The sting of death is all around us. The death Phil was asking us to attend to is not his death (though the sting of that is on us and will not be denied). The sting Phil would have us know is the sting of institutionalized death and killing. He never wearied of articulating it. He never ceased being astonished by the length and breadth and depth of it. And he never accepted it.
O Christ, where is your victory? It was back in the mid 1960's that Phil was asking that question of God and her Christ. He kept asking it. And, over the years, he learned
· that it is right and good to question our God, to plead for justice for all that inhabit the earth
· that it is urgent to feel this; injustice done to any is injustice done to all
· that we must never weary of exposing and resisting such injustice
· that what victories we see are smaller than the mustard seeds Jesus praised, and they need such tender nurture
· that it is vital to celebrate each victory - especially the victory of sisterhood and brotherhood embodied in loving, nonviolent community.
Over the months of Phil's illness we have been blessed a hundred-fold by small and large victories over an anti-human, anti-life, anti-love culture, by friendships - in and out of prison - and by the love that has permeated Phil's life. Living these years and months with Phil free us to revert to the original liturgical question: "O death, where is your sting?"
Please read:
"Fighting the Lamb's War; Skirmishes with the American Empire"
by Phillip Berrigan with Frederick A. Wilcox
http://www.commoncouragepress.com/berrigan_lambs.html
Photo of Philip Berrigan courtesy of the Catholic Worker Movement:
http://www.catholicworker.org/#
The Plowhares Movement: http://www.plowsharesactions.org
O Christ, where is your victory? It was back in the mid 1960's that Phil was asking that question of God and her Christ. He kept asking it. And, over the years, he learned
· that it is right and good to question our God, to plead for justice for all that inhabit the earth
· that it is urgent to feel this; injustice done to any is injustice done to all
· that we must never weary of exposing and resisting such injustice
· that what victories we see are smaller than the mustard seeds Jesus praised, and they need such tender nurture
· that it is vital to celebrate each victory - especially the victory of sisterhood and brotherhood embodied in loving, nonviolent community.
Over the months of Phil's illness we have been blessed a hundred-fold by small and large victories over an anti-human, anti-life, anti-love culture, by friendships - in and out of prison - and by the love that has permeated Phil's life. Living these years and months with Phil free us to revert to the original liturgical question: "O death, where is your sting?"
Please read:
"Fighting the Lamb's War; Skirmishes with the American Empire"
by Phillip Berrigan with Frederick A. Wilcox
http://www.commoncouragepress.com/berrigan_lambs.html
Photo of Philip Berrigan courtesy of the Catholic Worker Movement:
http://www.catholicworker.org/#
The Plowhares Movement: http://www.plowsharesactions.org