Word for Word 8/16/17

The Gospel Message of Jesus Christ Offers an Alternative

This past week we marked the 72nd anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Over the past several weeks, tensions with North Korea are rising. As our nation’s leaders warn North Korea about the North Korean missile program, their leaders have responded by threatening to have a plan for launching missiles “close to Guam”. We as a planet stand again at the brink of the use of nuclear weapons.

And it may not be the leaders of North Korea or our nation who cause the spark which leads to the launching of missiles. One analyst speculated that some “rogue element” such as a military maneuver of an ally gone wrong could escalate into a conflict involving weapons of mass destruction.

We can’t afford to be at the brink. We need to back up several steps from the brink, employing diplomacy and other peaceful means towards a new kind of coexisting.

This is not being hopelessly naive. Nearly every combat veteran I have asked has said that they hoped the next generation will be able to find another way to accomplish our nation’s goals without going to war. We have Someone who has shown us another way:  Jesus Christ. We Christians believe Jesus, as he was dying on the cross, had at his command a host of angels whose power would dwarf our nuclear arsenal. Instead, Jesus transformed the violence of the cross into an act of love, and showed the world an alternative form of power.

Employing the Jesus alternative would require an economic conversion. According to an editorial in the Aug 11, 2017 issue of the National Catholic Reporter written by Tony Magliano, the 100 most profitable weapon producing companies in the world raked in over $400 billion in arms sales in 2013. For some, the waging of war leads to enormous profits. If only we could put those resources into increasing education funding and producing more humane products, like low cost house-building kits, water pumps and filtering kits, modern latrines, farm tools, and mobile hospitals.

Jesus Christ, and many of his brave followers over the centuries, have shown us a nonviolent alternative to missiles and other weapons to safeguard our nation’s security. It is better to build bridges with other nations than to hurl threats, if we want the next generation to be able to sleep peacefully at night.

Fr. Mark Osterhaus
Catholic Parish Pastor
Waukon, Hanover, Dorchester