The Spirituality of Social Justice - Part 3

The Spirituality of Social Justice – Part 3

With the conclusion of the four archetypal stories of sin and their various dimensions, Genesis then goes on to provide us with archetypal figures – the patriarchs – who provide God’s people with an orientation and mindset to overcome sin in all of its dimensions.  Each patriarchal story is designed to address each dimension of sin we saw in Adam and Eve (sin as an offense against God), Cain and Abel (sin as an offense against neighbor), the world at the time of Noah (the cosmic effects of sin), and the people of Babel (structural sin).

Abraham is the father of faith for Jewish, Muslim, and Christian peoples.  His introduction to us is abrupt and represents a new chapter in the life of humanity.  God calls Abraham to move from the home he has known for 75 years and to move to a land promised and destined to be a homeland for the people of God.  And Abraham accepts this call, despite all of its challenges to his own comfort and security.  This willingness on the part of Abraham to follow God’s will is one we see in the many encounters we have with him:  the hospitality he shows to the three mysterious guests; the openness in receiving the high priest Melchiezedek; the trust he showed in believing the promise of a great nation coming from his lineage; the willingness to obey the command of God and sacrifice his only son Isaac.    

Abraham provides a counterexample for us to the sin of our first parents.  Adam and Eve were not willing to obey God.  Their sin showed for us the fundamental reality of sin as an offense against God.  By contrast, Abraham shows us how to glorify God in our lives, how to obey God in those times when God calls us.  The call of Abraham was not one single event, but a series of events wherein Abraham continually followed God’s will. 

Abraham’s son Isaac has twin boys through his wife Rebekah.  Esau was the older son who was a skilled hunter, while the younger boy Jacob stayed home.  In the story of trading his birthright, Esau resembles Cain in his jealousy and shallow discernment.  However, unlike the story of Cain and Abel that represented the second dimension of sin as an offense against neighbor, the story of Jacob and Esau represents a new opportunity to overcome division among brothers.  Jacob obeyed his mother who had told him to trick his father Isaac.  Rebekah did so because God had revealed to her that Jacob should be the one to receive the inheritance. 

Jacob remained home.  He remained faithful to family and the relationships among peoples God has set for us in our lives.  Justice toward other people flows from the justice we owe to God in being faithful to His will for us.  Whereas Cain neglected the bonds of family through the killing of Abel, Jacob shows to us the importance of family bonds and the obligation to neighbor that our existence requires. 

It is through Jacob that cosmic justice and order become established in the twelve tribes of Israel.  Through Jacob’s children all nations will come to right relationship with the one true God.  And in this right relationship with the one true God we will find our right relationships with one another and to the whole created order.  In fact, Jacob was given a vision of the heavenly staircase, indicating the order of the entire cosmos in the divine plan.  This reordering of the cosmos is the counterpoint to the flood and the disordering of the cosmos due to human sin at the time of Noah.

Finally, we saw the presence of structural sin in the story of the Tower of Babel.  In the person of Joseph, we find the perfect counterbalance to structural sin in his actions.  Egypt was not a particularly just society, and Joseph comes to occupy a powerful position in the administration of the Pharaoh.  In using the gifts of interpretation God gave him, Joseph was able to restructure society so that people did not go hungry during the time of famine.  In addition, Joseph was able to provide a unique example for his time in the use of restorative justice.

Joseph had the opportunity to exact revenge on his brothers for the evil they had done to him.  What is more, he had no obligation to provide assistance to foreign peoples suffering from famine in their own lands.  And yet Joseph provided a double portion of good.  First, he reconciled his family and restored them to right relationship with him.  Then, he provided food to these hungry outsiders during the time of famine. 

As we reflect on the examples of the patriarchs in overcoming the four dimensions of sin present in our world, we pray for God’s mercy upon us and that we may in turn be instruments of mercy in our world.  “Let us pray for the peace of the kingdom which we have been promised.  Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, in your unbounded mercy you have revealed the beauty of your power through your constant forgiveness of our sins.  May the power of this love be in our hearts to bring your pardon and your kingdom to all we meet.  We ask this through Christ our Lord.  Amen.”

