Daily Prayer for July 31, 2013 Healing and Hope Within Social Injustices The poor, the outcast, the forgotten, the scorned are all over the world, both in distant places and close to home. They live desperate lives. Their health suffers from lack of simple treatments that many of us take for granted. They do the most menial and most dangerous work, if there is any work for them at all. Their children have little hope for the future. Though the poor make up the largest part of the planet’s population, they often are ignored, unheard and oppressed. Everything we know about the life of Jesus tells us this is wrong. Jesus walked with the poor. Jesus visited the most despised, calling them first in the Reign of God over many who would have been considered more worthy. He touched the untouchable, stopped to speak with the sick who lay begging in the street. He had no home. He died with criminals. His parables caution us: if we concern ourselves with nothing greater than our own comfort, if we are indifferent to the world’s injustices, we deny ourselves the opportunity to live a complete life, a life that is as full of meaning as possible. Prayer Lord, in too many ways this world is far from the world You intended. The poor are victimized, discriminated against and ignored. I can know of injustices throughout the world, but often I choose not to know. In my heart I want to change what is wrong, but the task before me is monumental. Inspire us to fill the earth with Your love. Let us build a just world. Open our eyes to see that we must care for all as we would for ourselves. Amen.
Posted on: Wed, 31 Jul 2013 15:26:24 +0000