Reading the story of the war between the Israelites and the Philistines sounds like current events. Substitute the names of the protagonists into Israelis and Palestinians and you have the same basic narrative. Three thousand years of conflict with no end in sight. What is clear in looking at the account in First Samuel is that no magic bullet will make it all better. The Israelites thought that bringing the Ark of the Covenant into the battle would turn the tide in their favor. It didn’t. The long painful history of the Chosen People, and now the Christian people, proves that the only thing that makes things better is the courageous work of human encounter. God only intervenes by using the gifts that have been given to each one of us. What are required are not thunderbolts from on high but the willingness of all parties to work even with those who are “other” to find a way that leads to peace, to justice, to compassion.
