|
From the Gospel according
to Saint Matthew 26:62-66
And the High Priest
stood up and said, “Have you no answer to make? What is it that
these men testify against you? But Jesus was silent. And the High
Priest said to him, “I adjure you by the living God, tell us if you
are the Christ, the Son of God.” Jesus said to him, “You have said
so. But I tell you, hereafter you will see the Son of man seated at
the right hand of Power, and coming on the clouds of heaven.” Then
the High Priest tore his robes, and said, “He has uttered blasphemy.
What do we still need witnesses? You have now heard his blasphemy.
What is your judgement? They answered, “He deserves death.”
MEDITATION
In every land, there have
been innocent persons who suffered, people who died fighting for
freedom, equality or justice. Those who struggle on behalf of God’s
little ones are promoting God’s own work. For he presses for the
rights of the weak and the oppressed.[1]
Whoever collaborates in this work, in the spirit of Jesus, brings
hope to the oppressed and offers a corrective message to the
evildoer himself.
Jesus’ manner of struggling
for justice is not to rouse the collective anger of people against
the opponent, so that they are led into forms of greater injustice.
On the contrary, it is to challenge the foe with the rightness of
one’s cause and evoke the good will of the opponent in such a
way that injustice is renounced through persuasion and a change of
heart. Mahatma Gandhi brought this teaching of Jesus on non-violence
into public life with amazing success.
|
Handicapped
accessible.