Prayer, Study,
Action
In accordance with Pax Christi's three-fold
approach to peacemaking that fully involves prayer, study, and
action, Pax Christi Metro New York facilitates a number of
programs
and events throughout the year. These events are meant to engage our
members, our Church, and our world in the struggle for peace.
In addition, we are pleased
to offer you a monthly reflection, prayer, and action
to do in solidarity with each other.
Reflection
Sixty-five years
ago this month, the U.S. dropped atomic bombs on the cities of Hiroshima and
Nagasaki. Two hundred thousand civilians died by the end of the year,
and countless others were left scarred and incurably ill from the radiation.
This was the first and only time that nuclear weapons were used in war, but
65 years later not one but nine nations have nuclear weapons, and there are
not two but 26,000 nuclear bombs, 95% of which are owned by the U.S. and
Russia. These bombs are far more powerful than those dropped in 1945.
Nations around the world agree that we must abolish nuclear weapons
completely and forever. Many treaties exist to move us in that
direction, but there is also much procrastination on the part of the nuclear
powers, including the U.S., who speak about abolition while they modernize
their arsenals and continue nuclear testing.
Such dedication to a nuclear
holocaust is not the way of God or our Church. At least since blessed
Pope John XXIII wrote his encyclical, Pacem in Terris (Peace on
Earth), in 1963, popes and bishops have increasingly spoken out against
nuclear proliferation and have called for nuclear abolition. Most
recently, Pope Benedict XVI, in his 2010 World Peace Day message, encouraged
"the efforts of the international community to ensure progressive
disarmament and a world free of nuclear weapons, whose presence alone
threatens the life of the planet and the ongoing integral development of the
present generation and of generations yet to come." Let us pray and
act to free the world from the horror of nuclear weapons.
Prayer
used at the Los
Alamos, NM, Sackcloth and Ashes Vigil for Nuclear Abolition by Fr. John
Dear, SJ
God of peace, as we remember
our sisters and brothers killed in Hiroshima and Nagasaki,
we repent of the atomic bomb, of those horrific acts, of all
the death and destruction that we have wrought.
As our country continues to
design, build and maintain these genocidal weapons of mass
destruction, we repent of our mortal sin.
As our country threatens the
whole human race and the entire planet, we repent of our
willingness to destroy the gift of your creation.
As we continue to hold the
world hostage and commit the ultimate act of terrorism by
threatening to use these nuclear weapons, we repent of
nuclear terrorism and the fear, distrust and infidelity we
spread.
For our silence,
indifference, fear and despair, we repent. For all the
violence we have personally committed, and for our own
complicity with the culture of war and nuclear weapons, we
repent.
Disarm our hearts, disarm our
cities, disarm our military and our nation, disarm our
world. Give us the gift of a world without war, poverty or
nuclear weapons, a new world of peace.
And so we pledge--
In this world of hatred, indifference, fear and anxiety, to
be instruments of your love;
In this world of selfishness, greed and materialism, to be
instruments of your selfless service and generosity;
In this world of revenge, retaliation and resentment, to be
instruments of your mercy, compassion and forgiveness;
In this world of doubt and despair, to be instruments of
faith and hope;
In this world of lies and darkness, to be instruments of
truth and light;
In this world of war, nuclear weapons and death, to be
instruments of your peace, nonviolence and life.
Strengthen us to rebuild your
global grassroots movement of nonviolence, that we will
inspire more and more people to work for the abolition of
war, poverty and nuclear weapons, that we might welcome your
reign of nonviolence, love and peace everywhere. We ask this
in the name of the nonviolent Jesus. Amen.
Suggested Actions
Contact your Senators at
www.senate.gov, Representatives at www.house.gov, and the President at
president@whitehouse.gov to urge START (strategic arms reduction)
ratification without a $180 billion nuclear weapons modernization plan;
dismantle weapons instead. Also urge ratification of the Comprehensive
Nuclear Test Ban Treaty and the Fissile Material Cut-off Treaty, both of
which have been on hold for over a decade.
Request that the U.S. sign on to an
international Nuclear Weapons Convention in 2012 to implement the Nuclear
Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT). The NPT calls for nuclear
disarmament as well as nonproliferation, but has been used more to prevent
non-nuclear states from developing nuclear weapons than to get nuclear
states to eliminate theirs. This Convention would establish a
comprehensive framework for the complete elimination of nuclear weapons by
an agreed date and would ensure that a world free of nuclear weapons is
maintained.
Call for the redirection of funds
from nuclear weapons spending to health care, housing, jobs, and
environmental protection.
Learn more about this issue by
visiting both secular and faith-based websites including Pax Christi USA,
www.paxchristiusa.org, and the
U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops,
www.usccb.org. At the USCCB website, click "Social Justice," then
"Arms Control."
