Today's commentary from Tom McMahon completes the series on humankind's search for peace amidst the violence that seems so rife in society. It was written before we began the series on Future Priest and in the immediate shadow of Easter. So often Christianity seems tied up with violence despite Christ standing as the ultimate model for humanity against violence.

Violence today and yesterday

When our son Tommy was 16, a junior in a public high school, he asked me one day if I had time to talk, to which I readily agreed. Tommy has never been baptized nor indoctrinated in any religion. His question was concerning GOOD FRIDAY, he questioning how the name came about and remarking that it didn't seem to be a good day for that fellow Jesus.

I agreed, remarking that the hill of Calvary was a great tragedy. Tommy continued with his curiosity and told me of the difficulty that he was having with the idea that the man rose from the dead. I shared with him that he was the first person in my long career in church work who had made mention of this, Catholics seemingly just taking for granted the resurrection of Jesus. Tommy would go on to a good education at Cal Berkeley and is now married and the father of 5-month-old Audrey. We had only one more conversation about religion, a sharing of ideas on his reluctance to buy into students who were born again Christians.

Eternal Life?: Life After Death as a Medical, Philosophical, and Theological Problem

I went on to make a deeper study of the resurrection, reading such as Hans Küng's ETERNAL LIFE. I read with interest a survey by William D'Antonio from Catholic University that there are three issues modern day Catholics want more information about, one of them a better understanding of the new life of Jesus the Christ. The other two are True Presence (Eucharist) and caring for the poor.

Tonight I attended a campus ministry celebration at Mitty High School, San Jose, CA. In the simple liturgy 50 plus male and female students washed each others hands in imitation of Gospel Jesus washing his disciples feet. The only mention of violence was when one of the adult leaders pointed to the 10th station of the cross, the Calvary hill.

The sharing of service and the kiss of peace among these17/18 year olds was a peaceful sight in these days of spiritual and religious violence. I was happy for the young that Jesus was memorialized by a sacramental sign of peace.

Three people talked at the gathering, one my recent new friend Pat whose university son died less than a year ago by ingesting prescription drugs. Two young men spoke of their experience with death and drugs on the college campus. Violence was front and center for consideration by the youthful audience. As therapist I wondered about this youthful culture, a generation who have grown up with a drug for every ache and pain; America is a drug-addicted culture and the silent violence that accompanies the pain killers surrounds all of us. On my way home in the dark of night an impatient driver cut me off as I was driving on the freeway at the speed limit. This morning as I was working at my computer I put on a CD of monastic chant, aware that the soothing rhythms were a throwback to my 12 years of silent and peaceful training, a model I was unable to use once I got into the real world as priest.

I recalled my first Holy Thursday at All Souls in South San Francisco and the rumor that I heard about my predecessor and the old pastor preparing to wash the feet of 12 men, priests and men all gathered in the sacristy. The priests got into an argument and the dialogue went as follows: "You hit me first, you son of a bitch … no, you go ahead you gd fool…".

I shudder at the remembrance of the violence and since the 1960's I have not been much for holy week ceremonial. I would like to go back to All Souls and interview some of those men, esp. now with the violence of sexual abuse raging around the world. I would imagine that some of them may have lost their faith in the priesthood that night.

Did you know that Easter is the Roman goddess of fertility and that's where all the bunnies and eggs come from? The Christian church cleaned up many a Roman religious practice and the Holy Roman Emperor saw to it that the Pax Romana was superseded by the peace of Jesus, often only in liturgical style.

It is late at night and time for me to go to bed and send this on to Brian. It seems that violence is here to stay in human nature. I really don't experience violence when two or three gather in his name and talk about the great hope this Jesus person offered to humankind.

Tom McMahon, San Jose. Ca. (30/03/2010)

©2010 Tom McMahon

[Index of Commentaries by Tom McMahon]