Subscribe now to receive new weekly essays by email!
War - We can choose how we will deal with the raw emotions evoked by war.
We might speak about the healthy aspects of eating raw vegetables, like carrot sticks, or think more painfully about raw emotions, like excessive anger. If we spell “raw” backwards, we have “war,” which always involves raw emotions for those who are caught up in the effects of extreme violence. Medical personnel treat raw wounds, compassionate people deal with raw feelings, and observers see raw suffering taking place for the people who happen to be in the locations where war is inflicted upon them.
From our perspective, weather can be good or bad, depending upon how we are affected by it. Where there is war, those who are directly impacted will undergo it as traumatic, while those at a physical and especially those at an emotional distance may see it as advantageous. When the wind blows strongly in our area, we deal with it in the way that seems best to us. We do the same when the winds of war blow strong enough to touch our consciousness and our consciences.
People who are in the path of a hurricane take all the human measures for protection that are available to them. Some will pray, not expecting that the winds will suddenly cease blowing and the whole weather system come to a stop, and not seeking only preservation from injury or death, but they pray also for lessening of fear and for the well-being of others who are threatened by the storm. Even in such circumstances, love is powerful, effective, and ultimately more life-changing than any external force being exerted upon them.
We can apply this to our complicated affective and thought processes about any war or wars in general. There is no situation where God and love are absent. Our faith urges us to look not just at the images, ideas, opinions, and all the physical and emotional aspects of war that are so prevalent in our social environment, but directly towards God. We probably do not have answers or solutions for the mostly uncontrollable aspects of war, but we are never alone, and by our graced decisions we can avoid wasting our energies on imagining ways to combat violence with violence. Acting this way is how we maintain intact our frail temples of the Holy Spirit.
This planet and all of us who dwell on it come from God and belong by rights to God. We are invited, not coerced, to keep moving back to God by participating now in what later will be the absolute fulness of love. This is more difficult for us to accept when we are in extremely stressful circumstances, and maybe impossible if we look only at our own powers, but always attainable when we look to God, who is looking at us with that love which is like a spotlight focused on us as we move through each day.
This is the healthy raw truth about love in a time of war.
Last Updated 3/14/2026