St Paul's

Dear Friends

I write this article in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks around the world

which have seemed to be escalating, and which has also left me, as I am

sure it has left many of you, wondering about this world that we live in. I re-

fer in particular to the bombings in Palestine/Israel and Ukraine/Russia.

We can often in our lives think that the little things that get us down and up-

set us are important, but… are they really? What would we feel if we had

had a row over breakfast with our loved ones, and then found that we could

not say sorry to them as they had been killed?

Why do we get so upset over the small difficulties in life when we can seem

at times to totally ignore the bigger picture?

Jesus says ‘you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all

your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ The second is

this, ‘You shall love your neighbour as yourself.’ There is no other com-

mandment greater than these.” ‘(Mark 12:30-31. NRSV)

I have been struck that we often do not seem to take these words to heart,

and struggle to even like our neighbour, let alone love them. However, the

open letter from Antoine Leiris, (17th November 2015) which directly

addressed the terror gang who gunned down his wife Hélène Muyal-Leiris

in the Paris shooting really hit home for me, and so I would like to remind

you about what he said - just in case you missed it, or have forgotten his

words as it is now 10 years ago.

“On Friday night you stole the life of an exceptional being, the love of my

life, the mother of my son, but you won't have my hatred.

I don't know who you are and I don't want to know - you are dead souls. If

this God for which you kill indiscriminately made us in his own image, every

bullet in the body of my wife will have been a wound in his heart.

So no, I don't give you the gift of hating you. You are asking for it but

responding to hatred with anger would be giving in to the same ignorance

that made you what you are.

You want me to be afraid, to view my fellow countrymen with mistrust, to

sacrifice my freedom for security. You have lost.

I saw her this morning. Finally, after many nights and days of waiting. She

was just as beautiful as when she left on Friday night, just as beautiful as

when I fell hopelessly in love over 12 years ago.

Of course I'm devastated with grief, I admit this small victory, but it will be

short-lived. I know she will accompany us every day and that we will find

ourselves in this paradise of free souls to which you'll never have access.

We are two, my son and I, but we are stronger than all the armies of the

world.

I don't have any more time to devote to you, I have to join Melvil who is

waking up from his nap. He is barely 17-months-old. He will eat his meals

as usual, and then we are going to play as usual, and for his whole life this

little boy will threaten you by being happy and free. Because no, you will not

have his hatred either.“

This open letter also then reminded me of another great act of forgiveness:

William Ury wrote in his 1999 book The Third Side about the peace cam-

paigner Gordon Wilson (25 September 1927-27 June 1995)

In an interview with the BBC, Wilson described with anguish his last conver-

sation with his daughter and his feelings toward her killers: "She held my

hand tightly, and gripped me as hard as she could. She said, 'Daddy, I love

you very much.' Those were her exact words to me, and those were the last

words I ever heard her say." To the astonishment of listeners, Wilson went

on to add, "But I bear no ill will. I bear no grudge. Dirty sort of talk is not

going to bring her back to life. She was a great wee lassie. She loved her

profession. She was a pet. She's dead. She's in heaven and we shall meet

again. I will pray for these men tonight and every night."

As historian Jonathan Bardon recounts, "No words in more than twenty-five

years of violence in Northern Ireland had such a powerful, emotional im-

pact."

Pope Leo XIV has just said in the last few days that: "War is never

inevitable." "Weapons can and must be silenced, for they do not resolve

problems but only increase them."

"Those who make history are the peacemakers, not those who sow seeds

of suffering."

Let us all remember then that in this world that we live in we can all make a

difference, and we can and should make this world a better place to live in.

Yours in Christ

Robert

St Paul's

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