Guatemalan Maya Community attend trial
You seduced me, Lord,
and I was seduced …
You grasped my heart firmly
with the outstretched hand
of the old Indian
who had been dying for centuries
without a roof,
without medicines,
without a doctor,
asking for the bread of justice
at the door of a locked church …
You seduced me, Lord,
and I let myself be seduced.
You have conquered me,
you have been stronger than I.
This is why those who were my friends
are retreating in fear
and close their doors to me.
Because each time
I hear your Word
I must cry out:
Violence and ruin
to those who manufacture
orphans, misery and death!
How many times
did I wish to close my ears
to your voice,
to harden my heart,
to seal my lips,
to forget forever
the pain of the persecuted,
the helplessness of the outcast,
and the agony of the tortured,
but your pain
was my own
and your love
burned in my heart …
You accompany me,
You weep with my weeping,
and moan during my prayer,
and pour yourself out in my cry.
Because you are
stronger than I,
I have let myself be a captice,
and your love
burns in my heart.
Julia Esquivel, Guatemalan poet and theologian
__________________
I will come to you in judgment,
and I will be ready to witness against sorcerers and adulterers;
against those who swear falsely;
against those who oppress the widow and the fatherless,
and cheat the wage earner;
and against those who deny justice to the foreigner.
They do not fear Me,” says the Lord of Hosts.
prayer & verse 
