“Seek peace and pursue it,” the psalmist implores those who long for life (Psalm 34:14). This ancient prayer, more than 3000 years old, echoes loudly and incessantly these days in so many parts of our world, most especially, it seems to me, in the land where it was first prayed – Israel/Palestine, writes Congregational Leader Sister Catherine McCahill.

“Seek peace and pursue it,” the psalmist implores those who long for life (Psalm 34:14). This ancient prayer, more than 3000 years old, echoes loudly and incessantly these days in so many parts of our world, most especially, it seems to me, in the land where it was first prayed – Israel/Palestine.

Writing to the early Christian community, the author of the Letter of Peter exhorts those who wish to see “good days” to “seek peace and pursue it.” (1 Peter 3:10-11) Four hundred years later, St Benedict writing his Rule for monks uses the same Psalm.

For countless generations, the Judaeo-Christian community has prayed and continues to pray for peace. This is not a passive praying, the invitation, the demand, is to “pursue” peace.

In the past week, Israelis and Palestinians marked the anniversary since Hamas militia terrorised southern Israel and Israel declared war on Hamas. On 7 October 2023, 1200 Israelis lost their lives and more than 250 were taken hostage. Some of these hostages have since died or been killed, with about 100 still captive, according to estimates.

I cannot imagine the anguish, the grief and the distress of the Israeli families who have been impacted. What must it be like to wonder if a son or daughter, parent or child will be returned to the family, alive or dead, whole or maimed for life in body or spirit? To picture them in the tunnels in Gaza is unimaginable.

The “war” that Israel declared on Hamas that day continues. More than 40,000 Palestinians have died in Gaza, including many women and children. Hundreds of thousands of people have been repeatedly displaced, wounded, starved and forced to shelter in makeshift arrangements or sleep in the open. “I feel fear all the time. There is no peace,” I heard a Palestinian exclaim to a news reporter.

Again, the suffering is unimaginable, and keeps spreading – Lebanon, Iran. How will this end? Are the calls for a ceasefire just wishful thinking? What happens if the retaliation on both sides, or multiple sides, continues to escalate?

What happens to the children, the women and men in Gaza, Israel, the West Bank, Lebanon, Iran and the surrounding countries?

In Australia, we are seeing new tensions within our own community. Protests, graffiti and vilification are on the rise. We see and hear some politicians endeavour to be bipartisan while others align themselves with one side or another.

This is the context in which I hear and pray with the ancient psalmist and today’s Jews and Christians for whom this Psalm is part of the liturgy – seek peace and pursue it.

In September, I joined other leaders of women Benedictine communities for the Congress of Benedictine Abbots in Rome. The Abbots and Priors included the leaders of the communities at Mount Zion, Jerusalem, and Abu Gosh, Israel. I was keen to hear their perspective.

Louis-Marie Coudray OSB has lived at Abu Gosh, on the road between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, for 40 years. His advice was sobering; we need to listen to all sides. He spoke of the daily challenge of staying with the people, attentive to their needs and stories, their history and current reality.

With the death toll rising and the entrenched position of leaders in the conflict zone, it might be easy to take sides, to give an opinion, or to know the solution.

In my local community in Sydney, I could easily take a position. How readily I get drawn into conversation and opinion about the rallies, the protests, the rights and wrongs of the situation, the needs of the people – Jews, Palestinians, Lebanese, Iranians – in this community.

For me, truly listening to and engaging with the stories and the realities of all sides requires discipline and courage. Somehow, it would be more comfortable to say, “It is happening over in the Middle East and too complex for me to understand.” It would be easier to apportion blame, vilify one side and applaud the other.

Wherever there is conflict the pursuit of peace requires, in the words of Terrence Kardong OSB, “long-term, dogged effort to ‘make peace,’ that is, (to) do those deeds that build a solid human foundation for true peace.” Likewise, commenting on the Psalm from which we take this verse, Peter Craigie contends:

Wars arise within human beings and are activated by evil speech and action; conversely, peace is not a natural environment in the world of sinful human beings, but an environment which must be sought and pursued.

For me, if I am to “seek peace and pursue it” I must guard my words, I must censor the words and ideas that are circulating in the media. I need to actively seek out and be open to other perspectives, explore alternative views and, uncomfortable as it may be, acknowledge that there are many sides to this conflict.