No doubt many WPI readers have read President Trump’s Easter morning Truth Social post that read, “Tuesday will be Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day, all wrapped up in one, in Iran…Open the F****n’ Strait, you crazy b******s, or you’ll be living in Hell – JUST WATCH! Praise be to Allah,” heard the speech in which he doubled down on his threats yesterday, and saw today’s headlines that he threatened, “A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again.” For many, the threats were like a punch to the gut, painful even after years of being numbed by sensational political news. Commentators were quick to point out that, if the threats are carried out, the United States would likely be guilty of war crimes against the innocent civilians of Iran. This is a specter that looms large in the wake of the horror suffered by Ukrainians this past winter due to Russia’s similar war crimes. The reality of our present moment begs the question: how did we get here?
There is a scene in the second season of House of the Dragon in which a character offers her answer for why war is about to break out. Another replies, “That is one answer,” before listing a series of missteps — by both sides and spanning decades — that are equally responsible for the hostilities. In many ways, her response seems applicable to the present moment: which of the immeasurable number of missteps over the past decades has led us to where we are? I fear that it is a question we will be asking for generations.
Regardless of how we got here, however, we are here. We can kick and scream and bury our heads in the sand all we want, but it will not change the reality: this is us right now. Like JRR Tolkien’s well-known character, Frodo, many of us can earnestly say, “I wish it need not have happened in my time.” Yet the answer we receive is the same that was given to him: “So do I…and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.”
Mercifully, we have something that Frodo, living in the fictional world of Tolkien’s imagination, did not have: as Christians, we are an Easter people. Even the darkest pit cannot kill our hope and nothing is too far gone to change.
In Pope Leo XIV’s Easter Urbi et Orbi address, he begged for peace: “Let those who have the power to unleash wars choose peace! Not a peace imposed by force, but through dialogue! Not with the desire to dominate others, but to encounter them!” Pope Leo concluded his address with an invitation for the world to join him in prayer for peace this coming Saturday, April 11th.
As we prepare to join him in prayer, let us reflect on the readings from Holy Week and remember what we heard about our risen Savior mere days ago. Our Lord, when defended with swords, reached out his hand to heal his captor and told St. Peter to put away his weapon (John 18:10-11 and Luke 22:51). He hung on a cross as the willing substitute for a known murderer and insurrectionist — for me, for you, for the beloved people of Iran, and for the whole world — and he used his dying breaths to intercede for his executioners, pleading for their pardon (Luke 23:18-19 and 24, John 3:16). His strength, as Pope Leo pointed out, was love itself, for his strength was God and God is love (1 John 4:16). His victory did not come from rattling sabers or lethal bombs but was “entirely nonviolent.” It was by this nonviolence that he defeated death itself so that he could open the gates of Heaven and no one would have to go to Hell unless by their own choice, because his desire was for all to be with him in Heaven (John 14:6, 1 Timothy 2:4-6, CCC 1033).
Jesus said that he is “the way, the truth and the life” (John 4:16). We may not know how we got here, but we know the Way out. It is by following the path of peace that he himself trod. We have hope. We will share in his victory.
While we look forward to joining the Holy Father in prayer on Saturday, we cannot wait until then. Please join the WPI team in prayer for peace to prevail tonight.
Image: “Iran – Isfahan” (CC BY-SA 2.0) by Héctor Montero
Ariane Sroubek is a writer, school psychologist and mother to two children here on earth. Prior to converting to Catholicism, she completed undergraduate studies in Bible and Theology at Gordon College in Wenham, MA. She then went on to obtain her doctorate in School and Child Clinical Psychology. Ariane’s writing is inspired by her faith, daily life experiences and education. She is currently writing a women's fiction novel and a middle-grade mystery series. Her non-fiction book, Raising Sunshine: A Guide to Parenting Through the Aftermath of Infant Death is available on Amazon. More of her work can be found at https://mysustaininggrace.com.
Popular Posts