Homily for 19th Sunday in Ordinary Time
10 August 2025
Readings: Wisdom 18:6-9; Psalm 33; Hebrews 11:1-2,8-19; Luke 12:32-48
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This week we have marked the 80th anniversary of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki while at the same time witnessing Israel’s preparation to take over the whole of Gaza and Russia’s intransigence in negotiating peace in Ukraine. The prospect of peace seems illusory in these places. Wholesale annihilation of innocent non-combatants remains an option.
During the week, Pope Leo said: ‘In our time of mounting global tensions and conflicts, Hiroshima and Nagasaki stand as “symbols of memory” that urge us to reject the illusion of security founded on mutually assured destruction. Instead, we must forge a global ethic rooted in justice, fraternity and the common good.’[1]
Eighty years on, debate continues as to whether America’s dropping of nuclear bombs on Japanese cities resulted in the earlier end of war, and the sparing of even more casualties, military as well as non-combatant. Many people of good will still regard the dropping of the bombs as regrettable though necessary, wrong though still justifiable, or at least forgivable.
Twenty years after the bombs were dropped, the bishops of our church were all but unanimous in their declaration at the Second Vatican Council that ‘The horror and perversity of war is immensely magnified by the increase in the number of scientific weapons. For acts of war involving these weapons can inflict massive and indiscriminate destruction, thus going far beyond the bounds of legitimate defence. … Any act of war aimed indiscriminately at the destruction of entire cities or extensive areas along with their population is a crime against God and man himself. It merits unequivocal and unhesitating condemnation.’[2] The bishops were saying that a comparison of likely consequences was never enough to excuse the targeted killing of masses of defenceless non-combatants.
In 2015, Pope Francis sent a message to the United Nations Conference to Negotiate a Legally Binding Instrument to Prohibit Nuclear Weapons, Leading Towards their Total Elimination, saying: ‘International peace and stability cannot be based on a false sense of security, on the threat of mutual destruction or total annihilation, or on simply maintaining a balance of power. Peace must be built on justice, on integral human development, on respect for fundamental human rights, on the protection of creation, on the participation of all in public life, on trust between peoples, on the support of peaceful institutions, on access to education and health, on dialogue and solidarity. From this perspective, we need to go beyond nuclear deterrence’.[3]
But was anyone listening? Did any world leader change their minds in the wake of such papal utterances?
There are committed Catholics who think that the threat of mutually assured nuclear destruction has maintained the peace in many places this last 80 years.
When Pope Francis visited Hiroshima on 24 November 2019, he declared: ‘With deep conviction I wish once more to declare that the use of atomic energy for purposes of war is today, more than ever, a crime not only against the dignity of human beings but against any possible future for our common home. The use of atomic energy for purposes of war is immoral, just as the possessing of nuclear weapons is immoral… We will be judged on this. Future generations will rise to condemn our failure if we spoke of peace but did not act to bring it about among the peoples on the earth. How can we speak of peace even as we build terrifying new weapons of war?’[4]
The oft repeated papal calls for nuclear disarmament have fallen on deaf ears this past 60 years since Vatican II. Both Russia and the US retain over 5,000 nuclear warheads each. ‘2000 US and Russian weapons remain on high alert, ready to be launched within a decision window of four to eight minutes for each president.’[5] In Gaza and Ukraine, the repeated call of church leaders and other observers for respect for innocent non-combatants continues to fall on deaf ears. Even when the senior leaders of the Israel Defence Forces question the utility of the wholesale destruction of Gaza, the Netanyahu Government continues its quest to take over the whole of Gaza, regardless of the likely wholesale loss of innocent human life.
In today’s gospel, Jesus warns the listener to be ever ready to give an account when the master comes at an hour you do not expect. ‘Blessed are those servants whom the master finds vigilant on his arrival’. ‘Much will be required of the person entrusted with much, and still more will be demanded of the person entrusted with more.’
Are we convinced that ‘Any act of war aimed indiscriminately at the destruction of entire cities or extensive areas along with their population is a crime against God and man himself’?
If so, we come in prayer confessing our powerlessness, failure and inability to bring the necessary changes in our troubled world.
We pray:
Blessed the people the Lord has chosen to be his own.
See, the eyes of the Lord are upon those who fear him,
upon those who hope for his kindness,
To deliver them from death
and preserve them in spite of famine.
Blessed the people the Lord has chosen to be his own.
Our soul waits for the Lord,
who is our help and our shield.
May your kindness, O Lord, be upon us
who have put our hope in you.
Blessed the people the Lord has chosen to be his own.
References
[1] https://www.vatican.va/content/leo-xiv/en/messages/pont-messages/2025/documents/20250714-messaggio-hiroshima-nagasaki.html
[2] Gaudium et Spes, #80 available at https://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-ii_const_19651207_gaudium-et-spes_en.html
[3] See https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/messages/pont-messages/2017/documents/papa-francesco_20170323_messaggio-onu.html
[4] See https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/events/event.dir.html/content/vaticanevents/en/2019/11/24/messaggio-arminucleari-nagasaki.html
[5] See https://johnmenadue.com/post/2025/08/eighty-years-with-the-bomb-how-long-can-our-luck-continue/?utm_source=Pearls+%26+Irritations&utm_campaign=f2163b640c-Daily&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_0c6b037ecb-f2163b640c-583177503
