The Augustinian Feast of Our Lady of Grace is Friday, June 1. This Lady of Grace day is a day when our postulants and novices make their petitions to advance in formation with the Order, praying with Our Mother of Grace for the gift of the Holy Spirit to trust God and say yes to God's will in their lives.
This feast day I will also pray for a special grace for our country. The theme of forgiveness and the asking to be forgiven one's wrongs is central to an Augustinian spirituality of religious life. (Rule, Ch. 6) Our country needs to be able to say that we were wrong and ask forgiveness.
We were wrong about Sadam as a real and immediate threat to our security. We were wrong about WMDs. We were wrong about terrorist connections. We were wrong in thinking we could provide a better way of life. We were wrong to have replaced Sadam's torture camps with our own.
Perhaps why part of the outcry against the war is lacking luster is because it is hard for Americans to admit that we can be wrong. Our men and women in uniform have, for the very most part, served with courage and honor, but we were wrong in asking them to fight this war. There is no lack of support for the troops in wanting them home now!
Vietnam taught us that America will not always win, and Iraq might be teaching us that America will not always be right. We were wrong. We need to ask forgiveness, try to make amends to the Iraqi people and our own military, and learn from our failure, forgive ourselves, and move on.
Our Lady of Grace, help us see the value of true contrition and use the gifts of the Spirit of Wisdom and Right Judgement. Amen.
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1 comment:
This is powerful, Fr. Joseph. Thank you so much.
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