Thou Shall Not Kill !Grace and peace from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ Amen. Dear Brothers and Sisters: Scorning the worldwide demonstrations, the clamor and shout of men and women of good will saying no to war, the debacle has begun. All of the clamor and protests have fallen into a "torn sack". They didn´t go far enough to touch hearts and consciences to avoid the spilling of blood. The terrible war marches on with its plan to make an attempt on life itself. In one of his last homilies with the profound inspiration of the Spirit of God, Monsignor Romero pronounced " Thou shall not kill in the name of God, and in the name of His people I order you not to kill ". These words resound on the anniversary of his martyrdom. They point to the evangelical mission of rejecting human tendencies that are inclined towards violence. The temptation is always stronger in those who hold power unlawfully, in the big who have no respect for the small. It is not just or correct that the strongest impose its dominion over the others because they are small. When this happens, we are confronting a primitive practice, a practice so primitive degrading and immoral that even the term " surgical bombing " has been invented to try to justify the genocide. Because of this society has seen it necessary to organize, to construct a national and international system of rights and responsibilities that permits equilibrium for all the worlds peoples. This works in such a way that the countries that are powers would be controlled, that there would be measures for consensus in the determinations the United Nations emanates. From the evangelical perspective the United States is committing a very grave sin which can be indicated as one considers the following: 1) Peoples' right for self determination. The president of one country cannot say to the president of another country: " Abandon your country, you have a time limit to do it " This is not a just sentence, because the right to judge, get rid of, or expel those in government as bad as they may be, only belongs to their own people. 2) The privilege, the power and the leadership of a nation should be to serve, to edify, to help and strengthen in the development of other nations. 3) The intention of the United Nations is to supervise and control nations to resolve conflicts through diplomatic and negotiated means, not through violent means. Sadly the agression has become a reality in these times of great communications. The war has become a worldwide event, even though the theater of operations is only the Iraq territory. However, men and women of good will should be strengthened in hope to continue showing our condemnation of the war. It is a sin but history will also record this firm will to defend life and denounce injustice. In the face of this world conflict people are divided as to who supports or rejects this war. These differences are stronger now among the people of the United States. In the same family you might find members who are opposed to the war and others who are soldiers who go to war risking their lives. There will be permanent scars as those left by Vietnam or the Persian Gulf. Historical errors that cause permanent and irreparable damage and incidents due to unforseen circumstances will mark the world for generations now and forever. We should even now ask for forgiveness for this sin. The government of the United States and their few allies have committed it because we haven't been strong enough to detain them. Be assured, God will forgive us, but we should also be firmly aware
that forgiveness doesn't take away the consequences of sin.
Dr. Medardo Ernesto Gómez, Bishop
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