A Lenten Musing
The realization that a Pope’s Lenten message found its
way to Time magazine raises interesting musings, and I love it! ‘Fast from
indifference and make room in our hearts for the concerns of others, so that we
can begin to feast on love.’ What preaching!
There is so much global suffering that I sometimes wish I
could close off feelings of heartache for a while. Instead, I simply change the
channel. My ministry includes providing job counseling to those who are
struggling, including women and men currently incarcerated. Their faces and
stories live in my heart. In a country that incarcerates more people than any
other country in the world and more men of color than any other group, I wonder
why more hearts don’t ache from the stories and their concerns.
Mass incarceration is a social justice issue – a human
rights issue – that demands our attention, prayer and action. As a society, we cannot
afford disillusionment, indifference, or to choose blindness to injustice and
suffering.
Can we fast from indifference and make room in our hearts
for another Lenten prayer; a prayer of concern for more inclusion in our
caring, love… and a future that includes freedom for us all?
Tanya Williams, OP
St. Louis Park, MN
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