Take a moment to write in your Freedom Sunday journal. (If you did not receive one of these journals, choose a notebook or open document file to keep your thoughts in these next couple weeks.) As you think on the above questions, write the word 'oppression'. Try defining it on your own, perhaps using examples from the oppression to which you've been exposed. Now find a dictionary and write the actual definition of the word. Write down any listed synonyms that strike you.

Finally, take a moment and try to 'take in' the oppression going on around the world today. Take an honest look at your life - your actions, words and thoughts. How do you perpetuate oppression in the world. Consider such things as the 'supply + demand' table from Freedom Sunday (the one with the red strings showing the connections our everyday items have with human trafficking).

Take a few minutes to recite The Jesus Prayer. This prayer is simply, "Lord Jesus, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner." This is best done in the course of one breath (say half while inhaling, half while exhaling). Find a quiet place, get on your knees and set an alarm (you choose the time) so that you can know when to finish. 

Truly take in the cycle of the prayer; beginning with the Lordship of Christ and ending with your position as a sinner (acknowledging your culpability in the world's injustice). Then, in the sadness of such an awareness, repeat the prayer and find yourself back in the arms of the Son of God who knows your pain intimately.

Take another opportunity to practice lectio divina with your passage. Write your thoughts in your journal. As you pray and write, consider this: If God were completely 'just' but lacking in mercy, where would you be? 

Take a moment to recite this prayer:

Take some time to search in your Bible. First, look up some information on your passage by using either the introduction for your particular book, or do some exploring online. Next, do some digging what the Bible says are the characteristics of a 'just' person. Use a concordance (many Bibles have condensed concordances in the back) or search at BibleGateway and look under 'just' or 'justice'. Do your passages and these biblical explanations of justice have any connections? Write down some of your findings in your journal.

If you have not yet done this, take some time to research your issue on-line. Talk to your friends and family (try to ask both Christians and non-Christians) and see what they know about your issue specifically, or about injustice in the world in general. Do these people seem relatively informed about the world's troubles, or not? Write down some of your findings and thoughts.

Journal about the things that have caused your heart to break. Beyond the mere sadness, how do the world's injustices (especially your chosen issue and the related Scripture) make you feel? Small and powerless? Empowered and motivated? Recite this prayer attributed to St. Francis of Assisi. Make it your own petition:

Take a few minutes and try some discursive meditation on your passage. This essentially means to put yourself into the passage. The audience and characters are you. What are the sights, smells, sounds? What are the gestures and facial expressions of your fellow characters in the story?

 First off, if you have not already, look up some information on the circumstances surrounding your passage. Check out your Bible's introduction to your particular book (if it gives one), or look online for the information. Now, consider your particular passage. To whom is this passage speaking? What kind of message is this (sermon, vision, poem/song, etc.)? You may have to back up and take in some of the larger context in your passage's book in order to grasp these questions. Now, take a moment to attempt the meditation.

Spend some time working through your passage with lectio divina one more time. What has changed as you have contemplated this particular passage over the last few days?

Write out some of the aspects of you life that have been changed by this experience and the larger experience of observing Lent. Join the conversation on our forums and talk about your experience.