Images of  the Oscar winning film Twelve Years a Slave in 2014 flooded my mind when I read today's passage. What can we say to people who suffered such cruel and inhuman treatment? How do we explain the prejudice, bigotry and arrogance of power that caused and maintained an economic and social system that perpetuated this suffering?

Peter, whom the gospels usually portray as impulsive and fallible, provides us with a version of the Golden Rule, meant to short circuit our reflexive responses of anger and payback. Such emotions will ultimately lead us astray.

We don’t return evil for evil; we trust that God will somehow make things right. But trust in God, our faithful shepherd, will help us support one another until such time when alternative action and systemic change is possible.

By Christine Vogel from D365