Peace, Hope and Love

Three of the most sought after words in the English language--peace, hope and love.  Who could not but want these three words to be an expression of their life? I iam sure there are some, such as the five Islamic terrorists who recently killed 31 persons in Brussels.  Many prayers often contain these words, but of the prayers, one stand out in it combination of these basic life.  It is said to be the second most recognizable prayer in the United States, if not the Western world. Named for a saint who did not pen it, it was likely created in the early 20th century.  The prayer has been quoted by a variety of governmental officials.  President Bill Clinton quoted it upon Pope John Paul II arrival at the United Nations.  Nancy Peolosi quoted it upon being voted as Speaker of the House, and John Boehner quoted when he announced last September he was stepping down as Speaker of the House. In Europe, Margaret Thatcher paraphased it upon her arrival at 10 Downing Street as Prime Minister of England.  In India, Mother Teresa made it part of the daily prayers of her congregation.  South African Anglican Bishop noted it was an integral part of his devotions.  However, as basic to human needs and desires as the prayer of St. Francis is, it is much more difficult to follow and live the basic tenants professed.
     Lord, make me and instrument of your peace;
     Where there is hatred, let me sow love;

St. Francis

The prayer is thought to have first appeared in 1912 in a French Catholic periodical, with no known author, although some believe the priest who placed it in the journal was the one who penned the prayer.  We do know that it became famous during World War I when Pope Benedict the XV asked that it be distributed as a means to counter to the dark forces which had gathered in Europe.  When printed in the United States the opposite side of a prayer card was an image of Saint Francis of Assisi.  Hence, leading to its commonly attributed name.  It is possible the prayer evolved over time in spoken language before it was put in writing, but there is no evidence in the historical record to date this type of occurence.  While not in the dialect of the Umbrian region from which St. Francis hailed, the prayer does utlize themes emphaszied by this highly regarded man.
     Where there is injury, pardon;
     Where there is doubt, faith;

John Paul II meeting with Mehmet Ali Agca

In our walk through life we have heroes who stand out for what they have accomplished. Individual actions can make a difference.  They make up part of the thousand points of light made famous by President George H. W. Bush.  Some who have seen tragedy and mayhem often express themselves in wanting justice.  It is often the death penalty.  Think back to the bombing in Oklahoma City when President Bill Clinton mentioned how the government would find the perpetrators and bring them to justice and the death penalty.  But, is this the easy way out?  Some take a more difficult path, often brought about by deep thought and prayer.  Killing another may mean justice, but it will never bring a daughter, son, sister, brother, mother or father back.  Emmet Welch, whose daughter died in the Oklahoma City bombing understood this when he spoke against the death penalty for Timothy McVeigh.  He also met with McVeigh's father.  Pope John Paul understood forgiveness and mercy when he met with Mehmet Ali Agca two years after having been shot.  Agca reciprocated this gesture when he laid a wreath at the grave of the late Pope in 2014, 31 years to the day after the Pope met with him in his prison cell.  Of course, John Paul is a saint, and one could say that is what you would expect from a saint.  Yet, forgiveness can be in grained.  In the movie "The Mission" the Guarani Indians forgave Rodrigo Mendoza who had killed or captured and sold some tribe members into slavery.
      Where there is despair, hope;
      Where there is darkness, light;
      Where there is sadness, joy.

Mehmet Ali Agca at Vatican, December, 27 2014

It does not take a saint to forgive.  One other example is Tina Chery.  Her fifteen year old son, Louis Brown was shot dead in 1993.  Louis wanted to be an engineer,  He wanted more from those in the African-American community to counter gang violence.  That is why he joined the organization Teens Against Gang Violence.  As fate would have it, Louis Brown was shot in the mid-afternoon a few days before Christmas in gang crossfire as he made his way to the Teens Against Gang Violence Christmas party.  His mother grieved, but within a year set up the Louis Brown Peace Institute.  She struggled with how she should act.  Like John Paul, she visited the man who killed her son.  She notes when someone is killed, two mothers suffer, two fathers suffer, and two sets of siblings suffer. The mother of the boy who killed her son now volunteers with the institute.  Tina helps her community.  Families of those who see loss, and families of those who committed the horrible deed.
     O divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek
     To be consoled as to console,
     To be understood as to understand,
     To be loved as to love;

Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu

In a recent story on Tina Chery, Margaret Egan concludes with the following:

A year ago, on Good Friday at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York, the renowned Jesuit James Martin offered reflections on Christ’s last words, including, “Forgive them for they know not what they do.” In “Seven Last Words,” his short book on those reflections, he referred again to the type of “radical forgiveness” Christ showed on the cross and how some of us — the Tina Chérys among us — manage to achieve such radical forgiveness, too. It is very powerful, but very rare. Yet when we see it, we recognize it, he said. We remember it and even yearn for it. For we understand “that this is how God wants us to live,” and that we have seen in such forgiveness a glimpse, in a human being, of the divine.

Tina Chery

Ms. Chery works for peace and forgiveness. She looks to give hope to despair, much like what she has accomplished since the death of her son Louis.   She understands the true meaning of forgiveness and mercy from personal experience.  Emmet Welch understood that as well.  So too  did Pope John Paul II, when he bestowed on Ms. Chery the honor of being a Lady of the Order of St. Gregory the Great, the highest honor bestowed on a lay Catholic.  Few persons better exemplify the principles, and in particular the concluding words, of the Prayer of Saint Francis.  On this Good Friday, let us think beyond the fish fry, the colored eggs, to what is the true meaning of why Christ died on the cross.
     For it is in giving that we receive;
     It is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
     It is in dying to self that we are born to eternal life.

“To forgive is to set a prisoner free and discover that the prisoner was you.”-- Lewis D. Smedes (Quoted by Tina Chery to M. Egan.)

Photos from Google images

On Edge

On edge.  Two words to describe the City of Rome and its environs following the death of Julius Caesar at the hands of several men on the Ides of March 44 B.C.  Julius Caesar himself, had pretty much taken full control of Rome and it provinces by 44 B.C. Hence the reason that men who believed in the Roman Republic would take matters into their own hands.  Julius Caesar was fresh off a victory over Pompey Magnus, who was the Consul of the Roman Republic.  Caesar had crossed the Rubicon with his legions to head south to Rome.  Even though it was a clear violation of Roman law (the Roman Senate had to approve legions heading into that portion of Italy), the law was disregarded by a man who had obtained much in military victory, thought himself as invincible, and was still wanting more.  Although most historians regard his adopted son, Octavian, who would become Augustus Caesar as the first Roman Emperor, it was Julius Caesar who did much to show the way.  When Brutus, Cassius, and Decimus plotted the murder of Julius Caesar they were hoping to save the republic.  They knew they had to act as Caesar and his legions were to leave Rome in a few days to conquer Parthia. While the main conspirators knew the importance of the legions, Cassius and Decimus were well regarded generals, they had hoped for a better outcome from the people of Rome.

Bust of Julius Caesar

 After having just faced a civil war the citizens of Rome were not inclined to have to go through another round.  Perhaps they did not like the power Caesar had gained and gathered to himself, but yet there may have been a certain comfort with the leader.  As dictators go, Caesar was not all bad.  he gave to the poor.  However, to keep the men in his legions happy, he confiscated land and belongings with those he disagreed, or disagreed with him, for distribution to the men of the legions. The concern was if Caesar was victorious against the Parthians he would entrench himself even more and deny the rights of the senate.   He was making the military happy, and in the closing era before the birth of Christ, a happy military was like a happy financial industry today.  While the citizens of Rome could understand the reasons for the murder of Caesar, they did not necessarily appreciate it.  The publicity machine around Caesar had made him a living god, and coupled with the possibility of another civil war, the citizens preferred some time off.

Octavian, also known as Caesar Augustus

Even though two days after the Ides of March a certain peace had been established and accommodations made, Caesar's right hand man, Marc Antony would have other ideas.  The young Octavian, not yet in his twenties, but smart, ruthless, brutal and cunning would play both sides of the fence knowing full well that he, as Caesar's adopted son and main heir of the large estate, would seize control of Rome for himself.  It certainly helped his cause that the well regarded orator Cicero (and a person whose letters would give insight to the events of this time, would back him over Antony.  Cicero was a republican, and believed in the plot to kill Caesar, although he also thought Antony should be killed as well.  Cicero may have been right that Antony was dangerous to the republic, but he was wrong in siding with Octavian.  

