Companions on the Journey

Reflection on Jeremiah's Complaint - Part One (Jer. 20: 7-18)
God, you're pretty clever. You led me on a path I didn't expect - or
  even wanted. I feel duped. You overpowered me and now I'm stuck.
  I'm ridiculed all day long. Everyone mocks me: "What are you trying
  to prove anyway? You're not accomplishing anything. Things are never
  going to change; you can't fight city hall, Get real!"

Whenever I open my big mouth, even in a courtroom, I cry out,
denouncing violence and the destruction of all You long for. For us
to become, and how You want us to act. Your message gets to be
insulting, a reproach to those in charge, those with power and
lots of money. Can’t you let me be a little more “normal”? What’s
wrong with a little torture to squeeze out some information…
maybe? Or with some bombs with depleted uranium, just to let folks
know who’s in charge? Don’t those “savages” from the Middle East
want us to liberate them; so that they, too could have all they
want from Walmart? And be free like us too?

- So the Word of God brings me insults and reproach all day long… But …
if I say: “I won’t do it any more. I won’t even consider what
you want, God, there’s just no point in starting trouble.”
Your message of Truth, Nonviolence, Justice, Hope, Compassion
for Mother Earth and all your creation burns like a fire, a
fire shut up in my bones. It’s wearing me out - I can’t keep
it in anymore - - I can’t… Shut out that voice in Ramah,
weeping and great mourning Rachel, crying for her children and
refusing to be comforted because they are no more (Jer 31.15; Mt. 2.18)

I can't shut out the plaintive mantra of the gentle Ozde as he
was  about to be tortured (his left foot permanently mangled)
in Ankara,  Turkey: "I wish I was never born, I wish I was never
born."  -Or Marta A. Rivera, dedicated school teacher, her face
and body cut  with razors, survivor of the Salvadoran Death Squads,
whose story  left this indelible message on my soul: "I cannot
NOT do something, I  must walk with the Ozdes and Martas."
-Or Sister Dianna Ortiz and other torture survivors screaming
through  the night at Su Casa Catholic Worker (Chicago). Reliving
their  horrors at a refuge where "the walls reeked with pain".

-Or children at the cancer hospital in Baghdad, victims of the
bombing and 12 years of sanctions by the U.S. Coalition Forces

- No  meds to relieve their pain as they died in their mother's arms.
Rachel crying for her children...  The fire keeps burning - It's God
who speaks.  Reflection on Jeremia's Complaint - P

art Two  ON THE OTHER HAND  During the arraignment hearings on
December 4th and 6th for Betsy  Lamb, Mary Burton Risely and myself,
Magistrate Estrada and  prosecutor Seamone expressed the belief
that we protester-"law  breakers" have the goal to be incarcerated.
I don't know anyone in the peace movement who acts simply to be
behind bars.  Our actions at Ft. Huachuca, AZ and other places
where torture and  extreme interrogation methods are taught and
acted upon, are to shine  a light on the truth of where things
are going in this country and to  put a stop to the abuses
committed in our name. We would have to be  masochists to
choose prisons and jails where human rights are greatly
compromised and where separation from family and friends
creates more  suffering.  Our actions, the risks we take
are to bring home a message, so vital  that if the pendulum
of violence, torture, warfare, nuclear threat  keeps going
in the direction as currently it is, there will be no
future to life on this planet.  Nonetheless, it is our
hope to embrace the challenge of jail time  with equanimity
and joy; to be good companions to hundreds of other  cell
mates who most often don't have the blessing of loving support
  from dedicated friends who take just as important risks to
put a stop  to all that causes so much suffering and grieves
the heart of God.  YOU are one of those people. Help us pray
for wisdom during our trial  on February 4th and for the
thousands of others in the peace movement  now facing or
experiencing incarceration throughout the world. Each  o
f us in our own way need to be part of this effort, at
least for the  sake of our children and those who follow
in generations ahead.  Well, God, I still find You pretty
clever. You might have pulled a  fast one on me, but I
rejoice in the meaningfulness You've given to  those
who take risks in a myriad variety of ways for the sake
of a world renewed, where Rachel's tears will cease  and
we'll hear Your sacred song: "Your struggle is over.

There is  hope for your future". Amen, (Jer. 31:16).