. Catholic
taxpayers should make every effort to avoid paying for war and weapons. Rather,
embrace Jesus, who calls us to love our enemies, put up the sword, and take up
the cross.”
Daily.
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