Making a More Just World

This meditation comes from In Conversation with God vol. 1, by Francis Fernandez. It is the meditation for December 29th:

“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.” St. John tells us at the start of today’s Mass.
The Child we have been contemplating in the crib during the last few days is the Redeemer of the world and of every one in it. He has come in the first place to give us eternal life as something to be looked forward to in this life and to be fully possessed after death. He has become man to call sinners, to save what was lost, and to make divine life known to all men.

During the years of his public life, Our Lord had little to say about the political and social situation of his people, and this in spite of their oppression by the Romans. On different occasions he makes it clear that he does not want to be a political Messiah nor a liberator from the yoke of Rome. He came to give us the freedom of the children of God: freedom from the sins we had committed which had reduced us to a state of slavery. He came to give us freedom from eternal death, another consequence of sin; freedom from the dominion of the devil, since man could now overcome sin with the help of grace. And finally, he gave us freedom from life according to the flesh, which is opposed to the supernatural life: “The freedom brought by Christ through the Holy Spirit has restored us to the capacity, of which sin had deprived us, of loving God above all and of remaining in contact with him: (SCDF Instruction on Christian Freedom and Liberation #53, 1986).

Through his way of acting, Our Lord also pointed out the path his Church would take so as to continue his work here on earth until the end of time.

“It behooves Christians, within the many opportunities we have for action, to contribute to a world order that is more just, more human and more Christian without in any way compromising the Church as such” (Pope Paul VI, Populorum Progressio #8). The Church’s concern for social problems derives from her spiritual mission and is kept within the limits of that mission. The Church, of her very nature, does not fulfill her purpose in solving temporal problems. She follows Christ when he declared that his kingdom was not of this world, and absolutely refused to be considered a judge or a promoter of justice in purely human affairs.
Nevertheless, no Christian should stand aside from the need to do everything in his power to solve the enormous social problems that now afflict mankind. “Let each one examine himself,” exhorted Paul VI, “to see what he has done up to now and what more he ought to accomplish. It is not enough to cite general principles, make resolutions, condemn grave injustices, make denunciations with a certain prophetic daring. None of this will carry any weight unless accompanied in each person by a more lively realization of his own responsibility and by effective action. It is too easy to make other people responsible for today’s injustices, if, at the same time, we don’t realize that we too are responsible and that a personal conversion is therefore the first necessity” (Paul VI, Octogesima adveniens #48, 1971).

We can ask ourselves in our prayer whether or not we are doing our best to become familiar with the social teachings of the Church. Do we make them a practical force in our personal lives? Do we try, insofar as we are able, to make the laws and customs of our society conform to those teachings on the family, education, wages, the right to work, and so on? Our Lord, whom we now contemplate in the stable of Bethlehem, will be content with us if we are really trying to make a more just world in the big city or small village where we live: in the district and in the company where we work, in the life of our own family.

In the final analysis, the establishment of justice and peace in the world finds its solution in the human heart. And, when the heart is not centered on God, man reverts to his original state of slavery and is subject to every kind of oppression from his fellow creatures. Thus, we can never forget that when, through our personal apostolate, we try to make the world around us more Christian, we are also making it more human. And, to the extent that we succeed in this, by creating a more just and more human environment in social, family and working conditions, we are at the same time creating a climate in which Christ can be more easily known and loved.

A decision to put into practice the virtue of justice, without reservations, will lead us to pray daily for the leaders of government, business enterprises, welfare services, etc. For the solution to the major social and human problems of today depends to a great extent on such people. And in doing so we must endeavor to live up to this standard, without inhibitions and without leaving to others the practice of justice which the Church urges upon us. This means full payment for services rendered. It entails a serious effort to improve the living conditions of people in need. It presupposes exemplary behavior in carrying out our work competently and well, showing responsibility and initiative in the exercise of our rights and duties as citizens. Finally, the practice of justice will lead us to join movements in which, together with other people of good will, we can foster more human and more Christian ideals. And all this, though it may seem to take up more time than is normally at our disposal, is not impossible; for if we really make an effort, God will enlarge our day.

