Oddwalk Ministries

Category: bible

bible, catholicism, JesusJusticeJoy, Justice, lent, ministry, reflection, scripture

Justice Can Be Hard to Define

Justice shall we pursue…

It’s quite likely you’ve seen an image on the internet the last couple of years that looks like this one – or at least looks like the first two panels of this one.  Usually, the first two panels are meant to describe the difference between equality and justice.  That image has always been appealing to me (Orin), but has also bothered me for a reason I at first couldn’t quite put my finger on.

Then the other day, I saw this version, and that particular cloud was lifted from my eyes.  It was that the barrier in front of the people trying to see the baseball game was still in place.  I immediately thought of the experiences Shannon and I have with the summer teen work and learning camp Young Neighbors in Action – youngneighbors.org – in which we often talk about not just filling the cracks that those who most need are help are falling through, but asking why those cracks are there in the first place.  The graphic talks about equality, equity, and justice.  Some before had called the second panel justice, where what justice really is, and what our faith calls us to pursue, is in that third panel.  Mercy might be the act of showing kindness and support to those suffering any affliction; justice is attempting to remove that oppression from our midst.  Click the image to take a closer look.

Isaiah 58:6-10 tells us:

Is this not, rather, the fast that I choose:
releasing those bound unjustly,
untying the thongs of the yoke;
Setting free the oppressed,
breaking off every yoke?

Is it not sharing your bread with the hungry,
bringing the afflicted and the homeless into your house;
Clothing the naked when you see them,
and not turning your back on your own flesh?

Then your light shall break forth like the dawn,
and your wound shall quickly be healed;
Your vindication shall go before you,
and the glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard.

Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer,
you shall cry for help, and he will say: “Here I am!”
If you remove the yoke from among you,
the accusing finger, and malicious speech;

If you lavish your food on the hungry
and satisfy the afflicted;
Then your light shall rise in the darkness,
and your gloom shall become like midday.

 

When you do good works in the world, are they acts of equality, equity, mercy, or justice?  All are needed, but true works of justice are ones that might strip away even the need for the other three.  Do you help people see over the fence, or do you take that fence away?  Difficult questions for all of us, myself included.  Something to pray about this week as we enter into Lent, a time for (among other things) service and self-sacrifice.   Orin

bible, liturgy, oddwalkia, reflection

Another “Any Given Sunday” Reflection

Shannon’s turn again at Any Given Sunday – take a read!

First, check out the Sunday readings here!

“The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want…” This line, from Psalm 23, is one of the most recognizable lines in all of scripture. I know I’ve heard it most often when someone is worried or afraid and is in need of a few words of comfort. What does it mean, though? What does it mean for us? For you?

Let’s break down the line, “The Lord is my shepherd”, word by word. If you were to say, “The LORD is my shepherd”, you would be making a pretty definitive (and very powerful) statement about how your life is ordered. Letting ANYONE else tell you what to do is hard. Giving your life over to a God you believe in through faith, but cannot always see in a conventional way, can be very difficult. It might even make you look a bit crazy to those who do not know the Lord. That is, however, what our Lord requires. Remember what Jesus said to his disciples: “Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me…” Jesus said that right after calling Peter ‘Satan’ for questioning that Jesus’ life would end by being killed at the hands of the chief priests and elders. Peter, no doubt, feared that his own life could end the same way. This is the same Peter, though, who in our first reading today was able to stand up and publicly say: “Let the whole house of Israel know for certain that God has made both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.” No longer was Peter afraid of where discipleship with Jesus might lead him. Through faith, and filled with the Holy Spirit, Peter could confidently state who Jesus was and is. Jesus is Lord. The LORD is my shepherd. Can you say the same thing?

Next, if you were to say, “The Lord is MY shepherd”, you are making this faith VERY personal. In the Gospel today, Jesus says things like: “…and the sheep hear his voice, as the shepherd calls his own sheep by name and leads them out…” and “…the sheep follow him, because they recognize his voice…” This suggests a shepherd (God) who is interested in being very close to His sheep (us). That is very Good News. And God has done God’s part in all of this, affording us all the opportunity to be extremely close to Him through the sacraments, through prayer, doing service in God’s name, and even through devotionals like adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. Are you doing your part to grow closer to God? Are you taking advantage of these opportunities, or are you making God do all the work?

Finally, if you were to say, “The Lord is my SHEPHERD”, you are stating without a doubt that you recognize God as your leader/guide and know that your role is to be part of the flock. It can be very difficult to see ourselves this way. After all, God created us unique and special, right? Right, but all of us have in common the urge to sin, the need for God and others, a shared mortality, etc. Recognizing that we are part of a community with God at the head, a community that leans on one another in good times and bad, can help us to be free of this need to live our lives on our own and for ourselves. Let God be your shepherd and be free! As Jesus says in today’s Gospel: “…I came so that they might have life and have it more abundantly.” Let God tell you what that ‘life’ is supposed to be about. Then you can say with confidence, “The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want”.

bible, liturgy, oddwalkia, reflection

Orin’s Contribution to Any Given Sunday

Here’s Orin’s most recent contribution to the great resource Any Given Sunday:

Click here to view the readings from the USCCB

Perfection – raise your hand if you’ve ever gotten a 100 on a quiz.  I have; but I also recall a time when I saw that grade on the top of a test or a paper, and knew, really, that I could have done better.  I didn’t answer a question fully, I misspelled something, the teacher overlooked an obvious error, rushing to get everything graded.  Raise your hand if you’ve ever planned a party to perfection – right down to the last detail, only to have the guest of honor arrive early, or the cake fall to the floor, or some other disaster occur.  Truth be told, we often strive for perfection but rarely ever achieve it.

Yet that is what Jesus asks of His disciples in this Sunday’s Gospel: “So be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect.”  Whoa.  Be perfect like God the Father is perfect?  Talk about an unattainable goal.  It’s nearly unreasonable, this challenge placed before us.  For mere earthlings, humans with the stain of sin, it sounds impossible, at least while we are still living on Earth.  We know though, that Jesus never calls us to things we can’t attain somehow, someday. You’ve heard maybe that God doesn’t call the gifted, He gifts the called.  In what ways can we work, with God’s help, toward this perfection God asks for?

Well, take a look at the first reading, where God asks the Israelites to “be holy” because God is holy.  A definition I like for the word holy is to be “whole” – that is, to be complete.  Especially within our faith lives and journeys, our goal is that wholeness, that unity and oneness with God. The Lord tells Moses how he should instruct the Israelites on that same journey: to not keep hatred for one another, to not pursue revenge, and to love all. The Psalm continues the teaching – the Lord is kind and merciful, and so should we be.  The word mercy sums up this journey, doesn’t it?  Be merciful to those around you in need.  Be merciful to those around you who harm and persecute you.  Be merciful to yourself when you fall short of the life God asks of each of us. In fact, when Luke writes this same teaching in his Gospel, he doesn’t use the word perfect, he uses – you guessed it – the word merciful instead.  Paul’s epistle to the Corinthians adds the layer of humility, and in fact reverence, for what God has created in you, the human being.  No one belongs to Paul, or Apollos, or to Cephas: all belong to the Lord.  And it is in belonging to the Lord, on a journey to holiness, with mercy toward one another and toward ourselves, and aware of the mercy the Lord has shown on each of us, that we ultimately can be perfect, just as our heavenly Father is perfect.