Coin minted by Brutus to pay his troops.
Note the two daggers, to make them well aware who he was

Octavian would, for awhile, side his forces against Antony with those of Decimus, but he would also pull away and let Decimus face the fate of death rather than allow Decimus to join forces with Brutus and Cassius who, by this time (43 B.C.) were in the eastern part of the empire.  Decimus would see a wholesale desertion of his forces as time was running out, and would be beheaded when captured by a man for whom he had done favors while ruler of Gaul.  Past favors were easily bought-off  by the bounty on Decimus' head.  Octavian and Antony would join forces together, and with promises of riches to the legions they led, they set off east to conquer Brutus and Cassius.  Brutus and Cassisus had made deals, and even shaken down some provinces and lands east to obtain funds to which they paid there men before battle.  The legions were usually paid after a successful battle from the bounty and lands captured--not before.  Brutus and Cassius recognized the increasingly strong roll the military paid, and the before engagement payments was a way for them to be ahead of the curve, and to make up for past transgressions when immediately after the death of Julius Caesar they failed to make proper appropriations to the military.

Cassius

In the fall of 42 B.C. the forces of two of the main conspirators fell to those commanded by Antony and Octavian near the city of Philippi in Macedonia near the Aegean Sea.  The fall of Brutus is described by the poet Horace as "when virtue broke."  The murder of Caesar would not bring back the republic, it would lead, not only to the early demise of Brutus, Cassius and Decimus, but it would give Rome what the three wanted to prevent--dictatorship and autocracy.  Historian Barry Strauss says that true autocracy of Rome did not begin until the reign of Diocletian (ruled 285 to 309 A.D.) although he also says that much power had been concentrated in to the hands of Octavian--Caesar Augustus.  However, he notes that even Augustus had given some semblance of authority to the Roman Senate, they had control of a few essential provinces and even a few legions.  Augustus referred to himself as first citizen, not dictator.  Augustus knew full well the fate of Julius Caesar and thus, as Strauss writes:  "Augustus showed a certain fear and healthy respect for the Roman nobility. He remembered what happened on the Ides of March and he knew it could happen again."

Location of Philippi

Things are different in the 21st century as compared to the the last century before the birth of Christ.  While the military still holds importance they are subservient to political leaders, at least in Western democracies.  Political assassination by one powerful person to another is much more rare than it was at the time of the Roman Empire and its beginnings from Pompey Magnus on.  However, today we have the financial class and the upper ten percent who gather the riches to themselves from the power bestowed to them through the ruling political class.  One example, the policies the Federal Reserve used for much of the Obama Administration is testament to the financial class.  Quantitative easing, or the pumping of money into the economy has helped the stock market with the top 1 % owning half of the stocks and bonds in the nation, and 81% of the stock wealth is owned by the top 10%.  The top ten percent has done well during this period of time. Quantitative easing allowed stock market prices to rise as near zero interest rates kept interest rates in banks low.  The American middle class has, over the past several years shrunk and lost ground.  So too do the hands of a few tech moguls seen huge increases in their personal value.

Are the tech and financial sectors of today comparable to the military at the time of Julius Caesar?  If so, we should all be aware, that just like then when the military did not wish to see their personal fortunes fall, so too do the wealthy today not wish to see their fortunes fall. Concern over the ruling class led first to the Tea Party and then Occupy Wall Street.  Two groups on opposite ends of the political spectrum, but also with similar concern of a nation doing much to protect the political and financial elites.  Is the United States, like Rome after the murder of Caesar, on edge?  

Yesterday and Today

Today many persons are drinking green beer, Chicago has colored its river green, and people wear green to honor Saint Patrick.  Patrick was born in 387 AD, but not in Ireland.  For more on the early life of Saint Patrick you can visit an earlier post from 2014.  This post is not about Ireland, but two recent events that seemingly have nothing to do with one another, but have a one element in common. The former sitcom "Everybody Love Raymond" had its genius in taking ordinary events of everday life and making them funny.  I believe one episode dealt with Frank Barone and his metal detector.  For some reason men, particulary old men, have this habitat of walking over the ground with a metal detector in the hopes of finding some treasure.  They may find a few coins, or scraps of metal, but seldom is a real treasure found.