The Spirituality of Social Justice - Part 2

The Spirituality of Social Justice – Part 2

Once we have the recognition of being a sinner, we must come to realize the full dimension of human sin.  St. Pope John Paul II delivered a series of catechetical homilies on the first eleven chapters of the Book of Genesis wherein he asked us to consider these four archetypal stories as a meditation on human sin.  John Paul finds in these stories four fundamental aspects of sin that call us to conversion both personally and communally. 

The first sin is that of Adam and Eve in the garden.  This sin reveals the first dimension of sin:  it is an offense against God.  The eating of the fruit does not have any other dimension other than the fact that it was a violation against what God had wanted us to do.  The Holy Father reminds us of the relational character of this event.  There is no law or institution or human relation involved in the story.  In this story we stand before God in all of our nakedness to discover the shame of our sinful action.  Adam and Eve both wanted to make this act about someone else, seeking to blame others for what they did.  But God reminds them that this fault is our own and that it stands in relationship not to any other being but to God alone.

In reflecting on this aspect, we have to remind ourselves that we alone are responsible for our actions.  They may be conditioned on many things, but at the end of the day we stand before God and realize that we have sinned and harmed our relationship with Him alone.  The story of Adam and Eve is a call to responsibility and to seeking a right relationship with God.

The second story of sin in the biblical text is the killing of Abel by his older brother Cain.  Here we find the fact that sin harms our relationship with one another.  There are sins against our neighbor.  We do not need God to tell us in a legal code that such sins exist; we can recognize them by their very nature and character.  Sin creates division within the human community, even in the closest of human relationships.  But this sin is not merely an external act; it is something that preceded the external act.  The biblical text reminds us that Cain grew jealous with his brother Abel, for his brother’s gift to God was found to be more worthy than his own. 

Every external act begins with a prior interior disposition and discernment.  This fact was also true in the story of Adam and Eve, for the conversation between Eve and the serpent can be seen as an interior dialogue within Eve that disposes her to commit the external act of eating the fruit.  In the story of Cain the point is more explicit.  In each case we see this interior disposition lead first to sin as offending against God, then in Cain sin as harming and offending our relationship with one another. 

The third dimension of sin is in the story of Noah and the flood.  Here, John Paul points out the cosmic dimension of sin.   The created order was cleansed by God in the flood, an allusion to our baptismal cleansing but also a reminder of the effects of our sins.  Our sin offends against God; it also offends against others.  Sin also disrupts the cosmic order of nature.  The relationship between ourselves and the entire created order lose their harmony and balance originally intended by God.  Our vocation to dominion over all creation becomes one of domination rather than of stewardship.  We are no longer in right relationship with the created order.

In this aspect of sin we become mindful of our responsibility as stewards of creation and our environmental responsibility.  Just as our sins can affect God directly and affect our neighbor directly, so our sins can and do affect the entire created order directly.  Human action does have environmental consequences, and as stewards of creation we are called to be mindful of these and discern how we can exist in right relationship to the created order – not in making a deity of creation as pagans did, but as discerning how God wants us to care for creation as stewards being mindful of the universal destination of goods.

Finally, the story of the Tower of Babel leads us to reflect upon what John Paul II called “structural sin.”  Sin is not merely individual and personal.  Sin can be built within the very structures of our societies – sometimes consciously, sometimes unconsciously.  The Tower itself was a structural sin as it sought to rival and challenge God.  It led to the further distancing and separation among peoples symbolized in the confusing of languages.  Sin has a social dimension that must be addressed.  God called the people of Israel to erect structures of justice within its society, and God judged Israel for its lack of justice within these structures. 

In our examinations we must also look to discern the ways in which we might be participating in and condoning structures of sin within our societies.  Sometimes we become conscious of these and work to create more just societies.  The abolition of slavery, creating  safe working conditions and just wage structures, and the like are all instances in which we came together to recognize a structural injustice and we took corrective action.  Many structural sins exist today that call for examination and corrective action.  The Church calls society to ever examine itself so that we may be what God calls us to be as social beings.

Sin has many dimensions, and none must be ignored.  All of them require our constant examination and reflection.  To neglect one is eventually to neglect them all.  We must have a sense of sin in all of its dimensions.  These stories from Genesis are a constant reminder and reflection for us to be aware of every dimension of sin in our lives. 

