A Lenten Musing

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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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