Mary van Balen

Originally published in The Catholic Times

Pope Francis’ homily on Wednesday, May 22, received lots of press, mainly around his comments about redemption: “The Lord has redeemed all of us, all of us, with the blood of Christ. All of us, not just Catholics. Everyone!” he declared. “‘Father, the atheists?’ Even the atheists. Everyone! And this blood makes us children of God of the first class! We are created children in the likeness of God and the blood of Christ has redeemed us all!”

He continued: “And we all have a duty to do good. And this commandment for everyone to do good, I think, is a beautiful path towards peace. If we, each doing our own part, if we do good to others, if we meet there, doing good, and we go slowly, gently, little by little, we will make that culture of encounter: we need that so much…”

Lost in the media flurry about whether or not atheists can be saved (or, even non-Catholics, according to some pundits) was Pope Francis’ comment about a “culture of encounter.” What does that look like? Read More 

On Wednesday, both my daughter and I had the opportunity to attend H.H. the 14th Dalai Lama's address on human compassion at the College of William & Mary. (The tickets sold out in 16 minutes the day they went on sale. Someone who works with Kathryn gave her a ticket. I resorted to standing outside with a borrowed "Ticket Needed" sign and at the last minute received the gift of a ticket from a kind young man in scrubs who seemed to already know a lot about compassion!)

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Today is the International Day of Peace, originally declared by the United Nations General Assembly in 1981 to be celebrated each year on the third Tuesday of September by a cessation of acts of war and access for humanitarian aid access in areas affected by war. In 2002 the date was fixed on September 21, and in subsequent years, a call to non-violence was included in the twenty-four hour observance.

People worldwide observe a minute of silence at noon, and various ways of honoring the day have emerged around the globe.

Today is also the feast of St. Matthew, evangelist, whose gospel includes the Beatitudes and the parable of the final judgement when all are judged on their love and charity to others. The reading from Ephesians 4 for today's Mass as well as the gospel reading (Mt 9,9-13), stress love, mercy, and peace. Paul writes< "...I...urge you to live in a manner worthy of the call you have received, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another through love, striving to preserve the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace: one body and one Spirit, as you were also called to the hone hope of your call; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all..."

As I spent time in quiet prayer this morning the words "one God of all, who is over all and through all, and in all" lodged in my heart. Before we can bring peace, we must, as Vietnamese Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh writes, be peace.  Read More 

A friend invited me to attend the Niagra Foundation Peace and Dialogue Awards dinner last week. The Niagra Foundation has its roots in Chicago and began in 1997 as an educational outreach by Turkish-American academicians and business men offering tutoring in areas of math and science. The Foundation has grown over the years and, in Ohio, joined with the Scioto Educational Foundation, founded in 2003, to extend its outreach in the Midwest.

Like Niagra Foundation, Scioto Foundation's primary mission is to promote global understanding through peaceful dialogue. Last week's dinner honored four central Ohioans and organizations for their commitment to community service, education, and global understanding. What better way to spend an evening than celebrating with a diverse group of people the ideals of acceptance, dialogue, and service?

These groups and this evening celebrated shared values that bind us all together. In a world that often focuses on differences, this celebration reminded us of the need to look instead at what makes human beings the same no matter their race, culture, or religion. The night's honorees were chosen for their work for the common good, whether through education, global awareness, community service, and leadership.

However, just as important as the awards was what happened around the tables and around the room that night. People of different nationalities, faith, and work talked, laughed and shared their stories. Professors, ministers, teachers, business people, office workers, and politicians shared food together.

As the evening came to an end, people reluctant to leave shared emails, phone numbers, and invitations for dinner at their homes. This was perhaps the greatest testimony to the success, step at a time, of these two Foundations. Coming as was said that night, from the heart of Turkey, they serve as an example to all of us of the possibilities that flow from commitment to understanding, acceptance, peace, and dialogue.

