16 January. SEE:   Georgina sat with the other oldies. “I joined the SACP all those years ago because I hated the way the government exploited and oppressed people.  Now I don’t think it is really any better.  All the leaders, appointed and anointed kings too, just seem to be out to feather their own nests. 3000 years ago Samuel, one of the wise Judges of the people of Israel, warned them about possible abuses of leadership.  When they asked for a king to lead them he warned them about corruption and abuse of power.  Every country, or leadership structure from the churches down to a family has this potential. “ Mr Khumalo taught political science at the university but he and his wife also spoke to their own teenage children. “When elections come up later this year,” he said, “ Think seriously about who will receive your vote. Ask “What Would Jesus Do?”

JUDGE, reflect and share.  Scripture: The people said, “Give us a king to govern us.” Samuel told them the ways of a king. “He will take your sons to be his horsemen. He will take your daughters to be perfumers. He will take the best of your fields.”   It displeased Samuel that they should say “Let us have a king to rule us, so he prayed to the Lord. But the Lord said to Samuel, “obey the voice of the people for it is not you they have rejected, they have rejected me.”  Samuel 8:4-22.  Pope Francis:  The worship of the golden calf has returned in a new and ruthless guise in the idolatry of money and the dictatorship of an impersonal economy.  EG55   Pope Leo: The hazards peculiar to modern warfare consist in the fact that they expose those possessing recently developed weapons to the risk of perpetrating crimes like these and, by an inexorable chain of events, of urging people to even worse acts of atrocity. To obviate the possibility of this happening at any time in the future, the bishops of the world gathered together (after Vatican II) to implore everyone, especially government leaders and military advisors, to give unceasing consideration to their immense responsibilities before God and before the whole human race.”   Peace Message 1 January

ACT: Decide on possible appropriate action.   Conclude with prayer