大象传媒

GOOD MORNING.聽

Every age needs heroes.聽 On this day in 1820, one of the greatest of modern times, Florence Nightingale, was born.聽 We remember this angel of compassion to wounded soldiers at a time of great poignancy: as we recall the seventieth anniversary of聽 Victory in Europe Day last Friday, when the genuinely heroic bravery of allied military forces in the Second World War received our grateful recognition.聽

The reality of violence has always been a difficult question for most religions 鈥� probably because it is a difficult question for most normal people [PB2]

It鈥檚 particularly problematic for a religion whose author specifically addressed those who live by the sword and spoke the words, 鈥渢urn the other cheek.鈥�

Today is also the Catholic Feast Day of Saints, Nereus and Achileus who according to legend were Roman soldiers who became Christians and were then martyred. That illustrates the moral ambiguities and the way Christian responses to the grim existence of warfare have evolved: from a simple rejection of violence in the early centuries; to violence being permitted as a defence; and has engendered complex theories of just wars as a last resort; and modern ideas of war being acceptable only in pursuit of just and lawful ends.

And yet, at the end of all the theories is a man or a woman usually somewhere far away, involved in all sorts of heroics such as helping the people of Liberia and Sierra Leone fight Ebola, but ultimately prepared to put their life on the line to protect you and me with military force if needs be.

God of Nations, source of all sovereignty and power: lead all of us to seek and find true peace; comfort all who suffer as a result of war; and bless those who are apostles of compassion in places darkened by violence.聽

AMEN.