José Maria C.S André
So many cities destroyed in Ukraine and Gaza! The international community does little to help Ukraine defend itself against the Russians and some of the world’s richest countries collaborate with Israel in the massacre of the Palestinians. And elsewhere in the world, so many defenceless populations are also victims of violence!
There is no doubt that the international community should prevent these crimes, the only uncertainty is whether we have the moral strength to unite in favour of justice. The tragedy is that we fail to recognize God. He is, by definition, the absolute benchmark of goodness and so to deny his existence is to reject a real foundation for morality.
Marx contested those who sought to do good, because this bourgeois deviation jeopardized the fierce revolution he was interested in. But it’s not just Marxism. The first postulate of that doctrine is atheism, the very rejection of the distinction between good and evil, just and unjust. The ethical void is explicit in communist dictatorships, but there are other regimes that also despise ethics, even if they don’t proclaim it as clearly as Marxism.
John Paul II even compared the moral decadence of free countries with the lack of scruples in communist dictatorships. There are differences, but the results are similar. Contempt for human life—in abortion, in war, in disdain for the anguish of the poor…is the consequence of immorality, whether it is inspired by systematic theories like Marxism, or the fruit of unbridled passions like in hedonistic countries.
In today’s wars, we see peoples driven mad by the excitement of conquest; others cynically following the misfortune of others, hoping to reap advantages; others keeping quiet, so as not to displease the strongest. There is a lack of courageous voices protesting against the aggressors and protecting the victims, without worrying about the petty calculation of how much they stand to lose.
Pope Francis speaks of these wars every day, asking us not to remain indifferent.
One of the dangers of war, and injustice in general, is that it generates resentment in the victims and those who identify with them. The hatred of some Israeli communities towards the Germans because of the horrors of the Second World War is chilling; some Arabs, massacred for decades by the Israelis, cannot forgive; some peoples oppressed under Soviet rule still harbour bitterness. Bombs kill, but injustice can harden the hearts of those who suffer and kill their souls.
Russia’s conquering fury ran into difficulties in Ukraine, a relatively small and poor country, fighting against the consolidated power of one of the largest armies in the world. It is impossible to forget Ukraine in our prayers.
When the state of Israel was formed, some Palestinians were expelled to the south of Lebanon and others were locked up in a kind of “Indian reservation” in the West Bank and Gaza. Israel controls everything that enters or leaves these “reserves” and monitors the population with inhumanity. In recent years, it has confined the Palestinians to even smaller spaces, with the declared aim of eradicating them completely. To make matters worse, the Israeli government is committed to publicly offend the God of the Muslims. It’s hard to bear so much despotism without feeling inclined to take revenge and, in fact, some Arabs are paying back in kind. They have no army, no navy, no aviation, no military bases, but any homemade weapon will do. Traditionally, the Israeli response was to kill 20 Palestinian civilians for every Israeli killed, but this past year, Israel is approaching 100 Palestinian civilians for every Israeli, and it’s unclear where the ratio will end up. In addition, Israel has cut off water and food supplies to Gaza and razed buildings, including hospitals. In this massacre, in addition to Palestinians, hundreds of employees of the United Nations and international organizations who work in refugee camps trying to save human lives have died.
The irrationality of war provokes increasingly negative reactions. If we don’t ask God to help us, we’re heading towards a disaster on a planetary scale.
Perhaps our first thought should be to comfort God himself, who is so unjustly offended.
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