Monday, March 26, 2007

One more NoLa need

hey, if anybody knows a good quote from a Christian source about justice that would be very relevant to New Orleans - something that students could keep in their pocket during their work - please post in the comments! Here is the one from my Jewish colleague (it's so perfect I could die):

If you wish to raise a person from poverty and trouble, do not think that it is enough to stand above and reach a helping hand down to him and her. It is NOT enough. You must go down to where the person is, down in the mud and the filth. Then take hold of him or her with strong hands and pull until both of you rise up into the light.

--Shlomo Ben Meir HaLevi of Karlin, late 1700s.

3 comments:

Sarah said...

When I feed the poor, they call me a saint.
When I ask why the poor have no food, they call me a communist.

Dom Helder Camara,
Archbishop of Recife, Brazil
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dom_Helder_Camara

Audrey Connor said...

"Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of injustice, to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover them, and not to hide yourself from your own kin?

Then your light shall break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up quickly; your vindicator shall go before you, the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard. Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer; you shall cry for help, and he will say, Here I am. If you remove the yoke from among you, the pointing of the finger, the speaking of evil, if you offer your food to the hungry and satisfy the needs of the afflicted, then your light shall rise in the darkness and your gloom be like the noonday. The Lord will guide you continually, and satisfy your needs in parched places, and make your bones strong; and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters never fail. Your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt; you shall raise up the foundations of many generations; you shall be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of streets to live in."

Isaiah 58:6-12


book to read: The Great Deluge: Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans, and the Mississippi Gulf Coast by Douglas Brinkley.


I just went on a great mission trip to the gulf - blessings to you all on your trip!

Audrey

Stasi said...

Yes! I'd found the Isaiah quote and I think that's what I'm going to use.

I had read that first quote as being said by somebody else...Dorothy Day, maybe? Can't remember.