Friday 25 July 2008

More from "The Root of War is Fear" by Thomas Merton.

Perhaps in the end the first real step toward peace would be a realistic acceptance of the fact that our political ideals are perhaps to a great extent illusions and fictions to which we cling out of motives that are not always perfectly honest: that because of this we prevent ourselves from seeing any good or any practicability in the political ideals of our enemies - which may, of course, be in many ways even more illusory and dishonest than our own. We will never get anywhere unless we can accept the fact that politics is an inextricable tangle of good and evil motives in which, perhaps, the evil predominate but where one must continue to hope doggedly in what little good can still be found.

Hope...always hope! We must be realists who see how easily we fool ourselves and attempt to fool others. Those grand ideals we carry with us in order to distinguish ourselves from others do not make us who we really are - nor are the ones of our enemies. Hope is not an ideal. I would say it is a reality that is not yet in place completely. Hope pulls us into truth and honesty and peace and respect. Hope, as the hope in the Reign of God already complete at the end of time, takes the motives behind our grand words and actions and exposes them for what they are. There is no "us and them" with the Reign. There is no self-interest that must be guarded more than the interest of others. There is no wealth that is to be in the hands of a few who have been able to find way to bring it to themselves. Within the hopefulness of the Reign of God walls come tumbling down and we begin to engage one another as beloved of God - no matter what is the background or "issues" we carry with us. We are invited to walk in hope. Some will call that a nebulous vision...I would say it is not at all like that...it has life that is really available.

Connection: Can we talk beyond ideals and be honest about what we fear and how we would rather have things go our way the any other way? It may bring some interesting discussion and give us the sense that we are beginning to live hope.

Lord of All Hopefulness, be our guide again in this day. We have this tendency to run out on our own convinced that our way into the future is the way. And yet, you continue to invited us to follow the way of your Beloved who was hope incarnate and becomes our hope today. Amen.