{"id":3156,"date":"2015-09-20T19:32:48","date_gmt":"2015-09-21T02:32:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nicksenger.com\/onecatholiclife\/?p=3156"},"modified":"2016-10-10T13:00:14","modified_gmt":"2016-10-10T20:00:14","slug":"no-more-war-war-never-again-homily-for-the-25th-sunday-in-ordinary-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/nicksenger.com\/onecatholiclife\/no-more-war-war-never-again-homily-for-the-25th-sunday-in-ordinary-time","title":{"rendered":"No More War, War Never Again! – Homily for the 25th Sunday in Ordinary Time"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Pope

Pope Paul VI<\/p><\/div>\n

This weekend is Catechetical Sunday, the day we recognize and commission those who assist parents in the important task of handing on the faith.<\/p>\n

While the primary duty of handing on the faith belongs to parents, it\u2019s such a monumental task that it\u2019s good to have some assistance. That\u2019s why Catholic schools and religious education programs exist. It takes an entire community working together in Christ to build the Kingdom of God.<\/p>\n

And in the work of catechesis, there are three teaching strategies that are particularly helpful: asking good questions, repetition, and practice.<\/p>\n

Good questions are the foundation of a solid education. The best lessons begin with questions. There are science questions like \u201cWhy is the sky blue?\u201d and \u201cWhat makes the tides?\u201d There are math questions like \u201cHow can we determine the area of a circle?\u201d and history questions like \u201cWho invented the alphabet?\u201d<\/p>\n

The Letter of James today asks a question, a powerful question. \u201cWhere do the wars and where do the conflicts among you come from?\u201d<\/p>\n

After two thousand years of Christianity, the question is still relevant. War is still here. It exists not only between nations, but between communities, social groups, and neighbors.<\/p>\n

Why do we wage war? Why can we not live in peace?<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a question that begs to be asked over and over, by each generation, until war no longer exists.<\/p>\n

We teachers here at All Saints recently studied the book Brain Rules<\/em> by Dr. John Medina. One of the things we learned about brain research and learning is summarized in his rule \u201cRepeat to remember.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dr. Medina writes that \u201cThe capacity of the memory is initially less than 30 seconds. If we don\u2019t repeat the information it disappears.\u201d<\/p>\n

Never is that more clear than with the issue of war and peace. How soon we forget the terror of war. How easily it seems so distant to us.<\/p>\n

50 years ago, on October 4, 1965, Pope Paul VI came to the United States and spoke to the United Nations. He told the nations of the world,<\/p>\n

\u201cNo more war, war never again! It is peace, peace which must guide the destinies of peoples and of all [humanity]\u2026Peace, as you know, is not built solely by means of politics and the balance of forces and of interests. It is constructed with the mind, with ideas, with works of peace\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

Ideas and works.<\/p>\n

And then thirty-six years ago, on October 2, 1979, Pope St. John Paul II spoke to that same body, the United Nations. He said,<\/p>\n

\u201cPaul VI was a tireless servant of the cause of peace. I wish to follow him with all my strength and continue his service. The Catholic Church in every place on earth proclaims a message of peace, prays for peace, educates for peace\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

Twenty years ago, on October 4, 1995, Pope St. John Paul II returned once more to the United Nations to tell them again,<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen millions of people are suffering from a poverty which means hunger, malnutrition, sickness, illiteracy, and degradation, we must\u2026remind ourselves that no one has a right to exploit another for his own advantage\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

And it was only just seven years ago, in April of 2008, that Pope Benedict came and spoke to the United Nations.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2026questions of security,\u201d he said, \u201c\u2026protection of the environment, of resources and of the climate, require all international leaders to act jointly and to show a readiness to work in good faith, respecting the law, and promoting solidarity with the weakest regions of the planet.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pope Francis arrives in our country in just a few days. He touches down in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday evening. On Wednesday he will be welcomed by President Obama, will pray with all the bishops of the United States at noon, and that evening he will canonize a new saint.<\/p>\n

On Thursday he will address congress and on Friday he will address the United Nations. What will he say to those political bodies? What we will he say to us?<\/p>\n

If history is any indication, we probably already know.<\/p>\n

He will talk about
\ndistribution of material goods;
\nsolidarity;
\nprotection of the environment;
\npeace.<\/p>\n

Will anyone listen this time?<\/p>\n

But our faith is about more than listening and remembering. It is also about doing. Several weeks ago, when we first started reading from the Letter of James here at Mass, we heard \u201cBe doers of the word and not hearers only.\u201d<\/p>\n

To do anything well takes practice. Practicing skills is the third essential teaching strategy.<\/p>\n

One effective way to teach skills is the \u201cI do, we do, you do\u201d strategy.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s the way most of us learned math.
\nThe teacher stood at the chalkboard and said
\n\u201cWatch while I do long division.\u201d
\nAnd then he or she turned to the class and said,
\n\u201cNow we will do some problems together.\u201d
\nAnd finally, the teacher said, \u201cNow you do these problems.\u201d
\n\u201cI do, we do, you do.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s is a good way to teach skills.<\/p>\n

Peacemaking is a skill. It\u2019s an active, deliberate set of actions.
\nIt takes practice.
\nThe Church has been teaching it for a long time.<\/p>\n

In our day, it is Pope Francis who is standing at the chalkboard now.
\nLike the teacher who demonstrates the math problem,
\nhe says, \u201cWatch, while I do peacemaking,\u201d
\nand he invites the leaders of Israel and Palestine to the Vatican to meet.
\nHe takes in two families of war refugees from Syria.<\/p>\n

Now he comes to the United Nations, and like the popes that have come before, I imagine he will say something along these lines:
\n\u201cLet us do peace together.
\nLet us show the world that we can resolve differences without war.\u201d
\nAnd after that it will be up to us to do peace on our own,
\nin our neighborhoods, workplaces, and families.<\/p>\n

\u201cI do peace, we do peace, you do peace.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asking good questions,
\nrepeating to remember,
\npracticing with \u201cI do, we do, you do.\u201d
\nThese are hallmarks of good teaching.<\/p>\n

And Jesus was the greatest teacher of them all.<\/p>\n

He knew how to ask powerful questions:
\n\u201cWhat were you arguing about on the way?\u201d
\n\u201cWho do people say that I am?\u201d
\n\u201cSimon, do you love me more than these?\u201d<\/p>\n

He also understood the importance of repetition.
\n\u201cLove one another as I have loved you.\u201d
\n\u201cLove your enemies.\u201d\u2028\u201cRemain in my love.\u201d<\/p>\n

And he practiced \u201cI do, we do, you do.\u201d
\nHe accepted the cross himself;
\nhe taught his disciples to take up their crosses and preach the good news;
\nhe sends his Holy Spirit to each of us individually at Baptism and Confirmation and he feeds us here at this Eucharist so that we can take up our crosses and preach the good news, so that we can be peacemakers.<\/p>\n

But as any teacher will tell you, the best teaching strategies only go so far. All the questions, all the repetition, all the demonstration of skills mean nothing if the students do not engage, if they refuse to learn.<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s liturgy is an invitation to be a lifelong learner.
\nIt is a challenge to go from here today
\nand spend some time in silence contemplating the question,
\n\u201cWhere do the wars and where do the conflicts among [us] come from?\u201d
\nIt is a call to find those places of conflict in our own lives
\nand practice the skills of peacemaking,
\nand to continually repeat the words of Pope Paul VI
\nin order to remember them for longer than thirty seconds,<\/p>\n

\u201cNo more war, war never again!\u201d<\/p>\n