Building Peace with Justice

Building Peace with Justice is a brief, weekly bulletin reflection on Catholic social teaching written by members of a Rochester Diocese Public Policy sub-committee. This is the reflection for July 12, 2009:

Jesus sends out the Apostles to heal and to preach the Good News of God’s wonderful love and justice. He encourages them to take only the essentials and warns them that they, too, may be rejected just as the prophet Amos.

In exactly the same way we are also sent to be healers, teachers and witnesses of God’s justice and charity. On the journey we don’t need a lot of ‘stuff,’ only the truth of the Gospel and the understanding that when we preach the message of justice we, too, may be rejected.

Reflection: Does the ‘stuff’ in my life hinder me from living and witnessing to the message of love and justice proclaimed by Jesus? What do I need to get rid of, or share with others, in order to bring about a more just society?