Mi 6: 1-4, 6-8
Hear what the Lord says:
Rise, plead your case before the mountains,
and let the hills hear your voice.
Hear, you mountains, the controversy of the Lord,
and you enduring foundations of the earth;
for the Lord has a controversy with his people,
and he will contend with Israel.
‘O my people, what have I done to you?
In what have I wearied you? Answer me!
For I brought you up from the land of Egypt,
and redeemed you from the house of slavery;
and I sent before you Moses,
Aaron, and Miriam.
‘With what shall I come before the Lord,
and bow myself before God on high?
Shall I come before him with burnt-offerings,
with calves a year old?
Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams,
with tens of thousands of rivers of oil?
Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression,
the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?’
He has told you, O mortal, what is good;
and what does the Lord require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness,
and to walk humbly with your God?
New Revised Standard Version, copyright 1989, by the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved. USCCB approved.
Do Justice, Love Mercy, Walk Humbly with God
Today’s first reading comes from the prophet Micah, and records the message of God’s displeasure with the way God’s people are behaving. Presented in the format similar to a legal case, it begins with the Lord’s intention to present his case. But, instead of listing a set of grievances that God has against the people of Israel, God invites them to instead remember his acts of salvation from their past. The dialogue continues with the people asking what they can do to repair their broken relationship with God, offering suggestions of dramatic sacrifices. In response, God gives them a simple command: do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with God.
At the beginning of the Spiritual Exercises, St. Ignatius invites each of us to reflect on our own sinfulness, but rooted in the confidence that we are still loved by God. It can be easy to feel overwhelmed with the weight of evil, whether of our personal sins or of the magnitude of suffering we see around us. When we are tempted to throw up our hands, thinking that we can’t possibly do anything to improve a situation, we can root ourselves in the simple message of God.
Do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with God.
—Lauren Gaffey is the Associate Director of Communications for the Midwest Jesuits, and an Associate Director for Ignatian Young Adult Ministries, a work of the Office of Ignatian Spirituality.
Prayer
Lord God, no matter what we do, you always call us back into relationship with you. May our hearts be open to hear your word, calling us to be people of mercy, bringing justice into our world through our connection to you. Let your words be what grounds us, and give us the confidence to go into the world in your name. Amen.
—Lauren Gaffey