»A disarmed and disarming peace.«

SOURCE: FRANK HOLLEMAN, UNSPLASH

When I was a boy growing up in Canada, there was a famous advertising campaigns from the business of the body builder Charles Atlas. It was called the »97-pound weakling« The adverts featured a frail young man being humiliated on the beach by a stronger rival, who kicks sand in his face. He uses the Atlas system and develops his muscles and eventually beats the bully up. We cheer wildly, as consider a blow to be struck for justice, for freedom. It is a scene replayed in various forms in countless movies.

Then we hear the biblical stories that reject violence and we cringe. No blows for justice are advocated here, no blows for freedom either. But the biblical stories speak about a real justice and freedom. I find these biblical stories of justice and freedom even more compelling today than I did as a young student. Moreover, I find them even more relevant in a time in which many politicians and business leaders advocate a dog-eat-dog world of ruthless self interest and of unfettered revenge if they are thwarted in any way. Ideas and voices we thought we had long overcome have resurfaced and surged to the forefront of our social and political discourse.

I would like to contrast this to a story taken from the life of David, son of Jesse. It can serve as an excellent example for us all. The story is found in 1 Samuel 26, 2-23. Retribution and revenge are the twin demons taunting David in the Wilderness of Ziph. Under the cover of protective darkness David and his men sneak into the encampment and find a sleeping Saul lying at their feet. Immediately Abishai offers to free David from every problem he has in life by skewering the wicked king with his spear. The temptation is fierce. Saul is a man who has wronged David in every way. David has been nothing was faithful, generous and loyal to his king. Saul, on the other hand, rewards this fidelity and friendship with bitter jealousy and a desire to murder the one man who has brought victory to the nation and secured his throne. Saul hunts David like an animal, with a heart set on homicide.

One spear thrust would do it. There would be no penalty involved for David. Abishai offers to do the deed, keeping David’s hands clean of any blood. The army, though accompanying Saul, openly favours David and adores him as a great soldier. The people praise him in the streets. Like MacBeth before Duncan, David is only one savage blow from the kingship.

Yet, David refuses to kill the king. He bids Abishai to hold his hand. »Do not destroy him; for who can raise his hand against the Lord’s anointed and be guiltless?« Do not be deceived. David is not being held back by chivalry or by fear of committing murder. The danger he perceives is very much a spiritual problem. If he kills Saul, he will become the exactly like the man he murders. He will become what he despises.

If we turn our attention to Saul, we can see the nature of David’s dilemma. The king’s sin is essentially the same as that of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, namely the sin of seizure. Having been richly blessed with the fruits of every other tree in Eden, the first couple seizes the only fruit God has withheld from them. Having been graced beyond measure with power, possessions and privilege, Saul seizes the kingship and refuses to share sovereignty with God. Saul chooses seizure over service.

All this is mirrored in David’s eyes as he looks down upon the slumbering king. One thrust of the spear and he will have all of which he ever dreamt, yet he will have seized the kingship from God as surely as Saul did. If he kills Saul, he will become the very man he murders. He will become what he despises.

Thus, David’s refusal to retaliate is not mere nobility. Far more, it is rooted in the deep desire not to become the monster that sleeps at his feet. It is founded in the yearning to be a different king, a faithful servant of God and of God’s beloved people. He can have the kingship for a killing. He simply cannot have a kingship shared with God, marked by mercy, and forged of fidelity if he authorises Saul’s assassination.

In the months since his election, Pope Leo XIV has frequently used the phrase »a disarmed and disarming peace«. Tirelessly and relentlessly, he has rejected every form of violence that is being suggested as a solution for problems throughout the world. He is a true son of David, knowing that this willingness to strike the blow will not change the problems we face, but it will change us into people who become a new problem for the life of the world. We, too, cannot have a rich and rewarding relationship with God, marked by mercy, and forged of fidelity if authorize violence, aggression and death.

At the end of my reflection, I invite you to join me in praying for Pope Leo, who was diagnosed with lung cancer while I am writing these words. In a world resounding with the voices of injustice, violence, racism, intolerance and discrimination, advocating hatred of minorities and incarceration and deportation of migrants, we can ill afford to lose such a man who incorporates the best of our faith, to lose a voice that speaks in the words and the tone of the Gospel. May God grant him a full and speedy recovery.

Erik Riechers SAC

Vallendar, October 15th, 2026