Playing the Instrument of Peace

Salt and Light Catholic Media Foundation

Copyright © 2019

by Ralph F. Couey

Lord make me an instrument of thy peace.

Where there is hatred, let me sow love;

Where there is injury, pardon;

Where there is doubt, faith;

Where there is despair, hope;

Where there is darkness, light;

Where there is sadness, joy.

--St. Francis of Assisi

It is not news that the world we live in has become consumed in conflict, both verbal and physical.  And as usual, there are innocent victims.  In this country, political passions are at a fever pitch.  Words of anger and condemnation, and threats of violence are being hurled from both sides.  The possibility of armed conflict has moved from the laughable to the possible.

The United States is no longer united, rent by a chasm that deepens and widens with each passing day, a wound that may never fully heal.

There was a time when a church was a place of refuge from the acidity outside, a true sanctuary of peace.  But now the passions of politics have invaded our churches. Words of anger and division are beginning to be heard from the pulpit.  Rather than rising above conflict, we are now mired deeply within it.

The Middle East of Jesus’ time was a hotbed of political and social strife.  Jews hated Samaritans, Samaritans returned the feelings with equal vitriol.  Zealots preached and plotted revolution; Pharisees argued endlessly with Sadducees, and all joined in a mutual detestation of the Roman occupiers.

But Jesus did not involve himself in local politics.  He did not join any of the various movements, nor did He, as many expected, lead an armed revolution against the Romans.  The only government He preached about was the Kingdom of God.  Even His challenges to the Jewish power structure urged them to embrace the truth of God contained in their own scriptures and abandon hypocrisy.  He remained above the fray.

Despite the example of Jesus, we today are neck-deep in political issues, not only outside the church walls but bringing them inside on Sundays.  It is common now for people new to an area to choose their congregation not on proximity to home but rather which ones are “liberal” or “conservative.”

The words of St. Francis quoted above are also found in the hymn, “Lord Make Us Instruments of Peace.”  That hymn has sung in many of our gatherings and the last time I sang it, I reflected on the words, comparing the ideal of those words to the reality of the world in which we live. 

In the old “Star Trek” television show, the Federation of Planets through Starfleet Command had adopted what was called The Prime Directive.  This order forbade officers and officials from interfering in the natural development of cultures encountered.  As Christians, we also have a Prime Directive.  It is contained in these words:

“Love the Lord thy God with all your soul, and all your mind.

This is the first and greatest commandment.  And the second is this:

Love your neighbor as yourself.”

--Matthew 22:37-39

And repeated here:

“A new commandment I give you:

Love one another as I have loved you.

By this, everyone will know that you are my disciples,

That you love one another.”

--John 13:34-35

And again here:

“Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbor, and hate thine enemy.

But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which spitefully use you, and persecute you.”

--Matthew 5:43-44

This is not a suggestion; it is a commandment.  It means that we do not join in the chorus of hate and anger, but instead bring the light of love into that darkness. 

I can already hear the chorus of rejoinders.  “But these are important issues that need to be addressed, that require activism and perhaps even drastic measures.”

I refer you back to our Prime Directive.  Loving one another must be the guiding principal by which we live.  Part of the current environment is the blame culture.  When any of us see problems or issues in front of us, our first act is to blame the other party.  But something disquieting happens when we blame someone else.  We abdicate any responsibility for a solution.  If it’s the other person’s fault, then they have to fix it.  Not us.

Being an activist means by definition to be active.  That means not to waste time yelling at the other side, but stepping up and acting on those issues ourselves.  In that respect, it matters not what we say, but what we do that makes the difference.  Those things we can’t do, we turn over to God in faith.

When we allow others to make us angry, we are in effect putting them in charge of us.  It’s a kind of emotional slavery, if you will.  Their words, their actions now determine our words and actions.  The hate becomes self-replicating.  I know our instinct is to meet “their” anger and hate with equal vitriol.  But is that how we fix things?  By becoming more like those we call our enemies?  We claim to live by principles, things like love, peace, tolerance, respect for diversity. What we must remember is that a principle is something we live by all the time.  We don’t abandon it because it becomes inconvenient, or because it’s more viscerally satisfying to spew hate.

I spent a lot of years in government service under administrations and congresses dominated by both parties.  What I learned over those years is that both sides lie, with ease and without conscience.  They are able to do this because they fully know they will never be held accountable to the truth by their own constituencies who have been conditioned to accept what they say at face value.  The messages they send out are carefully crafted by people with tremendous word skills, constructed specifically to light the fires of division, hate, and anger.  Because emotion is an irrational state, an emotional constituency is also an irrational one, and thereby frighteningly easy to manipulate. 

The two most powerful words in political discourse are “Prove it.”  It’s not enough to fling that challenge at the opposition.  We must be unafraid to demand that proof from our own sides, and then follow up with solid research to ensure the revelation of truth.  It is the only way to stop the lies, the only way to keep us from being the unwitting tools of manipulators.

In the end, the proof of our discipleship is in living to be instruments of peace.  It is time we as a church ask ourselves the tough question, are we being instruments of peace, or tools of hate?

We won’t find the answer to that question on cable news, network news, talk shows, or the radio.  We won’t find the answer by mindlessly spewing the despicable lies we are told are the truth.  We won’t find the answer by blindingly believing that the leaders of our particular side are telling the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.  The answer can only be found within the quiet sanctuary of our own individual hearts, seeking truth, and refusing to be part of the mob.

We are on a path that is spiraling down to self-destruction.  It’s nobody else’s fault but our own.  We put ourselves on this journey. 

And we are the only ones who can turn it around.