Being Holy Week, I'll take a breather from the crazy events in the world and present some writings from Father David Kirk.
"In the first 300 years of Christianity, Christians fought adversaries only with the Sword of the Spirit. When later the Christian communities of the Roman Empire seemed threatened by invading vandals and barbarians, a bishop, Augustine, had to meditate on which way to go: continue the churches teaching to 'love the enemy,' to do violence to no enemy, to not join the army? Or to find a way whereby Christian could take up the sword and fight the vandals?"
"Fear covered the empire like a black cloud. The problem of how to love your enemies and do violence to them led to his theory of a just war. He took as his example how Israel had been defended by armies. If God himself can start a war, it had to be a just one....the Kingdom of the Spirit had once more been reduced to the lowest common denominator. Of course, we do fear. All have fears within us. There are a lot of things which are part of reality, a fear to be lived with - subways, sickness, old age, private betrayals. I'm certainly scared of a lot of things inside me - lust...jealousy...anger, all biding their time in me, perhaps waiting for a weak moment. Scared of the possibility I might not have the stuff within me to follow the direction I have set for myself. How impossible the goals of truth and love sometimes seem to be."
Father David Kirk
For more on Father David Kirk:
http://www.fatherdavidkirk.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Father_David_Kirk
http://emmaushouse-harlem.org/
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