Jesus of the sheathed sword,

in your name,

many swords have been used

and many people have perished.

Speak to us, teach us,

again and again,

that violence begets violence.

Teach us. Again and again.

Over and over.

Because we keep forgetting

and we need to keep

remembering.

Over and over.

Amen

Padraig O’Tuama

This prayer fast-tracks us to Gethsemane. An armed mob had arrived and, once the betrayer’s kiss had been planted on Jesus’s cheek, muscled in. Outraged by Jesus’ arrest, one of those with him (John says it was Peter), attacked the High Priest’s slave with a sword - the moment captured in Guérard’s painting of 1520. But Jesus admonished his impetuous friend: “Put your sword back in its place,” he said, “for all who take the sword will perish by the sword” (Mt 26.52). In Padraig O’Tuama’s prayer, this teaching that ‘violence begets violence’ is underscored ‘over and over’.

We don’t have to look far to see the truth of Jesus’ words. Those who unjustifiably initiate aggression by lifting the sword, or aiming the missile, or ramming the tank, inevitably incite a justifiable, self-defending counter-aggression, a tidal wave of violence gathering pace.

Jesus’ response to aggression was unusual. He silently endured this ‘Passion of Violence’. He would not be goaded. He went willingly to the cross. He prayed, “Into your hands I commit my spirit” (Psalm 31.5).

Soon after war broke out, Ukraine’s Chief Rabbi invited Christians to join Jews in praying Psalm 31. Now, their country torn apart, they continue to pray it in basements and bomb-shelters. Others have turned to a prayer by the Ukrainian composer, Valentyn Silvestrov (b. Kyiv 1937). It’s a prayer with the simplest words, repeated over and over: Bozhe, Ukrayinu khrany or Lord, save the Ukraine.