Jeremiah is blaming the people and their sins for Babylonian gangs of soldiers making war against them and dividing them. Jeremiah does not blame the gangs of soldiers. Conversely, in the Gospel, Jesus is encouraging people for peaceful leadership. They will need it for the division ahead, “From now on a household of five will be divided, three against two and two against three.” Again, gangs of soldiers will make war on people, especially who witness peaceful integrity.
Gangs of soldiers, then and now, are divided from their own peaceful integrity because they are in union with weaponry and violence instead. A current example is Donald Trump and his gang of soldiers that is the Republican Party. Often with Democratic Party help, the GOP use the people’s budget as a weapon to do violence to the people’s needs. They prevent the people’s tax dollars from funding the people’s needs for housing, food, and healthcare. At the same time they approve funding for themselves and their 1% gangster friends who want tax cuts. The gang of soldiers also includes the 1% plunderers who fund guns for foreign wars. An additional gang of soldiers is the gun makers themselves. They are responsible for their guns routinely killing people and dividing people in war-torn cities across the world and across the U.S. They make money when their guns routinely kill people and divide them. The gun makers’ gang is aided by the political gang who secures guns more legal protection and bigger magazines but no gun buyer background checks. Another gang of soldiers is the many supportive spokesmen, like Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity. Like Jeremiah, they too do not blame gangs of soldiers but blame the people instead. Rush and Sean and their ilk do not blame soldier gangs or Neo-Nazi gangs or alt-right gangs or NRA gangs or mass-shooting gangs of soldiers (El Paso, Toledo). They blame the people and their sins. They blame people like Chantell Grant and Andrea Stoudemire who live in one of this nation’s many weapons divided cities. The many gangs of soldiers do not know that each woman is more courageous than all of them put together. Both women are mothers who volunteer with the group Mothers Against Senseless Killings (MASK). Along with other mothers they have peacefully reclaimed a corner in their city from gangs of soldiers. They are “trying to create a safe place where people can learn to be neighbors and not kill each other.” That corner is now a playground where along with other moms they offer food and counseling and conversion. Their offer mostly goes out to young men tempted by the many gangs of soldiers that comprise this U.S. empire. Last month, both mothers were murdered. They were gunned down by gangs of soldiers – by each and every one of these gangs of soldiers because each and every one of these gangs of soldiers are all gunning for these women and millions like them across the world. Chantell and Andrea were human beings leading a peaceful revolution. They gave witness to their humanity amidst so many gangs of soldiers who would divide us all from our own humanity. The founder of MASK, Tamar Manasseh “called the women’s deaths ‘terrifying,” “heartbreaking.” “I am trying to figure out how we can stop this.” We can stop it by identifying, disarming, and converting those who are responsible for it – gangs of soldiers.
“The guns won. Humanity lost. The love we thought we all shared, Shattered and the shards pierced our eyes. The dead wanted to stay dead, But those who are slaughtered from the soul Want all of us to be that way too. Hollow Dry Hungry Loveless. … It’s not a War that’s brewing, It’s a force field: One that hides us from each other, One that forbids communication. We are a confused people… Our humanity was stretched thin, but now it is torn like a lion ripped it apart with it’s gnashing teeth.” (No More – Aditi Kumar)
Prayer: I vow to love all the people in all the gangs of soldiers who day after day are gunning for us.
Question: What can I do to ensure my neighborhood will reflect the hopes of all mothers?
August 18, 2019 Gospel Luke 12:49-53 Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time