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  Editorial: Discipline of Peace

Daily Journal
April 19, 2008

http://www.djournal.com/pages/story.asp?ID=271930&pub=1&div=Opinion

Pope Benedict XVI's pastoral visit to the United States reminds all people of faith that following a life focused on peace is the surest way to prevent and resolve conflicts - personal, corporate, national, physical, and spiritual.

The pope's extraordinary face-to-face meeting Thursday with now-adult victims of clerical sexual abuse demonstrated how reconciliation creates and moves toward authentic peace.

All people can seek and find the same kind of reconciling and life-changing spiritual renewal.

Daniel Cho, a Presbyterian minister in Canada, shares his personal journey related to refocusing the impulse to violence. He writes, through the Henri Nouwen memorial organization, about refocusing internal impulses from violence to peace. Cho holds a black belt in tae kwon do, and he has been a practitioner of martial arts training all his adult life:

"As a child I became deeply involved in the martial arts after watching the revolutionary 1973 film Enter the Dragon,' starring Bruce Lee.

"In fact, my first few years of training took place in the basement of our church, and I loved every minute of it. Some called me obsessed with the martial arts; I couldn't disagree.

"When, as a teenager, I began to get serious about the Christian faith, I had an opportunity to become a bit philosophical about reconciling a commitment to love, peace and "turning the other cheek" with an activity involving fighting and violence. Of course, violence describes both our inner fancies and the pernicious aggression against others.

"I have found that my experience in martial arts never steered me towards violence; rather it led me to realize that the more I was willing to be in touch with my own violence - its emotional energy, causes, insecurities - the more I was able to "tame" both its interior experience and its expression. Violence's familiarity can breed its discipline and lead to a reclaiming of that dimension of one's spirit and character.

"For me, the point of resonance with Jesus' temptations is that he faced the destructive potential of his power, yet learned to claim it for God. Likewise, every day I face potential for violence in word, behavior, design and thought, yet I can learn to claim it for more authentic spiritual living."

For Christians, the way of peace is sharply defined and its parameters drawn by Jesus in John 13:34:

"I give you a new commandment, that you love one another"

 
 

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