The Promise of Resurrection & Social Justice

Happy Easter! Today we celebrate our belief that suffering and death does not have the final say. There are many challenges to God's sense of justice in our society today, and most of these also existed at the time of Christ — people without adequate food, clothing, shelter, healthcare, education, or dignified work; people who suffer from discrimination and abuse.

       And then there are those blessed ones who, like Jesus, work to change the systems that cause those injustices. Like Jesus, they suffer, as well, since their work upsets the status quo. As Dom Helder Camara once said, "When I feed the poor, they call me a saint. When I ask why so many people are poor, they call me a communist."

       Easter reminds us to never lose faith or hope, since God is looking out for us and wants us all to have life and have it more abundantly. The hope of Jesus' resurrection — and our own — is that, through suffering, we find new life, and that every experience of suffering is also an opportunity to offer a hand in compassion to someone else.
Copyright © 2010, Deacon Carl D. Smith. All rights reserved. Reprint permission granted to parishes for use in Sunday bulletins. (http://bit.ly/16p8ws)
   

A Social Justice Reflection for Holy Week

We are once again in the final week of preparations for the highest feast of the liturgical year: Easter. During this holy week, we contemplate the events that led up to our Savior's glory. We recall that his ministry of feeding and healing and liberating was enthusiastically received by the masses when he entered Jerusalem because their world so desperately needed to be touched in that way. However, since he wasn't connected to the ruling class, officials were threatened by his popularity. They were able to bribe one of his followers into betraying him, and they were able to turn the tide of public opinion against him — they stopped at nothing to bring him down. Officials conspired to hand down a death sentence, and they had their military carry it out with great brutality. All the while, Jesus himself remained faithful to his ministry, and he willingly and nonviolently give his life for the sake of his mission.
       Today — as then — we have a world that is in need of feeding and healing and liberating. There are hungry people in our own city and around the world who long to be fed, even though there is enough food in the world. There are unborn babies and elderly people and a lot of people in between who have health care needs that are going unmet, even though there are enough health care resources to provide for them. There are political prisoners and people sold into slavery and nations living under oppressive rulers that long to be free. 
       Taking a stand for any of them may make us as unpopular with the ruling class of our day as Jesus was in his.
       But we will be in good company.
Copyright © 2010, Deacon Carl D. Smith. All rights reserved. Reprint permission granted to parishes for use in Sunday bulletins. (http://bit.ly/16p8ws)
   

Reconciliation & Social Justice

This is the time of year when most parishes celebrate the Sacrament of Penance (Reconciliation) as a parish. For most Catholics, it is easy to recall the sins that they actively committed, such as acts of lying, cheating, or stealing. For most of us, though, it is far more difficult to see some of the bigger-picture sins, such as cooperating with unjust systems like discrimination on the basis of sex, age, race, or ethnicity, or a lack of concern for the common. During the celebration of the sacrament, a good examination of conscience should call those things to our minds. In fact, the model examination of conscience in the Rite of Penance include several, including these two: 

• "Do I do my best to help the victims of oppression, misfortune, and poverty? Or do I look down on my neighbor, especially the poor, the sick, the elderly, strangers, and people of other races?
• "Am I concerned for the good and prosperity of the human community in which I live, or do I spend my life caring only for myself? Do I share to the best of my ability in the work of promoting justice, morality, harmony, and love in human relations? Have I done my duty as a citizen? Have I paid my taxes?" (Rite of Penanace, Appendix III)

One pastor even added "Do I reduce, reuse, and recycle out of respect for God's creation?" to his parish's examination of conscience!
       The US bishops have published "Supplementary Questions to Examine Conscience in Light of Catholic Social Teaching." They can be found at http://bit.ly/aOAukv. Also on that page is a downloadable two-page version that can be inserted in a bulletin or laminated and placed in a Reconciliation Room.
Copyright © 2010, Deacon Carl D. Smith. All rights reserved. Reprint permission granted to parishes for use in Sunday bulletins. 
   

Lenten Practices & Social Justice, part 4

The three disciplines of Lent are prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. In this final part of the series, we look at almsgiving. 
       Almsgiving is a religious practice dating back prior to Christianity. For example, Proverbs 28:27 (NAB) says: "He who gives to the poor suffers no want, but he who ignores them gets many a curse." In the Christian era, the gospels (particularly Luke) are full of lines where Jesus urges his followers to attend to the needs of the poor. This was further refined in the last century as Catholic social teaching has been developed, into what we now call "the preferential option for the poor."
       Almsgiving has a practical result, to be sure — those who are the beneficiaries of our alms are helped in meeting their needs. There is also a spiritual result, not only for the recipient, but also for the giver. (Look again at that verse from Proverbs, above.) Especially when one gives to organizations that work for justice, the spiritual result will extend out beyond even those two parties, since the work of justice is transformational — unjust systems are dismantled and are replaced by just systems. Charity will help a few people; justice will transform the world.
       This is the weekend that many parishes and dioceses take up an annual collection for Catholic Relief Services (www.crs.org). CRS works both in the charity and social justice arenas, and is one of the most effective organizations throughout the world in reaching into areas of great human need, whether that need is caused by natural disaster or human sinfulness. It seeks to transform injustice and has a good track record of success in doing so. Please be generous.
Copyright © 2010, Deacon Carl D. Smith. All rights reserved. Reprint permission granted to parishes for use in Sunday bulletins. 
   

Lenten Practices & Social Justice, part 3

Operation Rice Bowl (ORB) is used by many parishes each year during Lent as a means of focusing on the Catholic Lenten disciplines of prayer, fasting, and giving alms. The ORB web site had a great reflection on fasting this past week:

"As you plan your week, make some time to pray as the prophets did. Set aside everything — time, physical comfort, food — to listen carefully to what God is saying to you. You might consider skipping a meal and spending the time by yourself in prayer. While a mountaintop might not be handy, a chapel, winter path, or bedroom might be the place to escape distractions. Let the inevitable complaint of your stomach remind you of your reliance on God for your daily bread. Let it put you in solidarity with all who experience hunger, whether if be for food, for justice or for a brighter future."
Copyright © 2010, Deacon Carl D. Smith. All rights reserved. Reprint permission granted to parishes for use in Sunday bulletins.