A Tale of Two Sundays

Two Sundays ago, my husband and I stopped in a rural church for Mass on our way out of town. The church folks were very welcoming, but the priest's homily sounded as if lifted from the punitive 1960s. He went on a riff about how people who don't go to Mass every Sunday are lazy, etc. He seemed like a nice man, though, and he's probably exhausted because he probably covers more than one or two parishes. But still...

In contrast, last Sunday, at St. Al's, The Rev. Stan Malnar, a physician and priest, presided at Mass. In his homily, he talked about the Iraqi war. His homily was so eloquent and powerful, the church grew entirely quiet. I started taking notes, but not soon enough. Here's just some of what he said:

"War unleashes the darkness in the human heart. War has its own momentum. It teaches us how to kill and leaves behind resentment that can last for generations."

The antidote, Malnar said, is "to see the human face of war." The human face of the soldiers, the Iraqi civilians and prisoners.