Reflection
The Lord God will wipe away the tears from every face;
the reproach of his people he will remove from the whole earth…
Isaiah 25:6-10a
This vision is made concrete whenever we work to include those on the outside – those without power – minorities, women, immigrants, the elderly, the sick, those who don’t fit our expectations and priorities. This is a vision of freedom. It is the opposite of the spirit that leaves a large percentage of the children in the US in poverty. It is the opposite of the spirit of war and terrorism. It is the very opposite of the spirit that puts us in a world of radical economic inequality and injustice. It is the opposite of hostility toward those whop come seeking work and safety. It is contrary to so many of the ‘ungodly’ spirits around us. The vision of Isaiah is the vision of a God who wants good things for all people, who provides for everyone generously, who destroys divisions, a God who loves us – a God with a liberating set of values- a God who wants to bring us together in a new way.
Prayer
That all may be one.
Action
Read Isaiah 25:6-10a. Compare that vision with our present situation. What choices do we have as a faithfilled people?
Suggested Reading
“The kingdom of heaven may be likened to a king
who gave a wedding feast for his son.
He dispatched his servants
to summon the invited guests to the feast,
but they refused to come…
Then he said to his servants, ‘The feast is ready,
but those who were invited were not worthy to come.
Go out, therefore, into the main roads
and invite to the feast whomever you find.’
The servants went out into the streets
and gathered all they found, bad and good alike,
and the hall was filled with guests.”
Matthew 22:1-10
We are to be a united Church searching all together for peace and justice, working together as women and men, faithful to Jesus Christ.
Pope Leo XIV
Let us be renewed by God’s mercy … and let us become agents of this mercy, channels through which God can water the earth, protect all creation and make justice and peace flourish.
Pope Francis
I want to live in a world where people become famous because of their work for peace and justice and care. I want the famous to be inspiring; their lives an example of what every human being has it in them to do — act from love!
Patch Adams
I cannot accept that to be realistic means to tolerate misery, violence and hate. I do not believe that the hungry man should be treated as subversive for expressing his suffering. I shall never accept that the law can be used to justify tragedy, to keep things as they are, to make us abandon our ideas of a different world. Law is the path of liberty, and must as such open the way to progress for everyone.
Oscar Arias Sanchez
Justice from Love, and Love from Justice.
Bishop Carlos Belo
Instead of building the peace by attacking injustices like starvation, disease, illiteracy, political and economic servitude, we spend a trillion dollars on war since 1946, until hatred and conflict have become the international preoccupation.
Daniel Berrigan
Let us never cease to feel compassion for those in want. Let us never tire of helping victims of injustice and oppression. He who puts his faith in the restoration of human dignity cannot be wrong.
Poul Hartling
You must work – we must all work to make the world worthy of its children.
Pablo Casals
You cannot hope to build a better world without improving the individuals. To that end each of us must work for his or her own improvement, and at the same time share a general responsibility for all humanity, our particular duty being to aid those to whom we think we can be most useful.
Marie Curie