Should we bow? Should we offer? Should we sacrifice?

What can we bring to the LORD to make up for what we've done? Should we bow before God with offerings of yearling calves? Should we offer him thousands of rams and tens of thousands of rivers of olive oil? Would that please the LORD? Should we sacrifice our firstborn children to pay for the sins of our souls? Would that make him glad? No, O people, the LORD has already told you what is good, and this is what he requires: to do what is right, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.

Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.
We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality,
tied in a single garment of destiny.

—Martin Luther King, Jr.

So instead of loving what you think is peace,
love other [people] and love God above all.
And instead of hating the people you think are warmakers,
hate the appetites and the disorder in your own soul,
which are the causes of war.
If you love peace,
then hate injustice, hate tyranny, hate greed –
but hate these things in yourself, not in another."

—Thomas Merton, from "New Seeds of Contemplation"

Rights that do not flow from duty well performed are not worth having.
Almost anything you do will be insignificant,
but it is very important that you do it.
Live as if you were to die tomorrow.
Learn as if you were to live forever.
In a gentle way, you can shake the world.

--Mohandas Gandhi