蜜芽传媒

Good morning.

On this day in 1962, the world breathed a sigh of relief: nearly two weeks of extreme tension came to an end as Nikita Khruschev agreed to remove nuclear-armed missiles from Cuba, and John F. Kennedy promised never to invade Fidel Castro鈥檚 country. What could have become a catastrophic war was avoided. The Cuban Missile Crisis is now viewed as a high-stakes game of brinkmanship 鈥� but fortunately nothing worse.

This came shortly after the Second World War: with that devastation so fresh in the memory, surely neither of these parties really wanted to descend into more bloodshed. Diplomatic humble pie was always a more attractive option. Decades later, however, and it might feel as though nations are unlearning those painful lessons as we see countries at war across our globe. Men, women and children, who happen to live in a country that鈥檚 hated by another, losing their homes, their livelihoods, and too often their lives.

I remember receiving a family of Ukrainian refugees into the community of my last parish: at first everyone was so aware of their presence and consciously reached out to them. And then as the months went by, it seemed more and more normal that this family was resident in mid Wales, and we related to them as fellow parishioners. It was beautiful to see how welcome they became, but it also reflects how normalised we can become to the effects of war.
Pope John Paul II spoke these words at the turn of the millennium in January 2000: 鈥淰iolence never again! War never again! Terrorism never again! In God鈥檚 name, may all religions bring upon earth justice and peace, forgiveness, life and love!鈥�

Jesus, Prince of Peace,
give us grace to work to such high ideals,
in a world where violence seems to thrive.
Amen.