Children at Catholic Worker House
help to speak the message

The first day back from any trip, even a five day one up north with my grandchildren, seems to be a fast one of catching up. After catching up with my sleep I went to the SHARE warehouse sale of food, worked a little on my home garden, and then went to a nonviolent action in front of the arena where Marquette University was having its Graduation Mass. We stood outside the entrance with our signs of Teach War No More and MU Be Faithful to the Gospel, No Longer Host Military Departments. Many thousands came into the arena but tried to avoid looking at the signs. We have some flyers explaining our message but few would take them. Some were even hostile to our presence, even though our message was one to teach Gospel Values at Marquette. It was a good example of people not wanting to hear a message even though it was one preached by their religious faith. One person asked me if I had nothing better to do. I said I would rather be working on my garden but felt compelled to speak the message of my faith.

Yesterday when I spoke to middle school students in Green Bay on the Pilgrimage of Peace I started the slide show with a quote from Mahatma Gandhi: “My Life is my message. You must be the change you wish to see in the world.” Today I got a chance to live that quote by speaking a simple moral message that people did not want to see or hear.

Moving from work in the garden to speaking in action a moral message seemed to be natural. Working in the garden you can communicate your message without words, not even a sign. Communicating a message to the university on a moral issue seems to take words, and unlike a garden often does not seem to produce a harvest. But what else can we do but be true to our nature?

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