“…That he may rule your people righteously *
and the poor with justice.”
and the poor with justice.”
Psalm 72,
Wednesday Lent Two, Morning Prayer, the Daily Office Book, Year One
“Let
your compassion come to me, that I may live,*
for
your law is my delight.”
Psalm 119,Wednesday Lent
Two, Evening Prayer, the Daily Office Book, Year One
I
sometimes feel reluctant to address the concerns of the poor.
Injustice towards the poor and oppressed is an issue God brings forth over and
over throughout the Bible, and in the Old Testament stories, is the main reason
for calamities which fall upon people, cultures and nations. These are warnings
to us and our hubris. My reluctance comes from an unwillingness to deal with my
own poverty, in spirit, heart, mind and body. Addressing the needs and vulnerability
of the poor is a reminder of my own vulnerability, a topic I’m not always
willing to address. But I must. If I am to be able to receive God’s compassion
and healing, I must first accept my poverty, my need for God’s compassion. If I
am to live, truly live as a liberated person, I must accept every aspect of my
persona, and not only that, I must accept God’s law, which is to love, which in
this case is to love myself, in all my failings, and in all my poverty. In
recognizing my poverties, I can find healing in God’s love and be strengthened
to share in the delight of God’s compassion for all of us who are poor in spirit,
heart, mind or body.
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