Our Lord has left us a program of live which, of put into practice, is capable of completely transforming mankind. He has told us that we are all children of God and therefore brothers. This has a profound impact on the relations between men. God has given the goods of the earth to all to administer them well. To all he has promised eternal life. The doctrine of Christ has, over the centuries, led to great achievements: the abolition of slavery, the recognition of the dignity of women, the protection of orphans and widows, the care of the sick and the handicapped. They are a consequence of the sense of the brotherhood of man resulting from the Christian faith. In our own professional and social surroundings, can it really be said that in word and deed we are truly contributing towards making the world more just and more human?
Let us recall the words of Monsignor Escriva: “Perhaps you bring to mind all the injustices which cry for redress, all the abuses that go uncorrected, the discrimination passed on from ne generation to the next with no attempt to find permanent solutions….A man or a society that does not react to suffering and injustice and makes no attempts to alleviate them is still distant from the love of Christ’s heart. While Christians enjoy the fullest freedom in finding and applying various solutions to these problems, they should be united in having one and the same desire to serve mankind. Otherwise their Christianity will not be the word and life of Jesus; it will be a fraud, a deception of God and man” (Christ is Passing By, p. 167).

With justice alone we cannot solve the problems of mankind: “even if we achieve a reasonable distribution of wealth and a harmonious organization of society, there will still be the sufferings of illness, of misunderstanding, of loneliness, of the death of loved ones, of the experience of our own limitations” (ibid. p. 168). Justice is enriched and complemented by mercy. What is more, strict justice can “lead to the denial and extinction of itself if no allowance is made for that deeper kind, which is love, to form human life,” (John Paul II, Dives in misericordia, #12) and can end up “in a system of oppression of the weaker by the stronger or in an arena of permanent struggle of the one against the other” (ibid. #14).

Justice and mercy mutually sustain and fortify each other. “Justice alone is never enough to solve the great problems of mankind. When justice alone in done, don’t be surprised if people are hurt. The dignity of man, who is a child of God, requires much more” (Escriva, Friends of God, p. 172).

Charity without justice would not be real charity: rather would it simply be an attempt to anaesthetize one’s conscience. Nevertheless, one meets people who call themselves ‘Christians’ but “leave aside justice and limit their actions to a bit of welfare work, which they define as charitable, without realizing that they are doing only a small part of what in fact they have a strict duty to do.

“Charity, which is like a generous overflowing of justice, demands first of all the fulfillment of one’s duty. The way to start is to be just; the next step is to do what is most equitable…, but in order to love, great refinement is required, and much thoughtfulness, and respect, and kindliness in rich measure” (ibid, p. 172-173).

The best way of promoting justice and peace in the world is to commitment to live like true children of God. If we Christians really decide to practice the demands of the Gospel in our personal lives, in our families, at work and in our social life, we will change society, making it more just and more human. Our Lord, from the stable of Bethlehem, urges us to do so. Don’t be discouraged because it seems as if what is around us is of little importance. That was how the first Christians transformed the world: with their ordinary daily work, which at first sight as a humble enough thing in many cases.

He Dwells Among Us - America Magazine

This piece says everything I wanted to say to everyone this Christmas season. May you all have a blessed Christmas and peace-filled New Year.

By The editors

DECEMBER 22, 2008

S t. Ignatius Loyola’s classic text, The Spiritual Exercises, leads a person by a series of imaginative meditations through the life of Christ. And Ignatius asks the retreatant to begin before the earthly life of Jesus even began.

In one of the loveliest of his meditations, St. Ignatius asks us to imagine the Holy Trinity in heaven. Looking down, they gaze upon all of humanity and see men and women greatly diverse in dress and behavior: “some white and others black, some at peace and others at war, some weeping and others laughing, some healthy and others sick, some being born and others dying....”

In their compassion, they decide that the second person of the Trinity should become human. “And thus when the fullness of time had come, they send the Angel Gabriel to Our Lady,” writes Ignatius. Christmas marks the time when God, out of compassion, became human, or, as the Gospel of John has it, “pitched his tent among us.”

