6th March 2009

Address by Mairead Maguire to Women’s world Day of Prayer Interdenominational Prayer Service,

Clifton Hampden, England

I am very happy to be here with you this evening, and thank the organizers for their kind invitation. I also would like to thank the Women of Papua New Guinea for preparing the Service. The theme of this Women’s’ world day of Prayer ‘In Christ
There are many members yet one body’ reminds us all that we are
Indeed interconnected by the spirit of Gods love. As a young women
I learned the prayer ‘Lord of love, help me to see the person of Jesus
In everyone and to love and serve them accordingly’. As Christians
through meditation and prayer we can connect to the Lord of love living in our own hearts and use this energy in loving service of all.

The women of Papua New Guinea who prepared this order of service have chosen to include the stories of two women, Gwen and Maria, both of whom lived in situations of violent conflict. They decided to take action for peace and to do something to end the violence and killings by Governments, militias, and between tribes.

Both these women’s’ stories are amazing and give us all hope that peace is
Possible, and that we each have the power to do something for peace. I think though in order to do this we have ourselves to make a choice for peace and to place our common humanity above all the things that divide and separate us – especially violence. Two of the great gifts God gives to each of us, is first and foremost the gift of life and secondly the gift of Choice. If we meditate on these two wonderful gifts we can only be filled up with a deep sense of awe, wonder, and gratitude. Our life, a gift freely given from God to each of us and freedom of choice together with a conscience which we must always strive to keep clear, so we can choose wisely. Each day we make thousands of choices and sometimes we make a good choice, sometimes we make a bad choice. In the height of violent conflict when we are under extreme pressure, as were Gwen and Maria, it is difficult often to make the right decisions, but I believe this is where our Faith, Family, and Friends help us to approach our decisions with wisdom.

Also of great help to us all is the sharing of stories and for this reason I would
Like to tell you my story about a hard choice I had to make between violence or nonviolence, killing or nonkilling in my own life. Over 30 years ago, I wrote
About this important decision I made ‘never to kill’ and be a follower of the
Nonviolent Jesus. I wrote the following:

“In the early 70’s at the beginning of ‘The troubles’ in Northern Ireland, one
evening I was in a Church praying before a crucifix. Looking upon the figure of
Jesus his arms outstretched in agony – the words ‘love your enemy, do good to those who hate you, do not kill,’ came to me with great clarity and strength. My painful,
Agonizing, searching darkness of previous months, melted into a deep peace of
Knowing. I knew in that moment, God is Love, love creates, never destroys.
Each life is sacred, created by God. God’s dream for each life – each one of us –
Is to be all love, all joy, and all happiness. We were created to love and be loved.
During the last celebration with his friends – the Last Supper – Jesus said to his
Followers ‘I give you a new commandment ‘Love one another as I have loved you’.
But this love, Jesus’ love, was not a soft, sentimental, sanitized thing, it ended
in death on a Cross. He saw injustice and he challenged it, in words and action, he
died challenging injustice, but refusing to enter into violence, cruelty and
killing.

My months of agonizing searching, had begun with the questioning of myself,
As to how as a Christian I could challenge violence in the very structures of
State as experienced daily by people who lived under repression and unjust
Legislation. Also the violence of injustice in society and the violence of
Paramilitary groups. Some other people around me, wishing to bring about social and Political change, were choosing to use violent methods to do so.

In the early l97O’s there was much talk about a ‘Just war’. Young men argued
With me that they were in the Irish Republican Army fighting a ‘Just war’ and that
The Christian Churches believed in the Just War theory, indeed had blessed wars
As just. I wondered if I took a gun to fight against ‘State violence and injustice’
Would any of the principles of the Just War theory apply in these circumstances?
I came to know that its not some abstract principles of ‘Just War’ by which I must
Guide my life but rather the simple message of Jesus: ‘Love one another as I have loved you’. I pray for God’s strength and grace to live each day this simple but demanding lifestyle.”

Perhaps the greatest choice we can ever make in our life is to live or die, to kill or
Not to kill. In facing this choice I turned for guidance to the scriptures, my prayer life, family and my faith. In prayer (which as a child I learned is a lifting up of the mind and heart to God) I listened to my conscience, reading the scriptures (such as Sermon on the Mount), I came to agree with Father John L. McKenzie, the late great American Scripture scholar who said ‘You cannot read the scriptures and not know that Jesus was totally nonviolent’ and my faith, and parents teaching me the importance of love, forgiveness and reconciliation.

I believe that we are all born with an innate sense of justice. When we experience or
See injustice, we become angry and if we feed that anger it can turn to
Violence. I believe prayer or meditation, contemplation, which ever best suits each person, is important to help transform the anger, and other negative emotions into positive energy for justice and change. I can see why the Apostles asked Jesus to teach them to pray. I also understand why Jesus went into the Desert for 40 days to pray and fast, so he too could deal with his fear, anger, his sense of isolation. He too needed to connect with God’s love and presence within, to empower him for his own ministry of suffering and death. Jesus needed the Fathers love, he also needed
His friends love, like we all do. Jesus by His very death taught us much about dying, he taught us nothing about violence and killing. Those who had the wisdom to initiate the Women’s World Day of Prayer, must have realised that if out of our passion for Justice we get too immersed in the problems of suffering, and forget to take time to pray, we can get out of balance, and loose sight of the beauty of creation, the magnificent of the human spirit, and the wonderful things that are happening all around us. We can get stuck in our pain, depression, and loose our hope, Creativity and imagination. We can forget to smile and be grateful for everything.

And there is so much for which we can be grateful and happy. I am always uplifted
When I read in scripture the words ‘all I want is your happiness’.
Living in the moment fully alive and being present to each other can lead to great happiness. It is important we go back to our roots of community and move away
From individualism and what has been described as ‘aggressive pursuit of personal
Successes. Spending time on personal relationships is not a luxury; it is a necessity for mental health for us all. A recent report has concluded that childhood is more difficult today than ever and one of the reasons is that parents are striving to make the most of their own life and careers, putting them above their children. If childhood is more difficult, so too is being a woman. To-day much is expected of women, but we cannot do everything, nor should we try to. Learning to say ‘no’ is a good discipline and we should not feel guilty about this. I for one am not good at multi-tasking, no matter how much others say we as women should be! I think we have to make choices for what makes for our peace of mind and happiness both for ourselves and those we love. We can strive also to live simply so others may simply live.

The greatest killer is Hunger claiming 14 children’s lives every minute. We only need to transfer a tiny amount from war and militarism to abolish hunger. Women can bring to the top of the political agenda, Human security. We, the people, elect our politicians to see we have housing, hospitals, jobs, clean environment. If we as women refuse to allow our best talents and money to go to building weapons of death and destruction, we could change the world., We could work to end the war in Afghanistan, building hospitals there, insisting on dialogue, not ‘unarmed drones’. My visit to Gaza shocked me to see the suffering of the people there. We all must insist Israel lift the siege and allow in food and medicines and building materials to
Rebuild their infrastructure destroyed during the Israeli bombardment of Gaza l, 300
Palestinians were killed during the bombardment and Palestinians still continue to
Suffer as the borders remained closed. In the meantime I would encourage you to Support the International campaign of Boycott and Divestment of Israel, until they upholds International Law.

I have great hope for the future. Faced with such threats as poverty, nuclear weapons and war, when we all work together as the human family, we can change the world. I believe the women of the world will play a leading role in building this new Culture of nonkilling, nonviolence, for the human family.

God Bless you all,

Mairead Maguire
www.peacepeople.com