Tuesday, July 28, 2026

 

Tuesday of the Seventeenth Week in Ordinary Time

(Jeremiah 14:17-22; Matthew 13:36-43)

In today’s first reading Jeremiah describes a war-strewn, devastated Jerusalem. The death and destruction will remind contemporary readers of nuclear war classics like On the Beach and The Road.  There will be no winners of a nuclear war.  Rather, all survivors will be left in grief, horror, and fear of their imminent ends.

The gospel hints at how to avoid nuclear war.  First, evil must be recognized, not only in a nation’s enemies, but – as Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn advised – in every human heart.  Then, as the gospel implies, the nations must learn to tolerate those whose ways they find repugnant and build a strategic defense plan in case hostility overruns civility.

St. Augustine in his monumental work, The City of God, sketches a plan for peace among nations.  He advocates that governments recognize their duty to defend their people; that they use force when necessary to prevent evil from taking hold; and that their cause be just for going into battle and that their soldiers hold the right intention for participating in it. 

Thursday, April20, 2023

Thursday of the Second Week of Easter

(Acts 5:27-33; John 3:31-36)

The first reading today reminds us that people in authority can make bad decisions and give compromising orders.  Presidents and parents can tell their subjects to do something wrong.  Evil must be rejected. As Peter says in the reading, “’We must obey God rather than men.’”

The question of obeying a superior’s evil command often becomes acute in war situations. To deal with the problem Catholic theology has developed a list of criteria for pursuing a just war.  Just war principles include limiting force to what is necessary to achieve just objectives and assuring that non-combatants are not victimized.  The principles make a credible theory but also leave behind vexing issues.  Who determines how much force is necessary?  And how can civilians be immunized in an attack on their city?

We might pray that we are never put in a situation where we must disobey a superior.  If we find ourselves in one, we need to ask God for prudence.  We want to stand for what is right without undermining completely valid authority.