It is extremely ironic for me to counter argue. I used to think exactly as you did; indeed would I cite the same examples–the exact same examples. True also, a name apparently shared by both of ‘we respondents’ would even lend credence to your claim: “Saint Michael the archangel defend us in battle.”
Again, I respect your beliefs although I disagree with the premises. I’d note that St. Michael, who was likely the namesake for both of us, is also officially recognized by the Church as the patron saint of soldiers (especially paratroopers, who are not usually a pacifist group) and law enforcement officers, and most Catholic police officers wear a St. Michael medal or have a visor clip on the sun visor of their patrol car. This would seem to be a recognition of the Church that those who use force to protect the innocent are good people and worthy of an intercessor.
Let me explain to you in the way of scripture what changed me. First and foremost: the way of the cross. So mysterious and impossible to conceive, anyone refuting this as an example of non violence should simply pray upon it at the stations of the cross for a clear answer: the sin indigenous and grounded in the law is glaring. To even think of the resurrection and its joy at such stations of prayer was/is for me to confront an emotional perplexity that is perhaps impossible to understand. I suspect we are all guilty of such feelings. For me, the if the feeling of Easter joy arises at the stations, it feels near totally inappropriate for the moment and even tinged with evil.
I can’t, and won’t attempt, to try to argue you out of the conclusions you have drawn from this devotion. I would simply note that the evils inherent in the Roman law, (or Nazi law) or any unjust human law, are not equivalent to the protection of the innocent, which Christ clearly called upon us to do.
As for the whip at the temple: such profanity as the money changers etc. were guilty of would likely have been sins worthy of stoning or other morbid condemnation. It was never recorded that any of these people struck Jesus. Furthermore, the prophesy was “Zeal for his father’s house shall consume him.”
His father’s house is also
my Father’s house, and I should zealously protect it, as well. If we adhere to a strict policy of pacifism (and I apologize if I have misunderstood or mischaracterized your moral position as such), how do we reconcile the protection of the Faith?
Saints of the Catholic Church used physical force to protect Christian believers against forced conversion to another religion, and in the case of St. Augustine’s parishioners, used physical force to rescue those who had been abducted by Gallacian slave traders.
St. John of Capistrano, the scion of an Italian warrior family before he became a Franciscan priest, was asked by the Pope to lead the forces protecting the Christians at the Siege of Belgrade against the Turkish invaders, and along with the Hungarian warlord John Hunyadi, led a largely peasant army to the defense of the besieged Christians. (The noblemen of eastern Europe, who hoped to pursue a separate and profitable peace with the Islamic invaders, mostly declined to assist, with the the notable exception of Wallachian Prince Vlad Tepes, the historical model for Dracula, whose troops attacked and prevented Islamic forces from reinforcing the siegers). St. John led from the front, and at an advanced age was heavily involved in battle. The victory turned back the invaders, and the Pope recognized the Feast of the Transfiguration (which honors the day Christ’s divinity was revealed to the apostles) on the date of the victory, and ordered that all church bells be rung throughout Christendom at noon forever after, in honor of the Christian troops that defended Belgrade.
So the next time you’re downtown and hear the church bells ringing at noon, they’re actually honoring the defeat of Islamic invaders who sought to forcibly convert Christians, as part of a venerable Catholic tradition.
The point of this little historical anecdote is to consider that physical force is sometimes necessary to preserve the community of believers. Based on history, if Europe had fallen to the Ottoman Empire, most of the Christians would have been enslaved, their children taken from them and stripped of their faith and raised as Muslims (as happened with the Janissaries, the shock troops of the Ottoman Empire), their Christian names taken, their women and daughters renamed with Muslim names and taken into the conqueror’s harems, Christians would have been forbidden to practice their religion, their priests put to death, their churches sacked and converted to Islamic temples, and the practice of the sacraments, including the Eucharist, forbidden and soon forgotten by the next generation, who would have been raised under Islam.
One should avoid violence where possible, but not in defense of the innocent, or in defense of the faith.
To say that some things are not worth fighting for is not the same as saying nothing is worth fighting for.
