Hearing the cries

The church would betray its own love for God and its fidelity to the Gospel, if it stopped being a defender of the rights of the poor, or a humanizer of every legitimate struggle to achieve a more just society… 

 

When the church hears the cry of the oppressed it cannot but denounce the social structures that give rise to and perpetuate the misery from which the cry arises

                     Archbishop Oscar Romero      

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Do you hear the cries of the oppressed?

Do you see the tears of those marginalized and minimized?

Those cast aside,

Excluded,

Holy Ghosted?*

 

Do we see the LGBTQI youth

homeless, rejected

by family and church?

 

the person, homeless and hopeless

while working 2 minimum wage jobs?

 

the refuge, tired and worn down

driven from their home by poverty, violence

corporate plunder

and climate change?

 

the person with mental illness

mutter her way down the street

lost to the voices in her head?

 

Do we see them?

Do we care?

Are we willing to move beyond thoughts and prayers

to that place of costly action,

following Jesus’ staggering steps to the cross?

 

Are we willing to let go,

as Jesus did, our rights, our need for power and affluence

our desire for ascendance?

 

are we willing to stand up

and speak out

saying

as Jesus said on the Cross,

“this stops here!”

 

Jesus came to preach good news to the poor

to fight for justice

to bring healing and reconciliation

 

how can we be followers,

how can we be the ongoing incarnation,

how can we be the “body of Christ”,

 

if we succumb to toxic individualism?

if we neglect the poor?

if we protect the status quo (because it benefits us)?

if we turn away the stranger?

if we embrace the way of abusive and violent domination?

If we dehumanize those who are different, or with who we disagree?

 

When the church chooses earthly power

political influence

domination and wealth

exclusion and retribution

 

it betrays its love of God and its fidelity to the Gospel

and blocks the transfiguration of the earth

the universal resurrection

the coming of a new heaven and a new earth

 

friends

we must hear the cries of the anguished

we must hear the cries of the angry

 

we must stand up and speak out

we must put our very selves on the line

 

we must be the ongoing incarnation

the sacrificial and redeeming

presence of Love