"The
killing of innocent people and destruction of the environment has
become acceptable collateral damage. God is within all life, and
creation is God's dwelling place. And besides, people are to be
caretakers of creation. No religion owns God, no denomination can own
Jesus and no people can own any land! The best they can do is possess
it. I hate to think what the Supreme Being feels when we obliterate the
face and word of God in creation. Be it with bombs or over construction,
it makes me crazy when people are blind to the sacredness of all life.
Jesus taught me to pray for my enemies, forgive my enemies, and do good
towards my enemies. It's no wonder they crucified him. The message JC
brought about the Peacemakers being the children of God, was not popular
2,000 years ago, nor is it now."
Khaled stared into the fire as
he spoke. "Too many people choose the way of violence and oppression to
ensure a sense of safety. Violence breeds retaliation, despair, and
hopelessness. Violence will never beget peace. Guns and bombs don't
solve anything; they cause nothing but pain. The earth suffers from the
destruction of life, be it human, animal, or plant. Jake, you have given
me some more food for thought on this Thanksgiving."
"Happy to serve. Speaking of which, in just a few hours, I will be thankfully serving this bird to my family. It's time to wake Terese up so she can start smoking it! My sister Brigid from Ireland would insist I invite you all over, too. She arrived six days ago and hasn't stopped cooking since. Happy Thanksgiving to you all, and now I will take my bird and go home."
After the neighbors left for their homes, Riad, Little Mo, and Khaled were alone. They watched the dying embers of the fire until Little Mo said, "Let us share our last prayer together now before retiring. It has been a long, eventful day, and we all need to rest and reflect."
Riad added, "I agree. Our friend Jake reminds me of the nineteenth-century Scottish mystic, Alexander Scott, who also understood that 'creation is a transparency through which a light of God is seen.'20 May we all have eyes to see it."
19- www.vanunu.com and www.vanunu.org.
20- Newell, Philip J. The Book of Creation . New Jersey: Paulist Press, 1999.
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