The God who calls us to lives of holiness in right relationships with Him, one another, the order of creation, and in the structures of society is also the One who alone can liberate us from sin.  God calls us in the person of Jesus – in his teaching and example – to be in right relationship in all these dimensions.  In our examination and discernment in prayer, we pray:  “Let us pray to the Lord who is a God of love to all peoples.  Father in heaven, the perfection of justice is found in your love and all mankind is in need of your law.  Help us to find this love in each other that justice may be attained through obedience to your law.  We ask this through Christ our Lord.  Amen.”

The Spirituality of Social Justice, part 1

The Spirituality of Social Justice, part 1

In the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius we are asked to answer one fundamental question:  Who am I?  Many people who hear the question laugh because on the face of it the answer seems obvious.  We all have names, origins, identities we have shaped for ourselves based on our own talents and decisions.  And yet the question continues to haunt us, for in all those answers we might give they are at the end of the day constructs of our own design, masks we create to live in the world and at times hide from this fundamental question – who am I. 

In the famous interview with Jesuit publications last fall, Pope Francis provides us with the correct answer to this question, for the answer is the same for all of us.  These answers are important as we develop a spirituality to engage in the Church’s social mission.  Our identity helps us to remember who we are, and it helps us in how we deal with other people.  Who, then, are we?

1.  I am a human being, a child of God.  Very often we are tempted to identify ourselves based on our religious affiliations, political stances, professional associations, ethnic heritages, gender, sexuality, and the like.  But all of those particular answers only describe part of our identity, the parts that set us apart from other people.  Those unique qualities are important for our individuality, but they often become masks and walls that also divide us and lead to unnecessary conflict. 

In rooting our identity in the fact of our humanity and creature made as a child of God, we recognize what is common to us all.  We are created, finite beings who are united to one another in God’s fatherhood of us all.  Whether we are aware of it or not, whether we choose to acknowledge it or not, we are all children of God, which then makes us brothers and sisters with one another.  How, then, can I kill my brother or sister?  How could I steal from him or her?  How could I think any less of them or fail to give them the respect that is due to their dignity that is the same as mine?

We do so when we focus on our individual identities and masks that we create.  When we call ourselves Catholic and others as Muslim, we attach labels that can then be used to dehumanize.  We focus on the particular and overlook the greater reality of our existence:  we are human beings, children of God.  There is a M*A*S*H episode in which Frank Burns calls the Koreans “gooks”, to which Hawkeye Pierce replies, “You know, Frank, another name for gook is person.”  Once we remember this fact, we see why war and killing is so horrid.

2. I am a sinner.  Perhaps no other line from Pope Francis’ interview surprised us more.  When asked who he was, Francis replied, “I am a sinner.”  We don’t expect the pope to say this, but how often do we say this of ourselves?  We may go to confession often, and yet if someone asked us who we are, we probably would not identify ourselves to others as a sinner.  And yet that is what we are, another trait that makes us united to every other human being on earth.  We are all children of God, and we are all sinners.

Once we recognize the fact of our sinfulness, we become aware of our need for God’s mercy and love.  We become dependent and reliant on God and not on ourselves.  At the same time, we come to have a deep empathy for others since they share our weak, sinful condition.  If God has shown great mercy and love to me, how can we not show the same mercy and love to others?

Very often we become attached to our own sins that we are not even aware of its harmful effects in our lives.  At the same time we seem all too aware of the sins of others that we grow angry at our neighbor for their sins while overlooking our own faults.  The social mission of the Church has to recognize and acknowledge the faults of our own institution and seek to correct those areas where we fail in justice and mercy.  It requires accepting fraternal correction in the spirit of humility.  Then, we are able to offer correction to others in a humble spirit. 

Prayer:  Let us pray to our just and merciful God.

Lord our God, in you justice and mercy meet.  With unparalleled love you have saved us from death and drawn us into the circle of your life.  Open our eyes to the wonders this life sets before us, that we may serve you free from fear and address you as God our Father.  We ask this in the name of Jesus the Lord.  Amen. 

