Welcome back, everyone.

I welcome the Very Reverend Graham Forbes, who is the provost of St Mary's Cathedral in Edinburgh, to lead our time for reflection today.

Very Reverend Graham Forbes (Provost, St Mary's Cathedral, Edinburgh):

Thank you, sir.

Jesus of Nazareth, quoting the Hebrew prophet Isaiah, said:

"The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, for he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor, to proclaim release to the captives, to set at liberty those who are oppressed".

I found last Thursday moving. For the vast Majority of Scots, I suppose it was just another day, although for Celtic supporters it was all about whether Martin O'Neill would head north. However, for one 80-year-old man in poor health and living in Aberdeenshire, who had come to Edinburgh, it was a very special day, the report of which was buried on page 13 of Friday's edition of The Scotsman and was featured in other newspapers.

I suppose that, in proper parliamentary fashion, I should declare an interest. The case of George Fraser, who was found guilty of indecently assaulting his niece 52 years ago, is the first case that the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission has referred to the Appeal Court. The Crown conceded that the indecent assault conviction should fall. For myself, my fellow commissioners and our staff, the decision marked the culmination of more than a year's painstaking work. For George Fraser, it marked the end of his 52-year battle to clear his name. For Scotland, and for MSPs as our legislators, it marked justice ultimately being done and wrongs being righted, albeit half a century later.

Both Jesus and Isaiah spoke of

"setting at liberty the oppressed".

All of us, irrespective of our beliefs, would sign up to that. All of us want to build a more just society and a more humane world. However, such fine sentiments must embrace both the big and the small, the macro and the micro, the high profile and the mundane, the cosmos and the kitchen. My cathedral, no doubt like MSPs' Constituency surgeries, is a place where all shapes and sizes turn up.

A famous children's author admired his new concrete path, which was slowly setting. The kids next door hopped over the fence to retrieve a lost ball and ran across the path, at which the author was furious. A neighbour saw what had happened and called out, "You're meant to love children," to which the author replied, "I do. I love children in the abstract, not in the concrete." Love of justice must be in the concrete, not in the abstract—George Fraser bears testimony to that.

And a prayer.

Father of all, bless this Parliament, guide its members and direct us in the ways of justice and peace, as we strive to build a more just society and a more humane world, today and tomorrow. Amen.