«Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God»
(Matthew 5:9).
TWO WOMEN and two buses. It sounds like the beginning of two similar stories, but they are opposite, both for their endings and for their protagonists—the first, starring Rosa Parks; the second, an anonymous woman (name the sin, but not the sinner).
Rosa Parks (1913-2005) was a crucial figure in the struggle for civil rights in the United States, though nothing in her humble birth would have led to anticipate such a thing. Rosa was in the habit of taking the bus to get around in Alabama. The law was very clear: if a white citizen was left without a seat in the front section that was reserved for them, they could go to the middle section, where African Americans were allowed to sit only if the back of the bus was full. But in the event that a white person was left without a seat in the front of the bus, African Americans sitting in the middle were obliged to offer up their seats. On that day, December 1, 1955, a young white man could not find a seat in the front of the bus and the driver told Rosa to get up and give him her seat, which she refused. The young man had not even asked for a seat, and Rosa was tired of so much abuse.
That action by this brave and pacifist woman got her arrested. When the news reached Martin Luther King’s ears, it moved him to initiate a non-violent action that began ajourney toward obtaining rights that should never have been violated to begin with. For this reason, Rosa Parks is known as «the first lady» of civil rights.
Our second protagonist, who lives in the present, also rode a bus one day. Angry with the driver because he had not stopped in time for her to board, she violently overturned the box that contained the money, which fell to the ground and rolled all over the place to the astonished looks of those present. The driver then commented: «I know who you are, and I know you take this bus to go to church. And now I also know what kind ofChristian you are.» She was the kind of Christian who gives a bad personal testimony because she has not rejected violence in her life.
What is your testimony like? Do you strive for peace? Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount, «Blessed are the peacemakers.»
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Take From: Daily Devotions for Women’s 2020
«One Day at a Time»
From: Patricia Muñoz Bertozzi
Collaborators: Lorina Maya & Alejandra Zavala
