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Jesus told us to work for understanding
By Fr. Jeremy Tobin, O.Praem.
April 11 , 2008
     “It was in Antioch (in Syria) that the disciples were first called Christian” (Acts of the Apostle 11:26)
     Spring is bursting all over. Suddenly all the new leaves are on the trees. Midway Road, once visible from the priory road, is concealed by new growth. Strange sounds of creatures that call these woods their home are heard all the time.
     We live in this environment, mindful that we live with countless other creatures, all of us praising one Creator. Walking around the lake you must look down, because you just may step on somebody’s home which could have unwelcome consequences.
     The earth is beautiful in the spring, like a new day, not yet messed up by anyone. As true as this is, it is not so. All over our little blue and white planet, blood flows like water, and the wailing of torn up families drowns out calls of joy from animals anywhere. Spring always brings promise, and enkindles hope, often short lived.
     Easter has come, with promise of eternal victory over evil. The recent issue of America reports thousands of Iraqi Christians, whose faith and ritual goes back to the Apostles, being driven from their lands by fanatics who violate their own religion to do so.
     Mohammed preached tolerance toward Christians and Jews, as “People of the Book.” His own cousin was a Christian. So what is going on with religion being turned on its head?
     The report stated, “Christians had been fleeing Iraq for years before the U.S. invasion in 2003. The Ancient Assyrian Church of the East saw four-fifths of its members emigrate before 2000.” Saddam persecuted them for their use of Syriac, their language, instead of Arabic, his language.
     “Now other Christians are fleeing under combined pressures of radical Islam and the chaos of war.” Their Catholic cousins, the Chaldeans, saw their archbishop of Mosul, Faraj Rahho, kidnapped and murdered. The pressure on Iraqi Christians continues. The loss of these, and other Eastern Christians “diminishes the world Christian community, including the Christian West.” (America, March 24, 2008)
     Our technology is beyond the average person’s understanding. There is no longer a fear that the “bomb” will blow us to smithereens. The fear is corporations will no longer profit if they do not have unlimited access to oil. The Middle East is being trashed for greed. The average person is left out in the discussion.
     Death-Resurrection. It always comes down to that. Jesus said, “Unless the grain of wheat dies . . . .” But death is such a messy business, especially if it is done violently in the name of fanatical religion.
     Nobody is clean in this. Fanaticism, which is fundamentalism on steroids, runs through Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. Think about it. Adherents of these three religions together have so much power and wealth, they can blast the planet into a wasteland.
     Yet the wisdom of these three religions expounds a unity and inclusiveness among all humanity as children, even images, of God. Clearly we have a challenge in the new millennium. Either we rise to it, or we all suffer, without exception.
     This is the 21st century. God has not given up on us. There are brilliant voices of reason and sanity among all three religions calling for calm and dialogue. Throughout the world there are movements and groups promoting inclusiveness and unity as the only solution to continued survival on this planet.
     We don’t need another Messiah, we got one and we better begin to understand what he taught. Jesus told us he would be present in all of us, and together we must work for inclusion not division, for integration, not segregation, for understanding not confusion.
     Here in Mississippi, the Institute for Interfaith Dialogue continues to bring believers of all religions together in order to appreciate one another, and move us closer toward unity and inclusion that so many died for.
     Forty years ago last Friday (April 4) Martin Luther King was assassinated, a martyr for human rights. Bobby Kennedy was assassinated, a martyr for justice. Thomas Merton died in a tragic accident, a monk living his life for greater understanding and religious dialogue all over the world.
     I pray that they have not died in vain.
(Fr. Jeremy Tobin, O. Praem. lives at the Priory of St. Moses the Black, Raymond.)

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