Reflection from the Iraqi Dominican sisters living in the U.S. on April 22, 2010
Thank you for inviting us to share with you our thoughts on the 500th anniversary of our Dominican brother, Montesinos Sermon in Hispaniola. The seven of us Dominican Sisters of St. Catherine who are studying in the United States gathered in South Bend, Indiana, during the Christmas break to share our thoughts on our reality.
Our focus is drawn to the word “attention” with which he opened his preaching.
He is calling the world to reach out to the needs of the vulnerable, by taking action, responsibility and standing for truth.
As Iraqis who have never experienced peace in our lives, we know that what matters to people who are suffering, is to know that they are not forgotten by the world.
This is where reconciliation and forgiveness take place. In order for oppressed and oppressors to come together, they need reconciliation and forgiveness between them. We don’t have to create reconciliation or forgiveness; they are in us. God created this world perfect because he is perfect.
Yes, there is sin in the world, but we are given everything that is in us and among us to perfect the world.
We need to reach out and find the reconciliation and forgiveness that is within us. This requires us to pay attention, as Montesinos does, to pay attention to the stories of both the oppressor and the oppressed.
The way that Montesinos draws attention to the injustices against the Indians, is by asking questions of hope, hope for forgiveness and reconciliation.
He says quote:
“Tell me by what right and by what justice you keep these Indians in such a cruel and horrible slavery? These people, aren’t they human beings? Don’t they have rational souls? ”
He is raising these questions of hope that witness truth to the enslaved Indians of Santo Domingo and to his fellow Spaniards.
By lending his voice to the story of the Indians, Montesinos mirrors back to the Spanish Conquistadors their own story of oppression, and participates in the healing and reconciling process for both oppressed and oppressor. He wants the voice and suffering of the Indians in Santo Domingo to be heard.
These questions are much like those any Iraqi would ask today, but the Iraqi would add more questions:
By what authority do you take our future and force us to be like you?
By what right do you fight terrorists on our land instead of your land?
By what right do you carry your guns in our land?
By what right is your invasion filling our cemeteries with a million innocent people and our orphanages with tens of thousands more children?
By what right do you cause the chaos of displacement that has left more than 4 million men, women, and children displaced from their homes and adrift in the world?
What have we done to deserve this kind of life?
Yes, these are the questions the Iraqi people are asking. When we Dominican Sisters went home to Iraq in the summer of 2009, these were the questions on the lips of our parents and siblings, cousins and neighbors.
The most important thing they long for is security.
Even the lack of basic human needs – clean water, a few hours of electricity, decent sanitation and an uninterrupted education – even these needs are less important to them than the freedom to walk on the streets of our villages and cities and not have to fear kidnapping or execution or car bombs.
People are overdosed on violence in Iraq.
The violence is killing their dignity, self-respect, and will to live.
When a loved one cautions care about trips that take them away from their home, the response is often:
Why be careful?
What is the worst that can happen?
They will kill me and you will bury me.
All these things make one ask, is this life? And where is hope?
Iraqis have hope, but our hope is not as most of the world thinks of hope- for a future that requires material things.
Hope for Iraqis is about hope in the present. If we don’t have hope in our present, we can not continue our painful journey.
An Iraqi Dominican brother of ours, Father Yousif Toma, said recently quote:
“We have in Iraq many celebrations that are different every day. They are celebrations of hope.”
He meant, we believe, that our hope is in each other and in the life and relationships that we have today, in this moment.
We mine hope from the rubble and chaos of our country by telling our stories to each other.
There is a saying “No one can understand another’s pain unless they have the same experience.”
It matters to us that the world knows our story.
In this, we share Montesinos passion, and, we hope, his wisdom for using stories to heal and reconcile.
We, oppressed and oppressor alike, need to carry each others’ voices; voices of action and prayer.
Your voices of prayer for us throughout our painful journey are like a walking stick that we Iraqis use to help us stand and keep on standing.
By our mutual attention U.S. and Iraqi Dominicans have the ability to bring healing and reconciliation to each other and to the citizens of our nations.
We can do this because we are gifted by God with what we need, every thing that is in us and among us, to perfect the world.