Our Lady of Guadalupe & Social Justice

"Do not be afraid, you have nothing to fear.
Am I not here, your compassionate mother?"
(message of Mary to St. Juan Diego)

The story of Mary's appearance to St. Juan Diego and the image she left on his cloak is well-known. What many people miss, however, is the message of compassion, human development, and social justice.
       The 1531 apparition came after decades of increasing oppression of the native peoples (primarily Aztecs) by the Spanish. Some of this was in the name of evangelization, but what the Spanish were doing was definitely not in keeping with the Gospel. On the other side, the human sacrifices of the Aztecs was an evil that was worth some attention by Christians. By the early 1500s, two cultures were in a virtual stand-off, with the Spanish winning the upper hand in a bloody defeat of the Aztec empire in 1521. With that, the Spanish set about forcing the Aztecs to either submit to them or die.
       Ten years later, Mary's apparition as a Mestizo woman changed things. Here is what the Encyclopedia of Catholicism says about the image of Mary on the cloak of St. Juan Diego:

"In her, the two anthropologies come together so as to produce something totally different than either of the two had been able to achieve independently: the change is from the absolute exclusion of the other as other for the sake of ethnic/religious unity, to the inclusion of otherness for the sake of new life. In the Mestizo Mother of the Americas, irreconcilable differences are not only reconciled, but a new 'beyond exclusion existence' is introduced, one that will destroy the very basis of cruel violence produced by any exclusion-based existence."

So the Virgin of Guadalupe is a symbol of love, compassion, and hospitality. These are matters of social justice, and so we can once again look to Mary to show us the justice that her Son came into the world to bring about.

Copyright © 2010, Deacon Carl D. Smith. All rights reserved. Reprint permission granted to parishes for use in Sunday bulletins.

The Church's Liturgy & Social Justice, part 2

[This sound-bite is prepared for running in bulletins on 7/25/2010]

One important aspect of achieving social justice is also a part of our liturgy: reconciliation. Justice is a matter of right relationship. If something is keeping us from right relationship, such as a past wrong or unfair discrimination, we must be reconciled in order to return to a right and just relationship. Reconciliation involves (1) acknowledging our faults to the offended party, (2) asking for and receiving forgiveness, and (3) making reparations and/or doing penance.
       To model that for us in our interpersonal relationships, we have the Sacrament of Penance and the Penitential Rite of the Mass by which we are reconciled with God. The Sacrament of Penance provides the fullest expression of reconciliation (as outlined above) and is our only way of reconciling serious sins against God's law. The Penitential Rite of the Mass heals the lesser offenses so that we can be properly disposed for our reception of Holy Communion.
       The challenge for us is to take these opportunities for reconciliation seriously. This Sunday, when the liturgy comes to the Penitential Rite, make a serious examination of your conscience, fervently ask God for forgiveness, and then feel the forgiveness God offers through the words of the priest.
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.