The Real Jihad
 
Rev. MacGarry, Brian SJ
Zimbabwe


I think it is worth saying, for the September meeting that images of apocalyptic war in the heavens don't mean we should be waging war in this world. The struggle with evil is a part of our lives, and that is the jihad in which a Muslim friend emphasises we all stand together, but, as St.Paul said, it uses the weapons of the Spirit. In the real sense, Mahatma Gandhi and Oscar Romero were more of mujahideen (or crusaders) than George W.Bush or Osama bin Laden. So is Pius Ncube, archbishop of Bulawayo, a man in the mould of Romero, theologically conservative but open to people, who marks the current page in his breviary with a card commemorating an ordination which carries no pious quotation, but a picture of a hand washing two feet.