"Good Friday comes before Easter. And the radical gift of Good Friday is Christ's revelation of the power and the truth of nonviolence. There is no easy way to create a world where men and women can live together, it will be accomplished by persons who have the courage to put an end to suffering by willingly suffering themselves rather than inflict suffering upon others." - Jonah House, HOLY WEEK FAITH AND RESISTANCE RETREAT
One day we will be able to say openly that Jesus came into this world to end violence and war, that his mission was carefully crafted to demonstrate the lie that lay at the foundation of our institutions, the lie of violence. It is blasphemy to think he came primarily to uphold conventional morality, though he was indeed a moral force unlike any the world has ever experienced. He did not come to uphold the morality that makes for a smoothly functioning empire, routinely delivering its profits to those who have already violated the common good beyond the ability of nature or man to bear. He came into this world to bear a new man.
Until we have the courage to face life as a whole without privatizing the spiritual part and going public with all our hatred and cluster bombs, we will not be able to fully understand the message of Jesus. If you want to see the real meaning of Lent, watch the Winter Soldier videos - watch what inner healing looks like. Yet rather than accept the healing in his wings, the corporate media has compounded its original crime of war propaganda by hiding the tears that could make our hearts live again. The only honest faces out there are those of the veterans weeping for the sins of us all.
But we can't be allowed to repent and wash away the sin of war with our tears because that inner healing leads to inner growth which blossoms into resistance against the empire of lies. The deeds which our mania for revenge after 9/11 pushed these young men into can never be washed out of their memories, no matter how well the media struggles to fill our minds and hearts with trivia. Something has taken place inside the hearts of those young men who testified and that something is more powerful than all the lies and all the wealth that that this sick empire can touch. Such are the spiritual earthquakes which are never registered by corporate media until long after the aftershocks have faded away. But those with living hearts know that a new star has appeared in the sky over America.
Watch the Winter Soldier videos: Iraq Veterans Against the War
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