By Brendan McKeague

As I pondered on the meaning of the Easter cycle just past, my mind wandered back to my childhood in Ireland where the term ‘Easter Rising’ held a different meaning for those of us growing up in the turbulence of “the troubles.”

On Easter Monday, 1916, a bunch of rebels took possession of the main Post Office in O’Connell Street, Dublin, to proclaim Ireland as a republic and reclaim sovereignty over the land controlled by the British for the previous several hundred years. The rebellion was ended swiftly within a few days by the overwhelming force of British troops and armoury. Retribution was immediate, punitive and vengeful. The leaders and their mates were executed a short time later.

As events unfolded in the fullness of time, this brave and intentional stand for the freedom of Ireland confirmed the resolve among its people to rid themselves of the foreign power that controlled their country and a few short years later, in 1918, the next stage of the journey continued until Ireland was proclaimed a republic in 1920. Thus the Easter Rising continued beyond the ‘blood-sacrifice’ and martyrdom of the battle while the spirit of the rebels outlived their dying, even to this day.

The same scenarios are being played out in contemporary conflicts all over the world today as  insurgents embody and glorify the necessity to die for your country, whether it be Ireland, Palestine, Israel, Iraq or Chechnya.

How sharp the contrast with the life and death of Jesus. In recent weeks I was reflecting on the cycle of his final days, especially his intentional and purposeful journey towards Jerusalem, the city that represented the real and symbolic centre of powers in the country. Here was the temple centre of the Jewish religion, here was the military headquarters of the Roman occupation and here too was the nutrient, self-perpetuating breeding ground for martyr-rebels. The veritable capital of religious, military and terrorist might.  All of these needed to be confronted lovingly, by the internally-prompted, gentle force of a nonviolent, compassionate and unconditionally loving God.

With no band of fanatical followers to back him up, no great earthly dream of socio-political liberation to form a cause that others would willingly die for, no ‘power-over’ aspirations, no hierarchical positions to offer the faithful aides after the insurgents’ victory, Jesus was left to discern his own actions in response to a call towards transformation – his own and that of the world.

A simple man, standing alone before all the powers that the world could muster against him, neither shrinking from his life-purpose nor violating others as he doggedly went about the business of establishing a different kind of power-base, a different model of ‘being and doing’ here on earth, ‘as it is in heaven’. Jesus chose to carry his mission on his scourged back to the forlorn hill-top where his faithful followers, and anyone else who had formed an opinion about his relationship with the divine, would be able to see quite clearly how his life would end. How violent and inglorious the horror of the crucifixion and, as we are continuously reminded today, how devastating the seemingly endless capacity of humans to make others suffer rather than seek to understand what ‘difference’ really means.

And what followed? The nonviolent ‘Easter Rising’ that still influences the world today, the ever-present power of the resurrection has led to billions of people seeking to touch the heaven that lies within. By courageously confronting the dominant powers of ‘redemptive violence’, they have engaged, willingly and passionately, in their own paschal cycles of suffering, death and resurrection.
In my adopted country of Australia, I look around me for signs of this archetypal cycle in evidence these days and I see plenty to suggest that the Easter Rising will outlive us all.

The current Australian government, recently elected for a fourth consecutive term of office,  continues to be well supported among the voting majority, with it’s neo-conservative policies and beliefs in never-ending economic growth, in strong militaristic persuasive force, in being even tougher on both asylum-seekers and locally-bred criminals, in cracking down on organised labour movements and in paying lip-service to addressing planetary sustainability concerns.

And yet alongside these major characteristics of the democratically elected government, a nation of people has responded with enormous compassion to the horrific disaster of the tsunami-ravaged region of South East Asia, displaying a heartfelt out-pouring of grief and genuine empathy. How paradoxical that we seek to separate ourselves from our neighbours and connect with them in solidarity at one and the same time?

I see other great signs of the Easter Rising unfolding in this country at present.  There will be a National Nonviolence Gathering at the end of April where many passionate and energetic folks from around the country will consider how we expand nonviolence…‘From Personal Journey to Social Change - creating the vision and planning the actions’.

There will be a Pace E Bene gathering at the end of November to consider how we might further grow the work of Pace E Bene in Australia.  There is a strong and vibrant Decade to Overcome Violence movement in the country while the Australian Catholic Bishops recently released their annual Social Justice Statement entitled “Peace Be With You – Cultivating a Culture of Peace.”

I continue to see growing experimentation with alternative models of peace-making and sustainable development of communities and people. The expansion of restorative justice as a model for dealing with offending behaviours, the increase in sustainable eco-village development, the use of Open Space technology to create spaces for dealing nonviolently with contentious and conflictual issues, the growing interest in schools for developing nonviolent conflict skills and processes - Easter is rising all around the continent.

Clarissa Pinkola Estes suggests that “one of the most calming and powerful actions you can do to intervene in a stormy world is to stand up and show your soul.”  

Indeed that is why each of us is here. We have been ‘made for these times’, to rise up and show our souls, as the Irish rebels did according to their ways in 1916 and as Jesus did according to his way two thousand years previously. The challenge is in discerning just how we are to do this here and now  - how are we to participate in the Easter Rising that is deeply embedded in the daily patterns of our living and dying?

This piece was published in the March 2005 edition of The Wolf, Pace e Bene’s newsletter.