What a balm for the soul of the weary justice advocate is found in the readings for the Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time.
Whatever issue compels you—climate, migration, peace, racial justice, democracy, the dignity of human life—there will be times of great discouragement. This might be one of those times right now. How can those in government not see how important this issue is? How can they ignore calls for change, even when polling suggests those calls are broadly supported? Why are we as a nation so deeply divided that we can no longer pass legislation on most issues?
Moreover, as individuals called to put our Gospel values and Franciscan charism into work for peace and justice, we have probably faced misunderstanding, criticism, and even ridicule. The small sacrifices we make of our time and funds on behalf of just causes might provoke dismissive comments or eyerolls from our friends. Larger sacrifices—for example risking arrest or undertaking travel to stand up for others—might bring objections from members of our families or religious communities. “There s/he goes again, trying to save the world,” they say.
We might even become traumatized by our actions in solidarity with those suffering grave injustice. During a pilgrimage to Assisi a few years ago, I met a woman seeking help for the exhaustion and rage she felt after several years on an international peacemaking team; “I have become a very angry peacemaker,” she said. At one point early in my career, I realized that the ugly details I was learning through field research into extrajudicial killings in the Middle East was putting me in danger of becoming seriously depressed.
The mass readings for next Sunday come as timely help. There is the poignant story from Luke’s Gospel of Jesus rejected by his own friends and neighbors in Nazareth, who liked his words but turned against him when his actions did not meet their expectations. “No prophet is accepted in his own native place”—what a lonely statement that is. Yet as followers of Jesus, should we expect any better treatment in our own native places?
Then there is St. Paul’s reminder to the Corinthians that no matter how right we might think we are, our actions are in vain if done without love. And even when we believe we are acting clearly on behalf of what is right, we are never seeing more than part of the picture, as we can only “know partially” and “see indistinctly, as in a mirror” in this life.
Nonetheless, God promises us unfailing support if we follow the divine call faithfully. How the heart warms to God’s tender reassurance to the prophet Jeremiah regarding his critics: “be not crushed on their account; as though I would leave you crushed before them.” Ultimately, let us hope that when dealing with frustration, discouragement, misunderstanding, criticism—or even the threat of violence—we will be informed by the total nonviolence of Jesus, who that day in Nazareth “passed through the midst of them and went away” in peace.
Michele Dunne, OFS
Executive Director