paternoster rosary 2.3 - Luke 11:42

"But woe to you Pharisees! For you tithe mint and rue and herbs of all kinds, and neglect justice and the love of God; it is these you ought to have practiced, without neglecting the others"
This is actually one of the passages that only normally gets used by me when I use all five of a particular round in the whole cycle, ie when I'm using a Dominican rosary or, alternatively, choose this passage instead of one of the other 'Kingdom come' passages.

So what happens in my reflections in praying 'your kingdom come' with this verse in view? Well, the reason for it's inclusion was to provide a reflection on the nature of God's project on planet earth with humanity so that our praying can be an increasingly good fit with the spirit and nature of that project. The verse serves to remind and warn that justice and the love of God are foundational in the outworking of the Kingdom of God. The danger that the Pharisees Jesus criticised here was that they were making second order matters in the law more primary than the most important things, in fact, the context shows that the criticism goes further; some were using these parts of Torah to sidestep the demands of justice and love of God.

When I pray this verse, I tend, then, to regard it as a call to keep the big picture in mind; to consider global discipleship as a world Christian. Doing so then often results in praying for those working on the aspects of Make Poverty Hisory [fair trade, debt cancellation, better aid]. I Sometimes also find myself musing over the way that local churches are being agents of justice and mercy in God's name, as I say "Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as in heaven".

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Crosswalk.com - Luke 11:42: