On Sunday mornings after Mass, my parents would often buy a box of donuts and milk along with a newspaper as we headed home. We lived in Massachusetts close to the New Hampshire border. Our parish was St. Williams from the time I was nine until fourteen when we moved to Daytona Beach, Florida.

It wasn’t a very nutritious breakfast, however our family discussions about the Mass filled us with healthy emotional, spiritual and bonding love. These wonderful mornings would have to sustain us in the years to come when the evils of the world finally crashed into our sacred home.

One of my brothers thought that if he took a bite out of four donuts he liked…the rest of us eight kids would be grossed out and leave him to the pillage. Although I remember this all-consuming act of war…it somehow became a short-lived battle. Either my parents caught him in the act or my siblings took justice upon themselves… or we simply didn’t care if the donut had an extra manmade hole.

Then there was the newspaper during the Vietnam conflict. During the week I remembered the word death along with black and white pictures of a far away war. This was before color was added to newspapers. (Can you imagine?!) I remember glancing at stories about families receiving word of a brother or son no more. For about the first fourteen years of my life, I grew up with this fear of war. In many ways, this fear of war had me avoid news in papers and definitely on television. My oldest brother tried to get into a military academy to avoid the draft to this ugly war… as if any war isn’t ugly and corrupt.

And how ironic and crazy is it that I, this self-proclaimed peace lover, ended up in the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy and U.S. Coast Guard as a line officer on active duty? Without my oldest brother, it would have never dawned on me to even consider seeking a free education and “safe” career through the military. I reasoned that my role in the merchant marine and coast guard was a peacetime work. However, it is all supporting the military regime and status quo. War creates jobs. Fear of terror creates jobs.

Had I known then what I know now about our military economic “sales” and “aid”… in conscience I couldn’t have done it. I would have been a self-righteous annoying “gnat” to the status quo rather than a painful little spider bite that I have become.

Either way…I am insignificant. Maybe God needed me to penetrate the truth of war and greed and injustice. How else could I have ended up in the most gruesome battle of the Iraq War (that was preemptive and unchallenged by our holier than thou country)? When a country is incapable of self-examination of its actions…that is when God sends the country into exile. Isn’t it amazing and ironic that we are caught up in this war in the same place as the Babylonian Exile? We must remember that the ten northern tribes (named after brothers) were destroyed first around the year 722 BC. The last remaining tribes of Judah and Benjamin believed it wouldn’t happen to them. In the year 598 BC, King Nebuchadnezzar sacked Judah and carried their king into exile to modern day Iraq in what is known as the beginning of the Babylonian Exile. It should be noted that this is the same area where the tower of Babel was constructed and destroyed. False prophets from 598 to 587 proclaimed that the yoke of Babylon was broken, but Nebuchadnezzar took swift and terrible vengeance; Jerusalem was destroyed in 587 and its leading citizens sent into exile.

Jeremiah the prophet remained amidst the ruins of Jerusalem, but was later forced into Egyptian exile by a band of conspirators. There, according to an old tradition, his own countrymen murdered him. The influence of Jeremiah was greater after his death than before. The exiled community read and meditated on the lessons of the prophet, and his influence can be seen in Ezekiel, certain of the psalms, and the second part of Isaiah. Shortly after the exile, the Book of Jeremiah as we have it today was published in a final edition.

It is amazing to me that no one is aware of how history is repeating itself. Jesus was rejected as a baby when his parents had to escape to Egypt until King Herod was dead. We are fools to believe that we are not among many false prophets who believe that war will protect us from terror. None of us true Christians are immune to suffering and rejection. If Jesus was rejected, we will be rejected. False Christians are those who believe we will find peace and happiness in this world without persecution, rejection and suffering. Remember the words of our Beloved Jesus,

“See that no one deceives you. For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Messiah,’ and they will deceive many. You will hear of wars and reports of wars; see that you are not alarmed, for these things must happen, but it will not yet be the end. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; there will be famines and earthquakes from place to place. All these are the beginning of the labor pains. Then they will hand you over to persecution, and they will kill you. You will be hated by all nations because of my name. And then many will be led into sin; they will betray and hate one another. Many false prophets will arise and deceive many; and because of the increase of evildoing, the love of many will grow cold. But the one who perseveres to the end will be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached throughout the world as a witness to all nations, and then the end will come.”

War is never the answer. Jesus would never, ever approve. When people say that we are in self-defense as good Christians, immediately I am transported back to the Garden of Gethsemane. When Peter cut-off the ear of the high priest’s servant in the fog of that ‘battle’…Jesus commanded him, “Put your sword away!!!”

Jesus was just a bothersome gnat…so they thought…so I want to think. Non-violence is the command of our God. When we lose our trust in Jesus and in our God…we fight and believe we are more valuable than the other whether they are Islam, Croatian, Chinese, communist, Republican, Socialist, Democrat, conservative, liberal, brother, mother or sister. Eventually we will ALL call upon OUR FATHER. This is our faith and belief. We deceive ourselves when we don’t recognize that there isn’t a person living on this world that God does not love. Actions will be corrected, but the open arms of God will prevail. Love always prevails.

