Glory be to Jesus Christ!
Today, on the eleventh day of the eleventh month we remember our soldiers who heroically gave their lives for our freedom, who paid the ultimate price for our peace. In our world which is so often confused over means and ends, intentions and outcomes, we sometimes forget that the end or purpose of war is peace. People fight for all sorts of reasons, war needs to be discerned in the most serious manner, but ultimately just war is never waged to prolong or inflict suffering, but to end war- to bring peace.
In our reading today the Lord opens our minds to two very important points in regards to making and keeping peace. Firstly, we need to be aware of the fact that our actions and our sinfulness lead others into temptation. There is no such thing as a private sin. Our inappropriate or absent witness to the the Lord’s saving Gospel can lead others away from Him. This is what we must be on guard against.
Secondly, in responding to the evil done to us personally, the Christian has the ability, through Christ, to break the cycle of retribution and violence by forgiving. Our Lord instructs us to forgive others seven times a day, in essence to never “run out” of forgiveness. As our Lord was dying on the cross for the sings of those crucifying Him and for my sins and your sins, He forgave His executioners. This is the ultimate response to the evil done against us brothers and sisters.
But it does not stop here. We are at war. Not against human beings, but against evil, against the devil and his minions, and against the evil and sin which we ourselves perpetrate in our own lives. In order to combat this we need to realize where these decisions originate and that we ourselves are responsible for our responses to them.
In the past few days there has been a lot of turmoil over the election results in the States and many quick words spoken without thought or charity. Ultimately this response is one which detracts from the real battle for holiness, as the evil one likes to draw our attention to things which we cannot actually control, to keep us focused “out there” instead of on our own actions, thoughts and witness to Christ. Alexander Solzhenitsyn wrote in the Gulag Archipelago:
…”the line separating good and evil passes not through states, nor between classes, nor between political parties either — but right through every human heart — and through all human hearts. This line shifts. Inside us, it oscillates with the years. And even within hearts overwhelmed by evil, one small bridgehead of good is retained. And even in the best of all hearts, there remains … an unuprooted small corner of evil.”
This is where the battle is fought and this is where we ally ourselves with Christ or with His enemy. Let us continue to live this day and every day with the gravity and responsibility which befit sons and daughters of the King. Let us forgive one another and find peace.
May the Lord grant rest and repose to all the soldiers who have fallen for our peace and freedom. May He place their souls where all the just repose! Eternal memory!
