The Peace of Conviction
 
by Kelly, Patrick Joseph
Philippine Islands

 
 

On August 1st 1987, in the hinterland of Mindinao, Philippines, the military dispersed a group of men and women who were preventing 13 logging trucks from proceeding to the city. For eleven days and nights they stopped the trucks in an non-violent way. They fed the truck drivers and their helpers, talked with them about the necessity of the forest for their own lives and the lives of their children, invited them to join the picketers in prayer and reflection on the scriptures every evening at the picket site.

After I was arrested and removed from the group of picketers, the soldiers moved in with rattan sticks and beat the people, pushing and shoving them to the sides of the road. The trucks then with all their logs continued on to the city 150 kilometres away. At the same time 18 empty logging trucks drove up to the concession area.

Through the intervention of the bishop I was released that same morning from the camp of the military.

When all of us got back to the town of San Fernando, Bukidnon in the afternoon, it was decided by the people to continue monitoring the logging trucks and to continue the prayer and reflection at the picket site every evening.

At the beginning of the prayer session, as was usual, the people if they wished, could mention their failings and all would respond with "Lord forgive us", as a sign of solidarity with one another. One evening, a few days after the dispersal, Adalida, a very thin woman, around 45 years old, married, who had worked hard all her life because of her poverty, said:" Forgive me God for the bad thoughts I have about the soldiers who beat me up". Another night, Ondo Sepe, said:" Forgive me God, for the anger I have with in me against those people of the town, who say that what we are doing is right, but refuse to join us" In both cases the people responded "Forgive us Lord".

With in the attitude of this woman and man, I feel deeply there is an indication of one of the necessary sources for peace : our fragility and imperfection, as we try to witness to and act on the behalf of justice and truth for the good of all.

In the book, "The Gospel and The Struggle For Justice"  Jean and Hildegarde Gross-Mayr reflects on the love God has for us. "Let us pause for a moment and think of this love. As God loved us? We know the words by heart, that God has loved us, up to giving his son to save us (Jn 3:16), the son whom he loves as no other father can ever love his son. The son who loves his father as no other son could love his father. God has given him, this unique son, to save whom?  The loyal and honest, the just and the saints? No, not just them, but also the liar and the thief, yes even those who make hundreds of millions die of famine, the murderer, the adulterer, the criminal, the wicked, the renegade, the tyrant, the exploiter - in short to save the sinner that we all are. See! With this love God asks us to witness before humanity to the end of time.

I feel it is that conviction, that every single person is loved by God with identical love, that provides the possibility of peace. God does not love me more than he loves you.  God does not love the Pope more than God loves Saddam Hussein ... And we are called to witness to that love with our lives in the hope that people will respond to that love. Because we are so lacking, so imperfect, along with a lot of other negatives, our witness has to depend on the power of God.

The world wants "winners" and Losers"  and in so many different ways we are urged to use this criteria in our relationships .....The relationship that Our God wants of us is  FAMILY - brothers and sisters - and to love one another as he has loved us.

I believe the above is at least part of the source of peace.