An example of thinking with the Church

In his weekly newspaper column, my archbishop prepares his flock for Lent (emphasis added for subliminal purposes):

This Lent we cannot make our own personal way of the cross without making every effort, like Simon of Cyrene, to help lift the cross from others who suffer from violence.

The most powerful means that we have at our disposal as followers of Christ, as those who seek peace and wish to be instruments of love, is prayer. Let us never forget or underestimate the power of prayer. It is God's grace that touches hearts, and it is enlightened and changed hearts that bring about the transformation of lives and the reformation of the world in which we live.

Many times Pope John Paul II called us to seek non-violent solutions to all problems whether individual, local, national and international. We have repeatedly associated ourselves with that call over and over again through our United States Conference of Catholic Bishops and personally closer to home.

There are no easy solutions to the many complex issues we face today. Nonetheless, as true peacemakers we can always strive to make peace our first priority, the goal of our actions and the object of our constant prayer.

Returning again to the words of Benedict XVI we are reminded that "our crying out (in prayer) is, as it was for Jesus on the cross, the deepest and most radical way of affirming our faith in his sovereign power" (38).

The Prince of Peace is the Christ of Calvary. In Him and His example are both our challenge and our salvation.

I think there's a difference between seeking non-violent solutions to all problems and seeking nonviolence as the solution to all problems. Those who do the latter, though, may be signs pointing us toward the former.

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