Thomas Merton asked this question focussing on the dangers of nuclear war in the sixties. Well, we're looking at half a century or so later and where will we find Christ now? In the ruins of Central American countries fighting subversives? Subversives defined as priests, nuns, teachers, union organizers, lay church workers and death came labeled Made in the USA.
The refugee trails through Mexico to the U.S. border? Detention camps for children? Fill in the blanks for women and men of color caught in impossible situations because somebody with a gun was "afraid for their life." Anyplace where contaminated land or water has poisoned the crops, the fish, the animals? And what do you do when the choice is between poison and starvation?
"The Christian it's not only bound to avoid certain evils, but he is responsible for very great goods. This is often forgotten. The doctrine of the Incarnation makes the Christian obligated at once to God and to man. If God has become man, then no Christian is ever allowed to be indifferent to man's fate. Whoever believes that Christ is the Word made flesh believes that every man must in some sense be regarded as Christ. For all are at least potentially members of the Mystical Christ. Who can say with absolute certainty of any other man that Christ does not live in him (or her, adult or child)."They
From "Can We Choose Peace" in Peace in the Post Christian Era page 10 by Thomas Merton.
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