Disarmament and the New Creation

by Jackie Hudson, OP, Carol Gilbert, OP and Ardeth Platte, OP
Dominican Sisters of Grand Rapids, MI
(written for the Dominican Alliance Newsletter
in preparation for a corporate stance for the disarmament of nuclear weapons)

Spring is the season for nourishing the soil, planting the seeds, weeding the beds, watering them and tenderly caring for each flower, vegetable or fruit that is birthed into the sunlight.  This whole process gives us food for reflection - faith in the unseen, hope in what is to come, and love of all that is part and parcel of the new creation.

This reflection is applicable today for the challenge before us  - our country's involvement in war and the escalation of an arms race in outer space, air, water and on land.  How will we nurture the new creation in ourselves with disarmed hearts?  How does our communal living witness nonviolence in our everyday choices and relationships?  So much in the news of our world today calls us by name to prophetic actions of resistance to the bloodshed, the injustice and the deprivation.  What must we do to weed out the weapons of mass destruction that threaten genocide by poverty, the holocausts caused by racism, classism and sexism, and the omnicide threatened by militarism?

The government's "Vision for 2020" consists of a hope to be masters of space.  It desires to own, control, dominate and exploit outer space.  Its plan is to determine which nations may have access to space and which nations may not enter it.  The documents spell out a prediction that globalization will bear with it a greater gap between the "haves" and the "haves not" so whoever controls space controls the universe.  See the Global Security Institute website for documentation.

Part of our government's design to expand empire is to control and use weather.  This vision is spelled out in a plan entitled: Weather as a Force Multiplier - Owning the weather in 2025 .  Imagine seeding the clouds, causing floods and mudslides, causing lightening laser-fire fog, and microwaving to heat the ionosphere to alter communications and more.  These weather wars are in the works now.

The United States remains the one and only superpower on earth.  However, customary law, the laws of war, the body of international law consisting of treaties, protocols, conferences have been incorporated into our country's Constitution as the supreme law of the land (U.S. Constitution, Article 6 Supremacy Clause).   Yet, the United States has not adhered to the Non Proliferation Treaty, the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty nor has it respected the International Court of Justice which has declared the threat to use, or the use of, nuclear weapons illegal.  Instead the U.S. is developing a plan to increase nuclear weapons.  This plan is known as Complex 2030 or Bomplex.  This producing, testing and certifying of new nuclear weapons is called Reliable Replacement Warhead (RRW).  While all other countries are inspected, exposed, and condemned for their proliferation, the defiance and arrogance of this nation explodes out of control.

How fitting it is for Dominicans to unite in this kairos time to nourish our love-force taught by Jesus, our truth-force taught so eloquently by Dominic and Gandhi, and our soul-force practiced by Martin Luther King and a large cloud of witnesses.  In every ministry we have opportunities to plant the seeds for life, the concepts that bring about collegiality, mutuality, and self-worth.  With all of our courage and strength we say "no" to death-dealing weeds that have grown up to strangle any nation's resources or peoples.  We are living on one planet - Earth.  We are one family, each member is our brother, sister, mother, father and child.

We stand together to stop the so-called visions of our "leaders" because they are terrifying nightmares and far removed from Gospel values of the beatitudes and of the corporal and spiritual works of mercy. Communities of sisters are affirming corporate stances against nuclear weapons which are the taproot of so much violence.  This proclaims a loud and clear message that our security is in God, not in weapons of destruction. We are a Eucharistic body, nourished by the manna of simpler living so all may simply live, by the water of our own tears of sorrow for injury to others and wine for the celebrations of forgiveness.  We recognize a preferential option with the people made poor, refugees and exiled people who have no home or shelter.  We allow no enemy to be named for us because we recognize, do we not, the image and likeness of a God who continues creation through us?  The closer we draw to Earth and each other, the more furiously we will work to leave a gentler footprint.  In so doing we assure future generations experience the spirit and reality of companionship - being bread with each other.     

Jackie Hudson, OP, Carol Gilbert, OP and Ardeth Platte, OP

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