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Today, Pope Benedict XVI has travelled to Assisi to hold a world day of prayer for peace on the 25th anniversary of the first interfaith world day of prayer for peace convened in Assisi by Pope John Paul II in 1986. An AP article, Rainbow of Religious Leaders Join Pope for Peace ,describes the gathering of some 300 religious leaders as well as a few agnostics. Unlike the event it commemorates, this day did not include a communal prayer, but provided quiet time for individual prayer for peace.

Religious belief never provides justification for violence and terrorism, and this diverse group reaffirms that truth.

Why Assisi? St. Francis of Assisi is known as a man of simplicity and peace. A lesser known fact, however, is that in 1219 during the crusades, he travelled across the battle lines (perhaps during a cease fire that followed a ferocious battle, to speak with the Sultan of Egypt, hoping to convert him and thus end the bloodshed. Read More 

Lord, it is night. The night is for stillness. Let us be still in the presence of God. It is night after a long day. What has been done has been done; what has not been done has not been done; let it be...

from the New Zealand Prayer Book




After dinner, Dad and I took a walk around the grounds of the nursing facility where he lives, Dad in his wheel chair, me pushing him along. We stopped to wave to a friend who called down to us from her balcony. Dad, always the gentleman, tipped his hat and waved back. Then we were off to the pond. He spotted a couple of geese as we approached and pointed out the "red faces," muscovy ducks that were settled along the walk that circles the water. Excited by our arrival, the large ducks heaved themselves up with tails wobbling and crowded around us. When they discovered we had come empty handed, they settled back into the grass like lawn ornaments.  Read More 

IMAGE:Picasso Peace Dove Two


He himself will be peace.
Micah 5,4



These words, taken from today's mid-morning reading (Terce), speak a profound message to us as Christmas approaches. The world is filled with violence and injustice, from our own neighborhoods to countries on the other side of the planet.

Overwhelmed, we can become paralyzed or apathetic, not because we don't want to do something, but because we don't know what to do or where to start.  Read More 

PHOTOS:Mary van Balen

My daughter and I have shared caring for her plant (a schefflera) for years since since she is, in her words, "a nomad." Such is the plight of an archaeologist. I did not mind, but worried when leaves turned yellow and dropped or an attack of some pest or other threatened to bring its end. Once I cut off healthy stems, rooted them, and carried the rest to the compost pile.

Most recently, after an unusually vicious attack by bugs, I cut the stems off at almost dirt level, and took them with me to my daughter's new apartment since she would probably be able to stay there for a couple of years. I intended to dump behind the garage what remained and then dispose of the pot since none of my efforts had eradicated the bugs.

I never got around to that, and the other day when I walked through the spare bedroom where it was kept, I was surprised to see tiny green "umbrella" leaves sprouting form the stump.  Read More 

While driving I have to keep an eye on the speedometer since my foot is heavy on the pedal. It wasn’t heavy enough for some this morning, though. Waiting for a car to pass in the opposite lane before I turned left raised the ire of two drivers behind me. One passed on the right, gunning his engine and giving me a hard look.

“He must be in a hurry I thought,” keeping my eyes on the approaching car. After it passed, I turned into the church parking lot, but not before hearing an angry voice shout at me from the other car: “Get moving, old woman!” she yelled.

I felt sick, but not because she called me “old woman.” While I don’t consider fifty-nine worthy of the “old woman” tag, I know age is relative. What disturbed me was the tone in her voice: anger, almost rage. I wrote about shared responsibility for bringing peace into the world as I reflected on Obama’s Nobel Peace Prize, but how can the world know peace when so many people are filled with hostility?

A couple of weeks ago I heard peace activist John Dear S.J. speak about contemplation and living peace. He quoted Vietnamese Buddhist monk, Thich Nhat Hanh: Peace in every step. Peace in every breath. We must respond to others with peace in our hearts.

I thought of that when the woman screamed at me this morning. What in her life made her quick to react with hostility to such an insignificant wait? What pain or hurt has she endured? I thought of others around the globe: young people trained to hate “the enemy,” bigots afraid of anyone different than them. I thought of those who have a right to be angry: people suffering discrimination merely for being who they are; those enduring physical and mental abuse, innocent people living in fear and watching loved ones die in war torn countries, the starving, and those impoverished in the midst of plenty?