War stinks! And war stinks up our lives. Even if we win a war…part of us dies because our enemies who have been defeated or killed are truly our brothers, sisters, mothers and fathers. When will we get it? “O my Jesus…my Lord…my God… How hard it is to put my sword away! You are asking me to fight back with your armor of love alone…the breastplate of justice and love, the helmet of salvation, the belt of truth, the sword of your Word, the shield of faith (semper fidelis), and the shoes (boots) to spread the Good News to the poor, the oppressed the imprisoned and the blind.”

Many people have grown rich from these wars…and they hide this glaring fact behind the 9-11 twin towers and Pentagon. The Pentagon duped all of the military to back the vindication of the towers without reflective and soul-searching catharsis. The makers of weapons (including uniforms, military contracts, oil and food) should be heavily taxed. Of course they would pass this cost onto the government and citizens of our country. And yet, we should all feel the brunt and cost of war, not just the families of the fallen and wounded. Hopefully, we as the people would eventually be fed up and use our creative minds for much better solutions to conflicts among peoples and nations.

In some ways…the weapons industry in their insatiable drive for “profit” has duped all fifty states into believing supporting our troops means that having massive budgets for war is not their own version of “weapons of mass destruction,” but rather patriotic. Our weapons industry is truly a weapon of mass destruction. The lobbyists have convinced our elected officials that if we don’t give the full military budget unfettered and unchallenged…we are in some way endangering the lives of our Marines, sailors, soldiers and airmen.

How stupid could our leaders be to assume that if some obscure pastor in Gainesville were to burn a Koran that the lives of our soldiers would be endangered!?!? The lives of our brave men and women are endangered because they are placed in a war on “terror” that has never been clearly defined, it has never had a vision for lasting peace, it has not been challenged by the command of love, justice and integrity. How much money has the weapons industry made by sacrificing hundreds of thousands of civilians and thousands of troops? Is it worth it to the families of the dead, wounded (physically, emotionally and spiritually)?

These facts need to be reported with fair and balanced reporting that is not just lip service or a sound bite. Our wars are destroying our world little by little and by chunks and more. I saw first hand how the environment in Iraq is being desecrated and abused by war. Is it worth the cost? When I was serving in the Iraq war, I served beside Muslims, Buddhists, Christians, Jews and Atheists. Those who stirred up fear about a mosque near ground zero should be regarded at blasphemous. That these people would even be considered for public office is down right scary. Technically, Hitler was Catholic. Should we look on all Catholics as tyrannical? Journalists have either not gotten the important stories out, or the media is suppressing it because their advertisers dictate the news to be printed or broadcasted.

If we were to build up the infrastructure of third world countries with a fraction of the cost of weaponry and nuclear arms, we would have many friends in nations if another were to unjustly attack. The global environment would be more balanced and enriching for all people.

No one says it. The reason America has never helped Haiti before the earthquake this year is because President Aristide had dissolved and banned the military. Our congress that struggles on basic issues like a fair tax allows lobbyists to make all the decisions. The NRA, weapons and pharmaceuticals make quite a bit of money off of war. Because Haiti would have no weapons they would buy from us, this tiny poorest of poor countries exposed us as a country that gives much more aid (monetarily) in weapons and military support to other countries than we do in the miniscule amount for food and infrastructure. The saying goes, “Give the people a fish, and they eat for a day. Teach them to fish and they eat for a lifetime.” How would we finish this statement, “Give the people a bomb and they will one day promote terror. Give them love and peace and they….”?

When the Archbishop of Haiti died in the earthquake, where was the feeling of loss of the people? The people, especially the poor, did not know the archbishop. When President Aristide was first exiled the people rebelled until President Clinton helped to restore him in the 1990’s. When President Aristide was fairly re-elected after getting out of office after his first term for five years as their constitution states…we righteously and without sound investigation of the facts in early 2004…removed an elected official because of the complaints of a few rich and out of work military people who dug up their buried guns. Preposterous!!!!

This all occurred shortly before I was sent to Iraq. I actually took a flight to Haiti as this was happening. The plane that normally holds missionaries was now full of news people and journalists. Most could not speak Creole and few if any had any integrity. They asked people off the street if Aristide was corrupt. There was absolutely no integrity in their journalism or professionalism. In Iraq, our country took out Saddam Husain and many people profited from this move. Billions of dollars have gone to U.S. companies in contracts. Senior military leaders have made huge amounts of money because they get extra combat pay in proportion to their salary and they don’t have to pay taxes while in the country of combat. Who is going to be passionate about peace when we make so much money off of war and accumulations of conventional and nuclear weapons?

We will never have peace unless we truly look at our own souls and sins.

Now let us get back to Sundays at the Camarda’s when I was growing up. The newspaper on Sundays was wrapped with the comics that were in color. That is all I ever really wanted to read. I even had a small paper route for a while. I ignored the front page under my arm that spoke of war, communism, evil empires and greed. But on Sundays…it was the comics and an unhealthy donut. Maybe the Eucharist, the Body and Blood of Jesus, was my true nourishment…so that one day I could truly be the mouthpiece of peace…the mouthpiece of our God.

The comics are now off the paper and I am intimidated by the news. However, I trust in God. I am no longer as blind as I was. “Jesus, help me to see.”

Go ahead and bite into my donut…I won’t fight you. I will simply savor the donut we have shared together. Forgive me!!!!

Have a blessed and peace filled week!

Love, joy, peace,

Father Ron Moses +

www.tearinthedesert.com

.