Day 3 at the In Defense of Christians Summit

Third Installment “In Defense of Christians” Summit – Why, O Lord?

Last night represented a turning point in the conference.  At the very height of the summit, the banquet dinner, an unfortunate event took place.  Senator Ted Cruz had been invited to give the banquet keynote address, and he used the occasion to ask a roomful of Lebanese, Egyptians, Syrians, Iraqis, and Palestinians to give unswerving loyalty and unquestioning support for Israel.  The senator went on to say that if the entire room could not do this, then he could not support the Christian communities under persecution in the Middle East or anywhere else.  Needless to say, the response was less than warm. 

It was clear that the senator’s comments were deliberate in their meaning and in the effect they would have.  Why an elected official would say such a thing is incomprehensible.  At the same time, the organizers of the summit should have known better than to have invited Senator Cruz to give the keynote address at the peak of their conference.  Senator Cruz has made a career out of divisive comments designed to create division and pain.  While it is laudable to hope that the senator would behave well for the sake of protecting innocent victims of genocide, the risk in such a gamble was too high. 

No one at this summit rejects the idea that Israel ought to exist, and that all people should be protected from genocide.  That message has been made clear by every single speaker and religious leader.  However, we have to recognize the fact that Israel has caused great pain to Palestinian Christians in Bethlehem and Gaza.  No one here would suggest that this pain was caused intentionally.  Certainly Israel has a right to protect itself and provide a secure society for its people.  But in so doing there have been some actions that have caused pain to the Christian community in the Holy Land. 

I have many Jewish friends, and not one blindly defends everything the state of Israel does.  They love Israel and they want her actions to reflect the very best of the Jewish tradition and community.  Their attitude is not unlike most Roman Catholics who accept the pope as the successor to St. Peter and leader of Christ’s Church while at the same time expect the actions of the Church’s governance to reflect Gospel values and the best of the Catholic tradition, and when actions of our church leaders do not reflect our highest values we speak to correct and encourage our leaders to exhibit Gospel values and the example of Jesus the Lord.

Friends need to be honest with one another.  Just as Israel rightly reminds the Christian communities of the anti-Semitism that has sadly existed in the Christian world, so Christians have the right to say that while we greatly desire the existence and security of Israel, it cannot come at the expense of Palestinian Christians.  These issues are complex and require a great deal of sensitivity and ongoing dialogue. 

Senator Cruz exhibited neither sensitivity nor dialogue in his remarks, and the summit has suffered greatly for it.  But what is worse, the people of the Middle East will suffer even greater because of the senator’s words and attitudes, for they represent further inaction and indifference to the slaughter of Christians and other people in the region.  Currently, more than 4 million people are living solely off the relief aid provided by many agencies and governments.  The poverty that war creates is staggering. 

Our task as the people of God is to move beyond this unfortunate scene and to continue the fundamental mission of the Church – the mission of mercy, the mission of reconciliation, the mission of peace and justice to all people.  The following video captures better than anything else the focus and mission:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=jBJjefHEzQw

 

     

In Defense of Christians - Part II

Today's post represents the morning sessions of the conference; the afternoon was spent lobbying members of Congress to take further action to protect people throughout the world from religious persecution, extreme fundamentalism, and violent fanaticism. 

His Holiness Aram I Keshishian

Christian unity is not a human achievement.  It is a gift of God in Jesus Christ.  Unity and mission are interconnected.  The Church's mission is God's mission.  It is God in Christ who acts through the Church.  The Church is essentially a missionary reality.

The Church cannot compromise its mission of love, of reconciliation, of peace and justice, of Gospel values.  Hardship and persecution have marked the Church's existence in the Middle East from the very beginning.  And yet we remain faithful to our mission.  The survival of Christianity in the Middle East is a miracle. 

The call to unity takes on a greater urgency today as a result of these crises.  We cannot remain silent and indifferent.  No one will shake us from our faith and mission.  From our rights and responsibilities, from our commitment, from our lands and churches, no one can shake us. 

Unity is being together, praying together, reflecting together, acting together in the midst of a hostile world.  Unity is a gift and a call from Jesus Christ.  We must accept it in humility and obedience by giving concrete care and manifestation of this unity. 

