Our Obligation – A Brief Reflection

In light of the midnight attack on Venezuela by US military forces and the kidnapping of the country’s President and First Lady these words from Thomas Merton speak to me and I hope that they will speak to you, dear reader.

The Christian is not only bound to avoid certain evils, but he is responsible for very great goods. This is often forgotten. The doctrine of the Incarnation leaves the Christian obligated at once to God and to man. If God has become man, then no Christian is ever allowed to be indifferent to man’s fate. Whoever believes that Christ is the Word made flesh believes that every man must in some sense be regarded as Christ. For all are at least potentially members of the Mystical Christ. Who can say with absolute certainty of any other man that Christ does not live in him?…

If we are disciples of Christ we are necessarily our brother’s keepers. And the question that is being asked of us concerns all men. It concerns, at the present moment, the entire human race. We cannot ignore this question. We cannot give an irresponsible and unchristian consent to the demonic use of power for the destruction of a whole nation, a whole continent, or possibly even the whole human race. — Seeds of Destruction (Part II, Section I, Can We Choose Peace?)

When I first went on Active Duty with the Air Force as a Chaplain in 1990, the attack on Panama in 1989 was still fresh in my mind. US forces invaded Panama and kidnapped the President of Panama. It was a part of the continuation of Regan’s “war on drugs.” Today, just over 37 years later, another nation has been invaded and its leader kidnapped. The reason? A supposed “war on drugs.” The tragic irony does not escape me. The words of Winston Churchill in 1948 (echoing the words of philosopher George Santayana) Those that fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it speak loudly to this retired military chaplain and student of history.

I truly fear for this country that I served for 26 years in uniform. I fear for the survival of the Constitution that I swore to support and defend (beginning in 1985 and continuing to this day). This was not how I planned on beginning the new year.

As these days of uncertainty continue to unfold, I lift up this portion of Thomas Merton’s Prayer for Peace: And now our nation itself stands in imminent danger of a war the like of which has never been seen! This nation dedicated to freedom, not to power, has obtained, through freedom, a power it did not desire. And seeking by that power to defend its freedom, it is enslaved by the processes and policies of power. Must we wage a war we do not desire, a war that can do no good, and which our very hatred of war forces us to prepare? 

In this prayer, originally written in 1962 and presented to Congress, Merton was focused on the global arms race and the very real threat of global nuclear war. That threat still exists. This prayer speaks to the current situation we are facing today.

In closing, I once more lift up Merton’s prayer: Save us then from our obsessions! Open our eyes, dissipate our confusions, teach us to understand ourselves and our adversary. Let us never forget that sins against the law of love are punishable by loss of faith, and those without faith stop at no crime to achieve their ends! Amen.