And Justice for All.

As the season of Lent begins, many people spend time wondering what they should “give up” or sacrifice in order to make these 40 days as spiritually fruitful as possible. The other day while I was visiting a nursing home, a rather elderly woman recalled how very many years ago she gave up chocolate during Lent. And after 40 years, she still recalls the difficulty of that season.

But as a person grows in faith, one may begin to consider how their lenten sacrifice will help them after lent.

Recently, Pope Benedict XVI spoke of “justice” in his Lenten message and how “the meaning of the term ‘justice,’ in common usage implies ‘to render to every man his due.’” But he was not speaking of merely material things.

The indifference that today forces hundreds of millions into death through lack of food, water and medicine is deplorable, the Pope stated, “yet ‘distributive’ justice does not render to the human being the totality of his ‘due.’ Just as man needs bread, so does man have even more need of God.”

May yours be a blessed and fruitful Lent.

As Kenya goes, so goes East Africa ...

... or so it seems. In the midst of the struggles and crises rising throughout much of East Africa, struggles in Kenya are erupting once again as well.
Last month, the United States and Britain suspended education aid to Kenya after auditors accused the government program of fraud. Then this week, Prime Minister Odinga suspended agriculture minister William Ruto and education minister Samuel Ongeri for three months after a corruption scandal in their ministries. The prime minister claims that millions of dollars worth of subsidized maize and education funds have disappeared in recent months said.

But then, shortly after the prime minister made the announcement on Sunday, President Kibaki revoked the suspension. He said Odinga had no power to suspend the ministers and he had not consulted him before announcing the suspension.

Kenya leaders are calling on former U.N. chief Kofi Annan to intervene in the dispute between the nation’s prime minister and president. They are asking for Annan's “immediate intervention.”

Let us hope and pray that a full crisis can be averted.

Mandela!

This week marks the 20th anniversary of Nelson Mandela’s release from Robbin Island -- the prison where the anti-apartheid activist was held for 27 years for opposing South Africa's government, which enforced its strict segregation laws through brutality. Following his release, Mandela worked with South Africa's white president, F.W. de Klerk, to end those policies.

Mandela was already in prison when he was convicted of treason in 1964 and given a life sentence. He was a living symbol of the struggle against South Africa’s racist apartheid system, enacted when he was 30 years old.

In his last public words before he was jailed, Nelson Mandela said, “I have fought against white domination, and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons will live together in harmony, and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live for, and to see realized. But if need be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die.”

Fortunately for all of us, he didn’t have to.

The African National Congress elected Mandela as its president, and he won South Africa's presidential election in a landslide in 1994, the country's first black president. His was a triumph for the nation and the world.

Somalia and the "Spilling-Over" Effect

The United Nations is reporting that January was the deadliest month in Somalia since last August. Hundreds of Somalis were killed and tens of thousands forced from their homes in January. At least 258 civilians were killed and 253 wounded as government forces clashed with rebel militia in the central regions of the country while nearly 29,000 people fled fighting. Many men, women and children are reportedly sleeping in the open without shelter or access to enough water. More than 1.4 million people are internally displaced in Somalia, and 560,000 Somalis live as refugees in the neighboring countries such as Kenya.

As Somali refugees flood in to Kenya, tensions have begun to increase between the two countries due to the increased number of Somalis fleeing into Kenya over the past month. Kenya has also begun to round up and arrest Somali immigrants and refugees.

As unrest continues throughout the continent -- in East Africa as well as West Africa -- and indeed in nations around the world -- one might wonder if there is a “spilling-over” effect?

Is there a season for everything ... “A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace?”