Sister Megan Rice is eighty four years old and is currently seven months into a three year prison sentence for breaking into a US Security Complex in Tennessee. She, and her co-conspirators, sprayed bible quotes and blood on the walls of the heavily guarded, $500 million Highly Enriched Uranium Materials Facility. When guards came to arrest them they found them singing hymns and were offered the chance to break bread and read the bible with the intruders. The offer was declined. Sister Megan's actions are rooted in the call to "hammer swords into plough shares", i.e., convert weapons into peaceful tools (Isaiah). Their action has been called "the biggest security breach in the history of the [USA’s] atomic complex." At her trial, she was asked if she had anything to say, she replied, "I regret I didn't do this seventy years ago."
Sr. Megan is a peacemaker, what some would call an ‘urban saint’. Saints are all around us, pointing the way for us, teaching us something about God through their lives. They persevere in all they do for their families and communities, especially those on the margins. They are the blessed ones. The Megan Rice’s of this world are an inspiration for us to strive to live the beatitudes in our daily lives. Matthew’s community would have been very familiar with what it means to be persecuted because of their beliefs and the final beatitude calls for perseverance. Perhaps that is the making of all saints.
No comments:
Post a Comment