Today the Holy Trinity watches over a world that would be virtually unrecognizable to the men and women in first-century Palestine. Just in the past decade, technological advances have enabled millions, at least in the West, to enjoy better health, increased educational opportunities and other unforeseen advantages. The place of women and minorities continues to improve in our country: the presence of two women and an African-American man in the November presidential election contests is one sign of progress in this regard.

But the Holy Trinity also sees a world surprisingly similar to that of first-century Palestine, a world with “some weeping.” Jesus was born into a violent time. Today terrorism, its complex roots maddeningly confusing, frightens millions, from India to Indianapolis. Likewise, the poor in Jesus’ day were, as today, powerless, marginalized and disenfranchised. Even St. Joseph was not exempt from financial woes. Like Palestinian peasant farmers, as the Rev. John Meier, a noted Scripture scholar, points out, he led a “precarious existence, sometimes at subsistence level.” How similar this is to our world this Christmas, when the poor are still marginalized and millions of middle-class Americans fear for their future in the wake of the frightening collapse of the financial markets.

Into such a place came Jesus: a world riven with differences between rich and poor, facing the threat of violence and, like that world, hoping for salvation. To enter this world, Jesus was born into the Holy Family, each of whose members offers a distinctive lesson for believers during Christmas—especially for those facing hard times, financial or otherwise.

Again we turn to Joseph, who is often relegated to second-class status in the Nativity scenes. A “righteous” man, as the Gospel of Matthew has it, Joseph shoulders the confusing task God has given him. Not only is he asked to accept the strange message from an angel about the miraculous circumstances of his wife’s pregnancy; he is also charged, later, to guard his family in their perilous trip to Egypt. This would have been a particularly hard road for a Jewish family—Egypt lies in the wrong direction. Joseph trustingly accepts God’s upending of his expectations.
Mary’s great yes to God offers not only a model for women, but for any disciple. Indeed, Mary’s encounter with the angel Gabriel offers a model of discipleship for those under duress. When God invites Mary to accept a strange future, she initially hesitates and, like any believer, voices her honest emotions. “How can this be?” she asks in the Gospel of Luke. In reply, the angel points to the example of her cousin, Elizabeth, in essence saying, “Look what God has already done.” How often this happens in our own lives. When doubtful, we are invited to look backward, to see God’s hand more clearly and magnify our trust. But even after Mary’s Fiat, her story provides a lesson. “Then the angel left her.” Then comes the part that we know well: faith.
Mary’s son came, as one hymn has it, “not as a monarch, but a child.” The Word of God chose to dwell among us in that most fragile of human states—as a newborn. When the Magi arrived, they may have wondered, “This little child is the king?” Entering into perilous situations and accepting the need to be protected, to be cared for and to be nurtured by others is another lesson that God offers us at Christmas. “The secret of life,” said Blessed John XXIII, “is to let oneself be carried to God.”

The Holy Trinity chose “in the fullness of time” to enter into the complicated world of first-century Palestine. Christ, in his Spirit and in the church, continues to dwell in our lives. Christians are also called to insert themselves into what is becoming a more complicated world. For ways to do this, we need look no farther than the crèche, to the example of the Holy Family.

News from the Office

Today we learned that the Catholic Campaign for Human Development Office of the USCCB has awarded the diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph an intern for the 2009-2010 academic year. The student will work in our office 20 hours per week working on CCHD projects in our local area. Application information will be forthcoming in our newsletter. Parishes will begin advertising the position in their parish bulletins soon. We will begin advertising for the position in the Catholic Key and in the local Catholic colleges.

This position is very exciting for the Human Rights office for two reasons. First, the intern will provide us with the opportunity to make known the good work of CCHD in a more effective way throughout the diocese. This position will also enable us to market our Susie Sinton Endowed Fund for local CCHD projects as well. These activities should provide us with more successful collections in the upcoming years, providing us with more funds to distribute to local agencies that work to eliminate the root causes of poverty.

The other exciting aspect of this opportunity is the ability for us to help in the formation of a young person. The intern will be paid and trained by the national CCHD office and he or she will work with us in our local Human Rights office. The intern will gain valuable experience working with the poor of our area and learning about the Church's social teachings. This internship will be a transformative experience in the life of one lucky college student in our area.

Please continue to pray for the work of our office, as well as the countless agencies and organizations that work in the field of human rights throughout our diocese.

