Last Sunday after the 11:00 Mass I felt great! I had been so inspired by Larry Long's wonderful homily and music about the power of love and the miracles it can create. Then I got in my car to go home and I heard the news that we were pounding Afghanistan with bombs. I felt a blow to my gut. I thought to myself what a tragic misunderstanding. I thought to myself that we are simply responding to violence by generating more violence.

What is the point? This is not a territorial war. After all, terrorists and terrorism know no boundaries. I thought of the Afghan widows and orphans from previous wars. They are the first victims of a new war.

I thought about the cycle of violence. We are only going to inspire new terrorists to retaliate against our retaliation. And I thought of the old adage about the early Christians: "The blood of martyrs waters the seeds of faith" and I realized that it applies not only to Christians, but to terrorists as well. And I reaffirmed my commitment that more violence and war are not the answer.

We are Americans. We have defined ourselves by violence. Our history is the history of a succession of war from the foundation of our country. Like I said a few weeks ago when I talked about peacemaking, it is as though we are hardwired to consider violence the first and only response in conflict. Our instinctive response is to retaliate, bomb, and overpower the enemy.

Even as Christians we are a violent people. We are selective in following the mandate to be peacemakers as well as peacelovers. We talk the rhetoric of loving our enemies and being compassionate like our God, but our spontaneous response in times of crisis is that this time is an exception.

There are two possible responses to attack and violence. The one operates from FEAR. It elicits name-calling and responsive violence as a measure of self-protection. It says to us, "do unto others as they did unto you" - not exactly a Gospel response. The other response operates from LOVE. It calls us to step outside the circle of violence. It does not seek to place the blame, but to determine the cause of the violence inflicted.

There are options beyond violence in responding to violence. But our spontaneous reaction is to retaliate out of fear. What we have is a failure to discern alternative responses. We have a failure of imagination. And I share that fault.

Earlier this week I received an article from parishioner Ray Tanis entitled "The Challenge of Terror" written by John Paul Lederach. He is Professor of Conflict Studies and Resolution at Easter Mennonite University in Virginia.

He says that we view the enemy as burrowed like animals in their holes who must be smoked out, and when they run and are visible, destroyed. He says this is a wrong metaphor and does not correspond with the current reality. He says we are much better off to use the image of a virus that has entered the system and moves unperceived and harms the organism from within. The appropriate response is to strengthen "the capacity of the system to prevent the virus and strengthen its immunity." We must change the ability of the virus to attack the system. It is not just in Afghanistan.

To put it in more direct terms, the way to break out of the cycle of violence is to step outside it. We must change their perceptions of who we are. And we must understand the terrorists as a people who feel humiliated, who feel a sustained sense of being excluded, who feel threatened to the point that they have nothing to lose.

With the help of Lederach, I propose a few appropriate responses-and only in skeletal form.

1. We must negotiate an Israeli-Palestinian truce. The Palestinians must have land so they can live in conditions better than containment camps and the Israelis can live with a sustained sense of peace.
2. We must also change our posture on Iraq and recognize that it is the people of Iraq and not Saddam Hussein who are under act..
3. We could spend on world development what we are willing to spend on war. The United Nations estimates that it would take:
   • $9 billion to provide water and sanitation for all the people of the world
   • $12 billion to provide reproductive health for all women
   • $13 billion to give every person on earth basic health and nutrition,
   • $6 billion to afford basic education for all.
   That adds up to $40 billion. Last year the sum of all the money spent on military operations by all nations was approximately $780! Where is our moral and ethical will!

   We know that under developed peoples are fertile ground for terrorists. By underwriting a dramatic new type of Marshall plan we could be great humanitarians and provide for our own security. We would diffuse terrorism by giving people dignity, acceptance and respect.

   The Dali Lama says it very eloquently: "What you wish to experience, provide for another." As Christians we translate that into the Golden Rule that is so easily brushed aside as unrealistic. But it is not impossible.

4. We must build partnerships with other nations, not just to exploit them, or in times of crisis. We can reach out respectfully- and for mutual benefit. We could recognize that what we want, they want too. We could enter into interfaith dialogues that could penetrate to the common roots of all great spiritual traditions.
5. Finally we can pray. We can pray-not just for our own security. But we can pray "forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us"- and mean it. We can pray the simple mantra, "We are all one. We are all your children. We are sisters and brothers called to walk on this beautiful earth hand in hand."

Paul John II says it simply and directly: "I add my voice to all the voices raised in these hours to express indignant condemnation, and I strongly reiterate that the ways of violence will never lead to genuine solutions to humanity's problems."

A great ship does not turn easily or quickly, but we must begin the change.

In conclusion, we must act out of love, not out of fear. These times demand creative solutions that move beyond perpetuating the cycle of violence. We must act out of the compassion that is rooted in our heritage of faith-and all great traditions.

Again, I pray that we will act out of love, not out of fear.

Carry peace with you...