Yesterday Merton commented about violence, today it is about Gandhi and non-violence.
...with Gandhi non-violence was not a sinply marginal and quasi-fanatical indulgence of personal religious feeling. It belonged to the very nature of political life, and a society whose politics are habitually violent, inarticulate, and unreasonable is a subpolitical and therefore subhuman society. this of course was a truth that Gandhi had learned not from books but from experience - in South Africa!
We count on political systems to keep order in a humane manner. To watch out for those who are weak and frail for whatever might be the reasons for their condition...to watch out for the use of power that is exercised at the expense of the less powerful...to watch out for every bit of injustice that makes life intolerable for some while others do so well...to watch out for one another so that in every day, no one gets trampled...by anyone. Non-violence is a part of the creation of such a life. Non-violence does not merely make sure that I do not act violently against another. Non-violence is a vision that demands that the welfare of all is considered in all we do. Therefore, we must always be willing to ask if what we do as a "people"...as a "political system"...as a society, is perpetuating the violence that seems to come to us so naturally. Merton ties an adjective like violent together with inarticulate and unreasonable to give us a look at what he calls is a subpolitical and subhuman society. What a good connection of words. Most of the time that is how I look at our U.S. action in Iraq. Then again, it is what I see in the Middle East and places in Africa and in the cities of our country. We are not making peace anywhere. We are simply continuing to be witnesses to a world of violence that has no interest in bringing about a peaceable Reign.
Connection: Give words to what we are doing and who we are. Then, try to see what comes of those words...within the movement of the day....violent....peaceful...human...subhuman!?!
You, O God, continue to call us into the way of the "truly human one" - the creature you created to be visibly alive within your image. We often fall for something else even as we hear of your vision for life for us. We need the fresh breath of your Spirit to turn our lives to the way of your peaceful Reign where violence is disrupted by loving kindness and world-changing compassion. Amen.
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