XIV Sunday of Ordinary Time

Readings:

Ezekiel 2:2-5
2 Corinthians 12:7-10
Mark 6:1-6

Thoughts for your consideration:

As part of my ministry I have been volunteering at a local non-profit that educates and advocates for and with low-wage workers. My role has been primarily of organizing local labor rights workshops in different parts of the city and assisting in cases of labor-law abuses. For one of the court cases, which was entrenched in year-long litigation process, I was asked to participate as a translator. The sixteen (out of 25) remaining workers, who decided to continue a class-action lawsuit against their ex-employer, debated weather or not it was worth it to continue spending their time in and out court, money, and energy in this struggle. Their case was simple, the employer fail to pay for over-time wages for over five-years to its employees, and once the employer fired this group and sold the business, without previous notice to the rest of the workers, thought that the company and its owners where exempt from any previous wrong doings. Unfortunately for the workers, their ex-boss had deep pockets and, therefore, was able to drag the litigation process through last minute court re-scheduling and other bureaucratic antics in order to exhaust the defendants.  During the meeting tension and emotions ran high. The group was dived between those who wanted to quit and those who wanted to continue. The power they held as a group was critical for the process of the lawsuit and for the remuneration that they would be given if they were to win. They all knew what they were risking, and the meeting became chaotic. Every one in the small room, even the pro-bono lawyer, no longer talked but shouted. In the middle of all of this an older-man, who had been silent through the entire meeting, rose up and raised his hand. The room went silent. We have already won, he shouted.  We stood up for ourselves! We have already won, why stop now. We’re humans of flesh and bone, like the boss, and we need to be treated as such, he continued saying. Let’s not run away, we are human and we need to be treated as such. The meeting got very quiet after this.

The readings for this Sunday speak to us of hope that is rooted in strong convictions. This kind of hope went beyond wishful-thinking and into the experience of God’s Love that transcended . Ezekiel’s task to proclaim even doom to his people, Paul’s thorn in the flesh, bodily or spiritually as it may have been, that came before him and the proclamation of the Good-news, and the repudiation that Jesus faced while ministering in his own town were overcome by the hope that was drawn out of their experience of God. This experience of God was what let Ezekiel when he was given the scroll to eat to say, “it tasted as sweet as honey in my mouth”. Furthermore, this same experience was what led the Apostle to write in the midst of his turmoil, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness”, and for Jesus to continue to heal and to proclaim God’s Reign in spite of the criticism from his own.  The Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI, in his Encyclical Letter on Christian Hope (Spe Salvi), reminded us that our hope comes from our conviction that Jesus Christ, God’s greatest proof of Love. This would lead us, therefore, to “the great certitude of hope that [one’s] own life and history in general, despite all failures, are held firm by the indestructible power of Love, and that this gives them their meaning and importance, only this kind of hope can then give the courage to act and to persevere” (sect. 35).

In the struggle for justice we will encounter the negative forces whether it may through the “hard of face and obstinate of heart”, our own weakness, or through those who will take offense at our message and actions. Yet, the hope that arises out of conviction in God’s revelation through Jesus Christ is what compels us to continue living out the Gospel’s Message. The conviction that led Ezekiel, Paul and Jesus “to act and to persevere” was the same one that enabled the workers to continue their struggle for justice. For this workers, their self worth as human beings, husbands, fathers, and workers and their conviction that no one had the right to take this away allowed them to pull themselves together and risk their time, money and energy in their struggle to find justice. The case of the workers lasted one more year. After other great battle and set backs, the ruling of the court went to their favor. Yet, even this victory did not took their eyes of their price. During the small victory celebration that we held, one of the workers said, the money we got does not mean anything, what really counts is that our dignity was respected and that justice was served.

Questions for Reflection in your Faith Sharing Group:

How do we live out the hope that arises out of our faith?
What values of our culture make it hard for you to live out your faith?
What positions would evoke a strong and emotional opposition from people in your circle of friends?

If you want to know about basic worker’s rights in your state, please follow this link:

http://www.canmybossdothat.com/

In order to continue the dialogue going regarding Wage-Theft in the U.S. follow watch this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bmxlvUIEng4