A light too bright
for a land living in darkness
for the heavy-lidded eyes holding power
A brilliance beyond the imagination
of dull minds and threatened souls
incapable of anything
beyond deception and violence
to hold their place in the world
A beacon of hope
healing the sick at heart
raising the dead-spirited
proclaiming freedom to the captives
Look! Look at the crowds!
Grace and peace to you…
dw
Now we know who won
what is left to do
but love God
love our neighbor
keep praying
and persevere
with more compassion than ever
through the trials and tribulations
of an evil, evil time.
Grace and peace to us…
dw
Verbally assented to all the right things
Loved all the wrong things
Believed they were better than everyone else
Trusted in their entitlement
Were blind to it all
Lord, have mercy on us.
dw
There exist also sinful inequalities that affect millions of men and women. These are in open contradiction of the Gospel:
Vaticana, Libreria Editrice. Catechism of the Catholic Church . United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. Kindle Edition. Paragraph 1938
Their equal dignity as persons demands that we strive for fairer and more humane conditions. Excessive economic and social disparity between individuals and peoples of the one human race is a source of scandal and militates against social justice, equity, human dignity, as well as social and international peace.
In case anyone was wondering, this is the official teaching of the Roman Catholic Church.
Conservative Catholics, what do you think? How does this affect your politics?
Protestants and Evangelicals, though not a matter of doctrine for you, what do you think?
People not part of the Christian tradition, is this teaching a surprise to you?
Grace and peace to us all…
dw
p.s. This is the 12th in a series of recent posts on what the Catholic Catechism has to say about social justice.
On coming into the world, [people are] not equipped with everything [they need] for developing [their] bodily and spiritual life. [They need] others. Differences appear tied to age, physical abilities, intellectual or moral aptitudes, the benefits derived from social commerce, and the distribution of wealth. The “talents” are not distributed equally.
These differences belong to God’s plan, who wills that each receive what [they need] from others, and that those endowed with particular “talents” share the benefits with those who need them. These differences encourage and often oblige persons to practice generosity, kindness, and sharing of goods; they foster the mutual enrichment of cultures:
Vaticana, Libreria Editrice. Catechism of the Catholic Church . United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. Kindle Edition. Paragraph 1936, 1937
“I distribute the virtues quite diversely; I do not give all of them to each person, but some to one, some to others…. I shall give principally charity to one; justice to another; humility to this one, a living faith to that one…. And so I have given many gifts and graces, both spiritual and temporal, with such diversity that I have not given everything to one single person, so that you may be constrained to practice charity towards one another…. I have willed that one should need another and that all should be my ministers in distributing the graces and gifts they have received from me.”
Hear this, Catholics, Protestants, Evangelicals.
Can we hold these thoughts in our minds long enough to dislodge the knee-jerk hate responses we have been conditioned to use and excuse, time and again?
Can we be born anew?
Grace and peace to us all…
dw
p.s. This is the 11th in a series of recent posts on what the Catholic Catechism has to say about social justice.
becoming flame 