Renouncing Violence Practice from the Monastic Tradition

In the book Renouncing Violence, Sr. Mary Margaret Funk takes a uniquely monastic view of violence and its end. There are no charts or graphs on violence, but rather windows into her monastic practice, wisdom, and faith. I enjoyed and learned the most from her personal stories and self-reflection, going deep into her own anger, searching for a solution and ultimately finding it. Her understanding of thoughts and where they came from, helped along by her many years of work with Buddhists was particularly interesting and useful. The phrase, `World peace begins with inner peace' seems to be the heart and soul of this book.

This is a necessary book at a time when, as Meg Funk puts it, we are `in a global bad mood,' and angry voices and violent actions grab the headlines. She makes a convincing argument that the Christian tradition—in Scripture, in the life and death of Jesus, in the coming of the Holy Spirit, and in the practice of prayer—offers a way out of retaliation and violence. As challenging as this book is, it is also reassuring: if the renunciation of violence is our response to the magnitude of God's love for us, Funk asserts that it is the Spirit who gives us the capacity to find our way to reconciliation and peace.

In the face of almost overwhelming anger and violence active in our culture and world-at-large, we ask, `How can we bring about healing and reconciliation?' Sr. Mary Margaret Funk offers a means: inner work. With the grace of the Holy Spirit, we can train our minds to uproot angry thoughts and actions that fuel violence in our world. Renouncing Violence is a timely, important, and practical guide to the necessary inner work to become vessels of healing in our world.

In the current time, violence is pervasive and pronounced. Violence grips our collective and individual spirits. In her book, Renouncing Violence, Sr. Meg Funk skillfully invites us to return to the deep-seated roots of the monastic tradition in an effort to renounce that which has taken hold of us during this tenuous and volatile time. By renouncing violence in all forms, we rediscover who we are and return to that which we are called to be—people of love and compassion, becoming healers for that which violence has destroyed. As Sr. Meg emphatically states throughout her book, in renouncing violence we shift from harm to healing. Renouncing Violence is needed now more than ever. The book invites us all to practice training our minds and hearts from self-consciousness to God-consciousness for a world in desperate need of peace, reconciliation, and freedom from the forces of evil.

Once again Sister Meg has taken the ancient desert spirituality and made it meaningful for twenty-first century city dwellers. She has a wonderful way of being faithful to her Roman Catholic tradition while stretching us to experience God's all-encompassing compassionate love. Meg turns the tables on some age-old interpretations of Jesus' behavior in the temple; the wrathful God who demands atonement for our sins and the Church as God's instrument for punishment.

She is an excellent teacher. As a Benedictine living in Mexico and often surrounded by violence, I might have preferred a `quick fix' to my situation; but then anyone who knows Meg Funk would never go to her for easy, `out-there' solutions to their problems. A word of advice: don't miss the appendices.

One of the truly necessary books for all of us living in a time when we are `in a global bad mood.' From the pen a writer who consistently moves us in God's direction.

Sister Meg’s new book challenges us to do the inner work necessary to uproot angry thoughts and actions. Deeply rooted in the monastic tradition and an excellent teacher, she offers a practical guide which many will find helpful. It is an important contribution in light of today’s culture and the political climate of our country.