Human Rights and Ethical Foundations

Human rights are 'fragile' if ethical foundation ignored, pope saysBy Carol GlatzCatholic News Service

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The foundation upon which the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is based will remain fragile if its ethical and divine origins are ignored, Pope Benedict XVI said during a Vatican commemoration of the document's 60th anniversary. While much has been done over the past decades to promote and safeguard human rights around the world, "hundreds of millions of our brothers and sisters still see their rights to life, liberty, and security threatened," he said.

The pope made his comments Dec. 10 during a Vatican celebration of the 60th anniversary of the adoption of the universal declaration by the United Nations General Assembly. The event, sponsored by the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, included a concert by the Frankfurt Brandenburg State Orchestra, which was conducted by the Spanish composer, Inma Shara. Featuring works by Felix Mendelssohn and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, the musical event marked the first time a woman conducted a concert at the Vatican. In an address after the concert, the pope said fundamental human rights are based on natural law, which is inscribed by God in every human conscience. Because natural law is "a common denominator" in all cultures and peoples, it is "a universal guide that everyone can recognize" and understand, he said.Human rights ultimately come from God, the creator, who gave everyone reason and freedom, he said."If this solid ethical base is disregarded, human rights remain fragile because they are deprived of a solid foundation," he said.

The pope said the 60th anniversary of the U.N. human rights declaration offers an opportunity to assess how well the world's nations and individuals are respecting the ideals contained in the document. Unfortunately human equality and dignity are not always respected, "while new barriers have been raised for reasons tied to race, religion, political opinion or other convictions," he said. Speaking before the concert Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, Vatican secretary of state, said of all the fundamental human rights outlined in the 30 articles of the U.N. declaration, not one is more or less important than the other." There is no hierarchy" in the field of basic rights, he said, since each right reflects and is linked to the others. The church's insistence on the importance of the right to life and right to religious freedom "does not stem, therefore, from a desire to want to create a hierarchy" or different classes of human rights, he said. The church's emphasis on these two rights rather comes from the need to remind people that human rights are not founded "on their own, but are expressions of the identity and dignity of the human person," he said.

Receiving the gift of life and being able to praise and worship the creator of life are rights that underpin all other basic rights and do not make subsequent rights inferior, he explained. When the right to life and religious freedom are violated, "respect for the other rights wavers" and loses its footing, Cardinal Bertone said. He said people cannot pick and choose which fundamental human rights should be supported or ignored." The church affirms that those who fight for the right to life and religious freedom must widen their understanding to the point of also including all other rights" contained in the universal declaration, he said. Conversely, people who uphold the U.N. document's other rights "cannot distance themselves from the rights to life and religious freedom," he added.

Before the concert, Cardinal Renato Martino, head of the Vatican justice and peace council, presented the winners of the 2008 Cardinal Van Thuan prizes.Sponsored by the St. Matthew Foundation, which was established last year in memory of the late Vietnamese Cardinal Francois-Xavier Nguyen Van Thuan, it was the first year the prizes were awarded.Cornelio Sommaruga, who was president of the International Committee of the Red Cross from 1987 to 1999, was given special recognition as the 2008 recipient of the Cardinal Van Thuan Prize.

Four others were awarded a cash prize of $20,000 each for their work in solidarity and development. They were:

-- Father Pedro Opeka for a project he founded in Tananarivo, Madagascar, that gives free housing to the poor and homeless.

-- Camillian Father Jose Raul Matte for using his medical skills to help victims of Hansen's disease in the Amazon.

-- The Gulunap project in Gulu, Uganda, which runs a medical school to train doctors. Now in its fifth year, the school's first 50 doctors are expected to graduate next year.

-- The Ercolini Village project in Rome, which works to help assimilate young Gypsies into Italian society.END

First Week of Advent, First Post

Click here to see the readings for the first Sunday of Advent: http://www.usccb.org/nab/113008.shtml

Praying:

Jesus commands us to watch for his coming. He uses the analogy of a man who travels and leaves the care of his house to his servants. The servants do not own the house. They are stewards, caretakers of the house that has been entrusted to them by the master. It is the expectation of the master that all will be well when he returns from his travels. In ancient times you could not give an exact time for your arrival due to the uncertainty of travel, so the servants would not know exactly when the master would return. Yet, they knew that if they did a good job at watching the household they would be rewarded, and if they did a poor job at managing the house then they would be punished.