His Beatitude Greorios III Laham
The Trinity and the Cross, the beginning and ending symbol of our prayer, are fundamental to our faith.  They are reminders of unity - unity of the Three in One, and unity in the midst of trial.  Unity is committment to solidarity, not to be in a ghetto, but to be one in identity and be open to others.  Unity cannot be apart from the belief in the one God.  We must be one with others who believe in the One God. 

We must be in an intimate relationship with the Arab world.  Our roots are here; we have a mission to the Arab society.  We must be deeply committed to this world.  Not just to be with, but to have and show solidarity with each other.  Muslims have defended Christians from persecution.  We must recognize this and be in solidarity with them and protect them too.

By coming together, living side by side, worshipping the One God in our own ways and understandings, we create harmony and new progress in finding development in these relationships with one another. 

We must resolve the Palestinian question that is at the root of the present conflicts.  We should overcome our national differences to ensure peace and meet the aspirations of our younger generations. 

We must recongize and build upon our common values and we must condemn violence and fundamentalism in the name of God.  Unity is the foundation for overcoming these vices. 

The Patriarchs are living a very high amount of unity these days.  It is important for our faithful to see this unity and work for the one Church in reality and not just in idea.  The call to unity is the call to love.  The kiss of peace:  let us love each other so that we may profess one God - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

His Grace Bishop Angaelos

We are facing unprecedented opportunities in the midst of unprecedented challenges.  The world always wants to develop and progress.  We have not seen an attempt to regress into primal medieval barbarism until now. 

Freedom is bestowed on us by God and must be protected by the world, not the other way around.  Democracy is a vehicle, a means to an end, but not an end in itself.  Democracy needs freedom and opportunities for choices. 

We are called to be one - one not only with each other but with the whole of humanity.  Our role is Luke 4 and Isaiah 61 - The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because He has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those held captive.

We must think corporately.  We are the corpus.  We are the body of Christ.  We must reclaim and regain it.  Our differences do not stop us from being the body of Christ - unless we choose not to be, and we make this choice at our own peril!

We must have a unified effort to respect the rights of all.  The rights we see on paper come from God given to Adam and Eve.  We are diverse, but our diversity can be our strength.  We can pray and witness together, to love each other concretely.  There are three areas of unity:

1.  Christian unity is the first step - to love and to be together unconditionally.  If one member suffers, all suffer from it.  Our unity will serve as an example to the world.  Sadly, our disunity has set an example to the world.

2.  Unity between us as Christians and those who regard themselves as religious, moral, and ethical.  Common values around executions, slavery, and human trafficking can form the basis of profound unity among people of good will.

3.  Unity among the whole international community.  Efforts to protect and care for all those in need are shared values of all nations.  In talking to our elected officials we must remind them:  don't use our people as bargaining chips and vote getting.  Advocate for them because they are human beings and theyare in need. 

The body is only as strong as its weakest part, and joyful only as much as its most suffering member. 

Franciois Puponi, MP National Assembly of France

The Islamic Caliphate has shocked the international community with its violence and intolerance.  It calls for our strongest condemnation and swift response to overcome these forces of evil.  U.S. operations must gain internationals support to be effective.  France has just made a committment to assist with military operations and provide weapons to assist the Iraqi army. 

Iraq needs a strong, effective central government for there to be a long term solution to the problems there.  The international community must act to protect religious minorities to avoid an even deeper humanitarian crisis.  Calls for massive humanitarian aid package along with military support for the Iraqi government are essential. 

France has provided aid and assistance to refugees.  Refugees need to be able to return to their homeland in security and peace.  The UN should call for a peace keeping force to protect people from the shadow of this darkness. 

Henri Jibrayel, MP National Assembly of France

The right of every person to live their beliefs, the dignity of the human person - these are what is threatened today in the Middle East.

My father came from Lebanon and fought to liberate France from Nazi occupation.  Now, I see religious intolerance becoming more and more troubling in the past decades.  Now it has grown to horrid acts of violence. 

And yet the world remains silent.  The Christian population in the Middle East went from 20% to 5% in the region.  The world must take note and act to protect this minority community.  1.5 million fewer Christians are in Iraq since 2000. 