As I entered church and found a seat, the list had become overwhelming. Peace must start in the heart, I thought. Who can follow a leader calling for peace when their hearts are filled with anger and hate? Jesus knew that was impossible. So did Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. They both insisted on nonviolence and love in response to brutality. Many thought these two men of peace were crazy to confront oppression with no weapons but nonviolence and trust in innate ability of the human soul to eventually recognize evil and choose good instead.

I looked at the altar. Jesus lived peace. He promised to help us do the same. I prayed for the woman in the car, and hoped wherever she was going, someone would meet her with a heart filled with peace.  Read More 

LINKS:
2009 Nobel Peace Prize Citation Obama's remarks: Christian Science Monitor "Common Misconceptions about the Nobel Peace Prize" "Gasps as Obama awarded Nobel Peace Prize" AP article by Ritter and Moore President Obama's UN Speech




News of President Obama receiving the Nobel Peace Prize energized me for the day. “Hope” is the word I would use to describe my reaction, hope for the possibility of change in the political climate of the world, and in this country. Hope for “the common good” becoming a guiding principle in policy and decisions.

In the citation awarding the prize (see link), the spokesperson for the Nobel Committee said Obama was chosen in part “…for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples.” He was also recognized for creating “…a new climate in international politics,” and his call to those who listened to his U.N. speech in April (see link) that “Now is the time for all of us to take our share of responsibility for a global response to global problems.”

Some people are saying that this is too early in Obama’s presidency to award him such an honor. “He hasn’t done anything yet,” they say. Others think the Nobel Committee’s choice cheapens the prize. “It is usually given to a person who has achieved something concrete,” they say. In an article by the Associated Press, Geir Lundestad, the secretary of the Nobel Committee, said that is not true, and that more often, it is given to encourage the recipient to continue their work, sometimes at “critical moments.” (see link: Common Misconceptions)

Surely, this is a critical moment at home and abroad. The issues we face are momentous: arms control, climate change, wars, terrorism, poverty, and genocide, to name some. As Obama has said, these challenges cannot be met by a single person or nation. They require the cooperation of all nations, of all peoples.

That is what I found hopeful about the Nobel Committee’s choice of President Obama. They have put the prestige and international stature of the prize behind Obama’s efforts to rally leaders of nations and ordinary citizens to accept responsibility and become involved in making a difference in our world. The committee members see the promise in Obama's vision. Awarding this prize to the one they see as “the world’s leading spokesman”(see link, Citation) for such an approach, sends a message to the world: This is possible. Let us put aside differences, see what binds us together, and move forward to bring peace and justice.

A surprised and humble Obama said as much when he spoke to reporters in the Rose Garden this morning: “I will accept this award as a call to action, a call for all nations to confront the challenges of the 21st century…Let me be clear, I do not view it as a recognition of my own accomplishments, but rather as an affirmation of American leadership on behalf of aspirations held by people in all nations.”

I send my congratulations to President Obama for engendering hope and providing leadership in the worldwide search for peace. My prayer is that people of this country and the world will be encouraged anew to work for peace in their hearts, their families, their cities. Peace is a “bottom up” endeavor. It ripples out from individual efforts no matter how small, and makes a difference. Such efforts, multiplied millions of times over, will be what enable Obama and world leaders to achieve this goal. In the end, they represent us and our commitment to justice and peace.

Neither detractors nor supporters of Obama and his policies can sit back and wait to see whether he succeeds or fails. That would be an abdication of responsibility. As the chairman of the Norwegian Nobel Committe, Thorbjoern Jangland, said, "If everything goes wrong, then one cannot say that this was because of Barack Obama. It could be that it is because of all of us, all the others, that did not respond." (see link, Gasps...)

The possibility for the success of Obama's call for cooperation and action based on shared human values lies not only in his hands and the hands those in positions of power, but also in the hearts of ordinary people in the United States and around the world who make known by word and action their desire for it.
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