I was in my early 20s the first time I visited the Gallipoli Battle Museum, and I experienced what, in Paul Ricoeur’s world of philosophy, could be described as a movement to second naivete.  The introductory video at the museum shows the Gallipoli experience from the perspective of the Turkish forces.  I think I had been so schooled in the Australian view of the tragedy of Gallipoli that it had never occurred to me to consider the effect from the view of the Turkish soldiers.  And it was just as devastating.  We were the invading people!  And all I can remember is being overwhelmed by the thought of the tragic waste of everyone’s life.  I realised that there was more than one story about this war and that both stories held their truth.  And I realised that the battle of war occurs between people of equal dignity. 

And it was a brutal war waged in severe terrain.  Years later it is possible to step gingerly amongst still muddy trenches and to see pieces of shrapnel poking through the earth.  It is an eery place – there is a beauty in looking out over the seas, but its effects are tempered by the many rows of carefully tended graves.  The families of the Turkish soldiers who died mourned just as deeply as the families of the ANZACs. 

It feels as though the world is beset with violence.  The shock of a stabbing attack at a shopping centre, a stabbing in a church – the ongoing news that is coming from the Gaza strip, from Ukraine and from so many parts of the world.  We do not know what is happening in the hearts and minds of those who participate in violence.  We do not know what is in the hearts and minds of the leaders who knowingly lead their people into danger and distress.  The Pope’s Easter message for 2024 was filled with references to the many worldwide conflicts, to places where people are striving for peace. 

As we draw near to Anzac Day, I have been thinking and wondering and pondering about peace.  Thinking about what is means in the complexity of our times.  Wondering why it is so hard to achieve and pondering why it is that all generations long for and yet struggle to create a peaceful world.  

In 1895 Alfred Nobel instigated the Nobel Peace Prize and left the bulk of his estate to fund it in perpetuity.  Nobel invented dynamite.  He famously declared: ‘My dynamite will sooner lead to peace than a thousand world conventions.  As soon as men find that in one instant, whole armies can be utterly destroyed, they surely will abide by old golden peace’.  It is thought that his desire for the Nobel Peace prize was in part to atone for his creation of dynamite. 

And I am reminded that we are amid the Easter Season and that the first words of the Risen Jesus to the fearful disciples were ‘Peace be with you’.  We can imagine the scene – in a locked room, grief-stricken about the loss of their friend and leader, the appearance of their beloved with the offer of peace (Jn 20:19-31).  Over these post Easter days we have been 21st century witnesses to the struggles of these earliest Christians to make sense of their identity in the midst of their own challenging circumstances.  The common thread throughout their struggles is their deep belief in the God of Jesus who meets them.  The One who calms stormy waters, who heals the sick of mind and heart, who is unwavering in the message of ‘peace be with you.’  The One who can break through any Sauls of the world and gentle their hearts. 

Let us not lose heart in our fellow humans.  Let us continue to pray, work and long for peace.  Let us pray for those who inflict violence, that a spark of hopeful imagination will penetrate the way they are thinking about the world and lead them to a gentler, kinder way of working. 

And at the end of the day, if the task seems overwhelming, perhaps this reflection from John O’Donohue might help: 

For peace 

As the fever of day calms towards twilight
May all that is strained in us come to ease.
We pray for all who suffered violence today,
May an unexpected serenity surprise them.
For those who risk their lives each day for peace,
May their hearts glimpse providence at the heart of history.
That those who make riches from violence and war
Might hear in their dreams the cries of the lost.
That we might see through our fear of each other
A new vision to heal our fatal attraction to aggression.
That those who enjoy the privilege of peace
Might not forget their tormented brothers and sisters.
That the wolf might lie down with the lamb,
That our swords be beaten into ploughshares
And no hurt or harm be done
Anywhere along the holy mountain.

May the careful work of building holy mountains of peace continue and may our own holy mountains surround us and keep us safe. 

By Cathy Jenkins

Published: 19 April 2024