1,100 year old Christian Artifact found by Dennis Holm

However, a man with a metal detector on the Danish Island of Funen discovered a necklace in the form of a crucifex.  What is remarkable about this item is its age--about 1,100 years old, which places it 135 years older than the previous earliest known Christian artifact in Denmark, the Jelling Stone.  Dennis Holm did not know what he had at the start, but did think it a decent find.  He posted a photo of the artifact on Facebook, and received comments that would come out of an Indiana Jones movie--that should be in a museum.  Following advice, he took the object to a area archaeologist who determined the age and noted its significance.  The object now has cultural anthropologists and archaeologists rethinking the date of Danes having become Christian.  This artifact is similar in both scope and age to one found in Sweden, but is in much better shape. Archaeologists must have realized that if persons were going to take the time to carve Christian symbols into the Jelling Stone, they would have been comfotable expressing their faith in public. History is full of Christian persecution and it is likely that there were Christians in Denmark before the carving of the Jelling Stone.  They now have the proof, but which may also mean that Christians were present even earlier, but kept somewhat quiet to avoid persecution.

Left is St Elijah Monastery in Iraq before ISIS destroyed
Right, after its destruction by ISIS

Perhaps it is symbolic that, on Saint Patrick's Day, Secretary of State John Kerry finally declared that ISIS, or the Islamic State, is involved in genocide.  CNN quotes Kerry as saying:  "My purpose here today is to assert in my judgment, (ISIS) is responsible for genocide against groups in areas under its control including Yazidis, Christians and Shiite Muslims," ISIS has murdered Christians solely for their faith, and have tortured others who do not belong to their Sunni brand of Islam.  What they are doing is not new.  Prior Muslim extremists have extorted payments from Christians in exchange for their lives.  They have enslaved women and children.  They force abortions on their female sex slaves so they can, well, keep being sex slaves.  ISIS is forever ingenious in embarking on new forms of brutality.

Christians being murdered by ISIS adherents

Little is safe in their wake.  The oldest Christian monastery in Iraq became a field of rubble in January due to actions of ISIS.  The 1,400 year old compound had previously withstood a number of assaults by both man and nature, but could not survive a terrorist group now known for its distinct level of hatred. The earliest of Christians are from the Middle East and now few survive in large parts of the region as they have been killed, or driven out by extremist Muslims.  It was not that long ago that the US State Department restored the monastery following the Iraq war.  Mary Prophit, an Army reserve Colonel had served as a lay minister during a dawn mass when deployed to Iraq in 2004.  She noted how she "let that moment sink in, the candlelight, the first rays of sunshine.  We were worshipping in a place where people had been worshiping God for 1,400 years."  She would go on to wonder what "were the last ten years for"?

Palm Sunday Mass at the Church of the Annunciation
in Nazareth (Although a Latin Rite church it followed the Orthodox
calendar for Easter)

The treasure found by Dennis Holm is not in the artifact itself nor its age, it is in the basic tenants of Christianity--a faith that was remarkable for its differences with many earlier pagan rituals which often involved sacrifice of animals, and even humans.  Christian faith is about a different type of sacrifice, works of mercy and kindness for our fellow humans who join us on this planet earth.  Christianity is under assault in many places that stretch beyond parts of the Middle East.  A special place in heaven must be reserved for those who become martyred because of their faith.  In a few days the Latin Christian world will celebrate Palm Sunday, recognizing Christ's triumphant entrance into Jerusalem. Less than a week following his welcoming hat same man would appear in front of Pontius Pilate with many of the same who had greeted him by laying palmm branches now yelling "Crucify him!"  The finding of that artifact, worn by an early Christian, is a reminder of the power of the faith.  The declaration of genocide is a reminder of the assault that occurs to the faith over 2,000 years later.

Outside Church of the Annunciation

 First three photos from Google images, last two taken in April 2013 by author

Occupation

On this date in 1948 a Czech diplomat was found dead on a street in Prague.  We hear, read, or see through a variety of media discussions of war. There never seems to be a last word. Books are still written about the Civil War, not to mention WWII. There are recent books dealing with wars before the time of Christ. What is less covered by the various media is what occurs after war. One movie, with a screenplay written by Graham Greene, was “The Third Man.” That movie, set in Allied occupied Austria gives a strong sense of life in occupied Vienna, and the trials and tribulations faced by the local population.  Vienna at the time was divided among the four WWII powers, although the central city was under international control.   Holly Martins is looking for his friend Harry Lime, but after a faked funeral he discovers his friend is stealing penicillin, diluting it and reselling it on the black market.  If we know little about Allied occupied Europe, we know even less about the occupation, or takeover, of Eastern Europe by the Soviet Union.  The take over had a major effect in the home state of my Hovel ancestors, what is the former Bohemia, part of the Czech Republic and part of the former Czechoslovakia.  Jan Masaryk, son of Czechoslovakia’s first president Tomas Masaryk, was one victim of the Soviet take over.

