According to Father Ronald Rolheiser,
Social justice tries to look at the system […] within which we live so as to name and change those structural things that account for the fact that some of us are unduly penalized even as others of us are unduly privileged.
The Holy Longing
When we talk about social justice, about establishing God’s justice all around us, it feels like some impossible, ethereal pursuit, doesn’t it? It seems like work for someone else to do, the truly passionate, the truly vocal and powerful. But the kind of justice that exists in the kingdom of God is ours for building. None of us is off the hook. It’s up to us to literally follow Jesus into the world, to bring God’s healing and wholeness, God’s love and peace and unity, to our families and neighborhoods.
Ok, but how? You’d like me to give you a 4 step plan for executing God’s style of justice? Yeah, I’d like that blueprint too. But the truth is, friends, I don’t know what that will look like for you.
I don’t know how Jesus is going to use your specific life, your unique passions and abilities, your connections and place in the community to do justice. Only you can figure that out.
So today I am challenging you to do just that. Figure out how God’s Spirit is urging you to join Jesus in building a kingdom of justice in a world where power and money and conquest rules the day.
Ask Jesus to show you your unique place in God’s Kingdom, for how your quirks and interests and training or lack thereof could be a way to put feet to your faith. Ask for eyes to see the needs in your neighborhood, in your municipality, in your state. Ask for ideas and hopes for the future. Ask for an action plan.
Spend an hour a day in prayer until you know what next. Spend a whole day in prayer asking for wisdom and insight into your place in this world and in God’s Kingdom. Fast and pray for one day every week until you know your next loving thing, the thing that will call out injustice and take part in building something new. Let’s get to work.
