Tuesday of the Second Week of Lent
Reading 1 IS 1:10, 16-20
Hear the word of the LORD, princes of Sodom! Listen to the instruction of our God, people of Gomorrah! Wash yourselves clean! Put away your misdeeds from before my eyes; cease doing evil; learn to do good. Make justice your aim: redress the wronged, hear the orphan's plea, defend the widow. Come now, let us set things right, says the LORD: Though your sins be like scarlet, they may become white as snow; Though they be crimson red, they may become white as wool. If you are willing, and obey, you shall eat the good things of the land; But if you refuse and resist, the sword shall consume you: for the mouth of the LORD has spoken!
Meditation:
Throughout the Scriptures, both in the Old and New Testaments, is the appeal to justice both in the tangible and intangible practice. Isaiah gives us the Lord's command:
"cease doing evil; learn to do good. Make justice your aim: redress the wronged, hear the orphan's plea, defend the widow."
The orphan and the widow both literally and figuratively represent the marginalized, the weak, the powerless in our society.
How does a people who call themselves 'christian' or a nation that spouts slogans such as 'one nation under God' or ' in God we trust' repeatedly fail to concentrate on the Godly work of promoting justice and not turning the back on the poor, the sick, the lame, the widow and the orphan? Again these are not just individual groups and classes; in the eyes of God they represent the weak and the powerless.
It is not too late to return to the God of Mercy.
"Come now, let us set things right, says the LORD: Though your sins be like scarlet, they may become white as snow; Though they be crimson red, they may become white as wool. If you are willing, and obey, you shall eat the good things of the land; But if you refuse and resist, the sword shall consume you: for the mouth of the LORD has spoken!"
This is for the individual and the society alike.
Lent calls but how will we respond?
Peace.
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