by Return to Me: Lenten Reflections by Holy Cross 2019
As a child, I remember once asking my grandmother: “Why doesn’t God punish evil people who commit crimes and create so much chaos in the world?” She responded that the “wheat and the weeds had to grow together until the day of harvest.” Today, Jeremiah cries out to the Lord, angered by those who hope to hurt him and desperate for God to discipline them for their actions.
It is difficult to experience or witness injustice in our daily lives. Living in a world where crime, violence and hatred towards marginalized groups are rampant and increasing in their frequency, we can become demoralized. We cry out to God to rescue us. We hope for an immediately better world filled with peace, understanding and empathy. The promise of a brighter future often rings hollow when one has to endure suffering or watch others they love suffer. But as Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. reminds us: “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice.”
I have learned to trust in God’s plan for a better world. Like Jeremiah, my world will be determined partly by my ability to speak truth to power; standing firm in my convictions and my desire for a more just, equitable society.