Masaryk on cover of "Time" magazine

Marsayk, who was born in 1886, was a diplomat. He served as foreign minister in to the new Czech government, Czech ambassador to Great Britain, and during WWII served in Great Britain as the foreign minister for the exiled Czech government. With the end of the war, he returned to Czechoslovakia to continue his diplomatic role. However, the Soviet Union had occupied the nation and was intent on installing, as in a number of other countries of Eastern Europe, a puppet regime beholden to Moscow. The Soviets already saw success for this venture in Poland and East Germany. For a while Masaryk succeeded in keeping the Soviet’s at bay. However, historians report that he made a fatal mistake—he had told the west that Czechoslovakia was interested in participating in the Marshall Plan. You should recall the Marshall Plan from high school history—an aid program to European countries torn apart by war. The Western Allies realized that retribution, as occurred after WWI was not the proper answer to an area torn once again by war. When the Soviets were informed about this, they became incensed, and in February 1948 a communist coup took place leaving Marsayk as the only non-communist in the government as he had refused to resign.

Photo of his body on the ground

On March 10, 1948 Marasyk’s body was found on the ground outside the foreign ministry building. The official story was he had committed suicide. The official report was that he was despondent and in a state of depression. However, that story was met with suspicion and skepticism in the West. All know that Stalin was ruthless, and after WWII would kill to reach his ends. Western democracies were correct in their suspicion. The doctor who certified Masaryk’s death was himself found dead a few weeks later, another apparent suicide. Most agree that the window from which Masaryk supposedly jumped would have been difficult for him to not only reach, but then to jump from. Fifty-five years after he was found, and of course after the fall of the Soviet empire in Eastern Europe, his death was ruled a murder. I suspect Mr. Putin is not too happy with that more modern police investigator. The findings of the cause of death were based on bi-mechanics. The position of his body shows he did not jump but was sent to death by at least one other person. The position of the body indicates that he was facing the building, and went feet first, both of which is inconsistent with a person committing suicide by jumping. Further, bodily fluids of the deceased were found on the window sill in the room, which shows evidence that he was killed before the body was dropped out the window. The investigator says the evidence points to suffocation before his body was heaved out the window.

NY Times article on his death

The person who found the body would, twenty years later, note that he did not believe it to have been a suicide. Further, it was reported that Masaryk had left the building, but was approached by a man who told him he would “take him to safety.” With an investigation taking place decades after the body having been found, and no eyewitnesses left, there is little evidence pointing to a murder(s). His body was full of cuts and scrapes, which of course were not reported as that would have been inconsistent with the Communist story-line. There is also a bullet wound that a doctor, during the later investigation, noted he had seen in Masaryk’s head, even though no gun was found in the room. The window from which he jumped was also closed at the discovery of his body. The three persons who performed the autopsy were all members of the Communist party.

Scene from "The Third Man"

If Holly Martins, in the “Third Man”, had a difficult time in post-war Vienna think how much worse the brief time under communist regime it was for Jan Masaryk. The Soviets would not desire the non-Communist child of Czechoslovakia’s first president in their puppet government. They wanted yes men. In the end Masaryk is one more, as one writer noted, “victim of the tyranny of Russian imperialism.”  Of course, where would history be without the Soviet Union?  Would there have been a space race and the technological advances it provided?  Of course, there were also advances in systems so people could be killed easier.  This gets to one of the most famous quotes in movie history, near the end of the movie "The Third Man" Harry Lime turns to his old friend and says:

Don't be so gloomy. After all it's not that awful. Like the fella says, in Italy for 30 years under the Borgias they had warfare, terror, murder, and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and the Renaissance. In Switzerland they had brotherly love - they had 500 years of democracy and peace, and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock. So long Holly.