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.