Turning on the news these days can easily be overwhelming, given the amount of suffering in the world. It seems that there is always a new tragedy and a new fear about what might happen next: a mass shooting here, a natural disaster there, and a moment of violent conflict just around the corner. If we are not careful, we can develop compassion fatigue: “an indifference to charitable appeals on behalf of those who are suffering, experienced as a result of the frequency or number of such appeals.” In other words, being asked to care about every horrifying event can lead to emotional and physical exhaustion and a diminished ability to empathize with others.

So what are we as Christians, who are called to seek justice for the marginalized, to do? It helps to take a long view of time. As Bishop Ken Untener of Saginaw says in A Prayer of Oscar Romero, “We cannot do everything, and there is a sense of liberation in realizing that. This enables us to do something, and to do it very well. It may be incomplete, but it is a beginning, a step along the way, an opportunity for the Lord's grace to enter and do the rest.”*

One of the beautiful things about being a Christian is that we are constantly reminded that it is not up to us alone to solve the great challenges of our time. During the time Moses was leading the Israelites to the Promised Land, he complained to Jethro about having to settle all disputes and answer all the people’s questions about God’s will for them. Jethro told him, “You can’t do this alone. . . . Let me tell you how to do this so that God will be in this with you” (Exod. 18:18, The Message).