The emergence of the caliphate leads to serious concerns over security in the entire region.  Western countries must fight this caliphate to ensure freedom and respect for all.  Our duty is to speak up.  We cannot enable massacres of entire populations.  How many Christians and other religious minorities must die before the world acts?  Silence is not golden anymore.  Silence now is full of blood.

In Defense of Christians - Part 1

Today was the opening of the first of its kind In Defense of Christians Conference, which brings together Christians of all denominations coming together to pray, to organize, and to help Christians suffering persecution in displacement in the Middle East, Ukraine, and Africa.  Here are highlights from this evening:

His Excellency Bishop Gregory Mansour - Maronite Eparchy of Saint Maron, Brooklyn, NY - Homily During the Ecumenical Prayer Service:

When you read the Beatitudes - even if you are angry when reading them - how can you remain angry?

The present situation presents us with three options:
1.  Pray and do nothing else.
2.  Declare war and fight back.
3.  Non-violent resistance - not afraid in our resistance, bold in mercy and love.  This is the way of Jesus.  It is the harder way, but it is the only way - to build solidarity and coalitions with everyone. 

That is what we can do here and now.  We raise our voices; we take individual action in solidarity with all.  We call evil as evil.  We live in the unity of the Holy Spirit. 

The third way is the most difficult, but let us live it and live it well. For they will know we are Christians by this love.

The prayer service was derived from prayers of the 3rd and 4th centuries from different languages.  The exact prayer service was last done in 1987 when Pope John Paul declared the Marian Year.

John Ashcroft - Keynote Address:

We don't have to be uniform to have unity.  We are here to bring the Good News to Washington, D.C. 

Liberty is sourced in God.  God respects liberty to such an extent that he allows us to choose against Him.  Religion is a choice made in freedom, not one imposed on us by others.  God did not impose Himself on others.  It is against my religion to impose my religion on others.

We are unified in our belief in the idea that the world of the Spirit calls us to our highest and best in freedom through inspiration, not by mandate and imposition.  Democracy is not the core value.  Liberty is the core value.  Democracy can be a hindrance to liberty and it can impose on others. 

We defend the liberty of Christians and all others to pray to God as they see fit.

Leonardo Cardinal Santri - Keynote Address:

A letter of support from Pope Francis was read.  In the letter the pope reminds us that the rights of all must be upheld, and the respect for everyone's life and dignity must be assured.  The pope encourages us to pray and work for this intention.

Christians of the Middle East beg the community of nations for intervention and protection.  Christians of Africa also raise their voices pleading for intervention and protection as well.

The atrocities and refugee displacement, the destruction of holy sites and religious property, the loss of cultural heritage and loss of freedom today represents a humanitarian crisis the proportion of which the world has not seen since World War II.

The indoctrination of children is also to be condemned.  The world community must condemn and put an end to the barbarism of ISIS. 

The sexual slavery of young teenage girls who are forced into marriages as objects and property must also cease. 

Cultural coexistence must replace the clash of civilizations. 

War is the enemy to fight.  The trade of arms, the control of oil and other resources is also evil.  The culture of waste is also to blame. 

We must regard the other person as a human being.  Every country and group must recognize the individual person as such. 

The U.N. must be the venue to resolve these issues in harmony and protect the rights of all.

Voices within Islam are rising up to condemn the extremism of fundamentalism and the violence of ISIS.  Muslim groups have organized relief and assistance to refugees, working in partnership with Caritas International.

Vatican II and Nostra Aetate is fundamental to our work.  The scandal of Christian division must be overcome in order to show the world how to live together in the love of Christ.  We have made progress with various agreements among the churches and ecclesial communities.  Coming together to pray with one another frequently is important.  But we must do more.

Diversity does not diminish unity, but rather enhances it.  The hope for peace and justice can only come about in our obedience to the law of God, which is the law of love for others (Benedict XVI).

Just as Jonah was sent to Nineveh to soften the hearts of the people of his day, so may we go forth to proclaim this message to soften the hearts of people in our day.  We must never tire and stop in the building the civilization of love in defense of Christians, in defense of Jews, in defense of Muslims, in defense of all humanity.