The story of Ruth, written thousands of years ago, connects us to countless women of all times, victims of injustice and abuse, particularly a multitude of migrant women who journey in search of a place where they can live in peace and dignity.

The experience of Ruth speaks even today. It reflects the sense of powerlessness and fear to which many people are subjected on account of marginalization and social discrimination.

Ruth faces a tragic situation: a dead husband, no money, no status and no means of support. She only had a mother in law towards whom she feels a devout affection and by whom she feels loved and understood.

Urged on by her love and her fidelity to family ties, Ruth decides to follow her mother in law to her country of origin in search of a better life.

In that foreign land, Ruth faces the rejection and the prejudices of a society where women are worthless unless they are owned by a man.

Having lost her husband, Ruth has only two resources left for her own survival: her confidence in her own personal worth and her trust in God.

It is this that sustains her in her struggle against a system that oppresses and excludes her.

She earns her living by picking up ears of corn left by the harvesters in the rich man’s field. This rich man Boaz is a relative of Noemi, the mother in law of Ruth.

Boaz noted her presence and admires her courage and strength.

According to the law, he should marry Ruth and rescue her and her mother in law from the desperate situation they are in. Boaz, however, is not prepared to take the step.

So Ruth takes the initiative using her feminine gifts to force Boaz into marrying her and thereby respect the existing custom of the place.

In all that she did, Ruth is moved by a strong sense of fidelity towards life, her mother in law and the God she chose to honour.

She does not know what reward awaited her: the story tells us that this humble woman without money or status, will be the foremother of a lineage from whom Jesus, the Saviour will be born.

“The Book of Ruth is a story of fulfilment of God’s will for the human race. A new world of relationships has been sighted. The outcast have been taken in.

The lowly have been raised up – a new generation of men – represented by a boy-child – comes to inherit a cosmos where women are its co-creators.

In Ruth we get a glimpse of God’s world and find that it runs the opposite way to ours”. (Joan Chittister)

Text of Sr. Ines Gutierrez, SUSC Presentation of Sr. Alba Vernazza, fma