Is this not the fasting I have chosen: To loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke. Isaiah 58:6
TS Eliot said that in our attempts to bring about justice throughout history, we seek to find "systems so perfect that no one will need to be good." This is hard to imagine...especially for you this year. :)
The last century held its fair share of revolutionary attempts to find the perfect, just society--that included massacres, misery, and massive injustices of their own. Sometimes our cries for justice are so politicized by ideology, even the jargon of justice can get shallow.
But God is passionate about justice (yes, love and anger). God calls people into politics, prisons, and poor communities in Nicaragua to loose the chains of injustice and take opportunities tear them out by the roots. All of this takes much wisdom--and not just our own wisdom--but God's.
Sometimes justice is a cup of cold water. More often it's a process.... It's breaking out of our own self-centeredness and listening to the voice of compassion within us. That prophet Bob Dylan said, "What good am I if I turn away when I see how you are dressed?"
Only you are the Just Judge of all, God. Search our hearts so that we can be part of the solution and not the root of the problem of injustice. Amen.
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