We stayed with our old friend Terry Sullivan Prevey. Some of you may recall that she contributed art to the Spiritual Life Institute’s Desert Call magazine in the seventies and eighties. The photos above capture Terry and me in party costumes at Nova Nada Hermitage in the late seventies and this month in Prescott. We haven’t changed a bit!

Convivencia can seem like sheer fantasy as Israel/Palestine flows with blood yet again. Hamas rivals the barbarism of ISIS in its indefensible kidnapping and killing of civilian Jews, many of whom supported Palestinian rights and opposed the Occupation. And Israel’s reaction is likely to be devastating to Gaza’s already impoverished population of two million, half of whom are children. So many innocents caught in the crossfire.

 I listen to voices I respect, such as Rabbi Marc Gopin and Jewish Voice for Peace. Gopin notes that a traditional Muslim wrote him the first consoling message from a non-Jew: “I reach out to say how terribly sorry I am for the horrific and reprehensible attacks in Israel this past weekend. The deliberate targeting of innocents, and the magnitude of the horror that took place is beyond comprehension.”

 Listening is crucial. New York Times columnist Michelle Goldberg reminds us that truth is the first casualty of war, and social media’s metastatic dissemination of falsehoods magnifies this adage’s insight. We hear a report, we hear who allegedly perpetrated an atrocity, and we cry out. The next day we find out we were wrong, or at least inaccurate. This seems to be the case in the recent bombing of a hospital in Gaza. “As this hideous war grinds on,” Goldberg writes, “there will almost certainly be other enormities. We will only compound the horrors if we pretend to be instantly certain about them.”

Shalom/Peace/Salaam: Fr. Dave and Tessa with the Three Interfaith Amigos in Denver, Colorado

The question of “taking sides” comes up. Some partisans want us to believe that there are only two sides. But I was profoundly moved by Colm McCann’s novel Apeirogon. If you want to know more about today’s unfolding tragedy, this book provides a heartbreaking context. Unless you are a total geometry geek, you likely need to look up the word apeirogon. It’s a polygon with an infinite number of sides. By telling the story of two friends, one Israeli and one Palestinian, McCann takes us into the myriad “angles” of these friends’ griefs. Who is on the “right” angle?

 Like many others, I want to take the side of the children.

If you wish to donate to support humanitarian efforts in Israel/Palestine, National Public Radio suggests this list of organizations.

 If “apeirogon” suggests a reality with an infinite number of sides, the experience of nonduality that many contemplatives experience offers another insight: there is only one side, one race, one family. And we are all immersed in one Mystery. We rise or fall together. Some people who have experienced this are members of the Parents Circle Family Forum. I look to them and their American friends for hope, wisdom, and healing.

 The world has changed dramatically since my more hopeful post about Israel/Palestine and Omaha’s Tri-Faith Initiative just after August’s Parliament of the World’s Religions. But non-violent resistance and conversion is the only way to forge a just peace. In the meantime, our hearts break, and the weight of grief increases. May we trust the deep dark heartbeat of Reality that throbs with compassion and love and renews the face of the earth.