Making Instruments of Peace

If you have a passing acquaintance with Saint Francis of Assisi you may associate him with a general blessing of animals which happens in many parishes on his feast day of October 4th  (he was the original 'talk to the animals' guy). Every October 4th two things happen which give me profound pause and prayer reflection. It is my Father's birthday (now deceased in heaven) and Saint Francis' feast day. I joke that its because its my father's birthday that all deacons are ordained most places on October 4th (and he coincidentally was a Deacon also-although a Presbyterian one.)

   My Irish Catholic grandfather was named Francis Joseph, and had one son named Francis Michael (uncle Mike) and a grandson John Francis and another son born on Saint Francis' feast day. So I figured Saint Francis was looking out after my family and it only appropriate I get to know Saint Francis a little better.  This had me journeying to Assisi twice to visit his tomb in Assisi in Italy. (That and the prayer to make me an instrument of his Peace which my mother always had on the refrigerator.)

     Saint Francis wanted to be a missionary of Peace- he did get to visit the Sultan in Egypt around the time of the Crusades who esteemed him enough to grant him safe passage to the Holy Land and it is for that reason that the Franciscans of the Holy Land guard and caretake all Christian holy sites in Jerusalem and Bethlehem to this day.  You can visit the Franciscan Monastary in Washington, DC which is an exact replica of the Shrine of the Holy Sepulchre church there.

     The Franciscans also were the only religious clerics not to flee the Bosnian crisis and stayed there for four hundred years of turkish rule in the Croatian/Bosnian region, in an underground church presence, through Ottoman rule and later Tito's communism. The Franciscans are the guardians of the holy site of Medjugordje which is a town untouched by the Bosnian conflict in which it is still believed that the Blessed Mother appeared to visionaries (some of whom still regularly see her.)- Because this is still going on it does not have full Papal approval while under investigation but has been deemed worthy and credible enough a site such that pilgrims may venture there officially now.

     There is an exhibit of war torn peoples by a photojournalist at the National Press Club you must see soon in which another Franciscan Friar in Franciscan attire is seen approaching a tank to dissuade the driver from whatever aspect of war he was engaged in. The franciscans try to stop wars. Make me an Instrument of Your Peace. They do it even if it involves walking up to a tank driver and trying to tell him to turn around and not shoot.

     If you are trapped in the Washington diplomatic mindset wherein the West Side Story "I'm so pretty, Oh So Pretty" ethic pervades the glitteratti wannabee culture, you should go see what real war looks like as reflected in the photojournalist exhibit at the National Press Club.

    War means real babies die of malnutrition- where hundreds of thousands of people are displaced, dislocated, homeless, moved from decimated village after village, seeking shelter and food. War means babies die. Today a slight and elegant UNHCR french gentleman named Sebastien introduced a tatooed British photojournalist who noted that he lost part of his intestine and a long suffering wife to divorce as a result of war and trying to tell people in pictures (using words only when necessary) what War really looks like. And yes, Americans, you did this. Your tax dollars at work.

    There are photos of Afghani children starving. Women cradling infants too thin to hold their heads up, You did this when you were too stupid to see the Bush created war to justify arms and oil profiteering. You did this when you voted for more war and defense when we were not even attacked. You did this.

    This election there really is only one question worth asking. Who is more likely to stop the madness.
Who is more likely to realize that the collateral damage doesn't justify the end. Collateral damage is starving children, homeless dying women, and refugees too numerous to feed.

Yes, you're pretty .Oh so pretty, as pretty as pretty can be Mr and Mrs America.
Now get over yourself and look at what you all are doing in the real world. Do it at least once a year- on October 4th, the Feast of Saint Francis of Assisi- the tortured war veteran from the war in Peruggia.