In the same way, God has entrusted to us the care of his household. At creation God entrusted the earth to our care. What is more, we are created in God’s image and likeness, which means that our bodies are temples of God. God dwells within us and so we are a house of God. We must care for the whole created order as stewards, and we must take care of ourselves as a house entrusted by God to our care. These things do not belong to us; they are entrusted to us so that when God asks for it back we may return them to him in better condition than the original.

All powerful God, increase our strength of will for doing good that Christ may find an eager welcome at his coming and call us to his side in the kingdom of heaven, where he lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (Opening prayer for the first Sunday of Advent)

Believing:

Steward – In biblical times, the overseer responsible for planning and administering the household. Theologically, a designation for those who manage the resources God has given, in the world and in the church (cf. 1 Cor. 4: 1-2; Titus 1: 7; 1 Peter 4: 10).

Stewardship – The responsibility given to humans in creation for managing the resources of the earth (Gen. 1: 26). In the church, Christian stewardship involves the whole of life since all life comes from God and is to be lived for God’s glory.
(Westminster Dictionary of Theological Terms, p. 269-270)

“Life in the Holy Spirit fulfills the vocation of man. This life is made up of divine charity and human solidarity. It is graciously offered as salvation.” (CCC #1699)

“The dignity of the human person is rooted in his creation in the image and likeness of God; it is fulfilled in his vocation to divine beatitude. It is essential to a human being freely to direct oneself to this fulfillment. By his deliberate actions, the human person does, or does not, conform to the good promised by God and attested by moral conscience. Human beings make their own contribution to their interior growth; they make their whole sentient and spiritual lives into means of this growth. With the help of grace they grow in virtue, avoid sin, and if they sin they entrust themselves as did the prodigal son to the mercy of our Father in heaven. In this way they attain to the perfection of charity.” (CCC #1700)

Living:

I asked God to take away my pride, but God said, “No. It is not for me to take away but for you to give up.
I asked God to take care of the hungry and the homeless. But God said, “No. That’s your job.”
I asked God to make my handicapped child whole. But God said, “No. Her spirit is whole, her body is only temporary.”
I asked God to grant me patience. But God said, “No. Patience is the result of tribulation; it isn’t granted, it’s earned.”
I asked God to give me happiness. But God said, “No. I bless you with many good things; happiness is up to you.”
I asked God to spare me pain. But God said, “No. Suffering draws you apart from worldly cares and brings you closer to me.”
I asked God to make my spirit grow. And God said, “No. You must grow on your own.”
I asked God if he loved me. And God said, “Yes, of course. Why did I create you? Why did I give my own Son to die for you? Only because I love you.”
So I asked God to help me love others as much as he loves me. And God said, “Finally, you’ve got the idea.”


What lessons does the liturgy from the first Sunday of Advent provide in terms of social justice?
How can we apply what we know about steward and stewardship into concrete action for social justice?
What ideas came to you for specific action from the Catechism quotes?

Welcome to the Human Rights Blog!

St. Gregory the Great has a famous saying: "Lex orandi, lex credendi, lex vivendi" - the law of prayer is the law of belief is the law of living." Everything begins with prayer and our intimate experiences with God. From those experiences as individuals and as a Church we come to form our core beliefs about God, the human person, and Christian living. Once we pray and form our belief, then we ask ourselves, "How shall we live?"

It is in this context that the Human Rights Office of the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph offers this blog. Here, we can reflect and pray; learn the core beliefs of the Church on social justice; and discover how to live our lives as individuals and as a community. Each week we will offer reflections and catechesis on the blog. Then, we will invite everyone to discuss how we can best put that prayer and belief into actions of social justice. Our first entry to that end will begin December 1st.

We hope that this blog will also serve as a place for people to meet one another, collaborate on shared projects, and help one another in their respective ministries of social justice. Thank you for all that you do. See you here next week.

Jude