Posts from the ‘Social Justice’ Category
Loving Our Neighbor . . . the Immigrant
Friday’s Gospel reading is from Matthew 12:28-34
One of the scribes came to Jesus and asked him, “Which is the first of all the commandments?”
Jesus replied, “The first is this: Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is Lord alone!
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart,
with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.
The second is this:
You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
There is no other commandment greater than these.”
The scribe said to him, “Well said, teacher. You are right in saying,
He is One and there is no other than he.
And to love him with all your heart, with all your understanding,
with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself
is worth more than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.”
And when Jesus saw that he answered with understanding, he said to him,
“You are not far from the Kingdom of God.”
And no one dared to ask him any more questions.
I wonder how well we demonstrate our love for God by our love for our neighbor . . .
- After visiting with some of the people of Tijuana, and witnessing their poverty. . .
- After conversations with people who had grown up in the U.S., only to be deported as an adult, even though they knew no one in Mexico . . .
- After remembering the words of Exodus 22:21 . . .
You must not mistreat or oppress foreigners in any way. Remember, you yourselves were once foreigners in the land of Egypt.
God bless the Franciscan Sisters of Our Lady of Peace, and all those who support them, in caring for their neighbors and our neighbors. May we learn to be truly neighbor through our trade and immigration policies, and may we learn compassion and not react to the “stranger” in a mean-spirited manner because of our fear and lack of understanding. May the Spirit help us to “enlarge the place of our tent” (Isaiah 54:2) and make room in our hearts and our lives for others who are different from us. Could this be a way for us to be transformed this Lent?
The people at Casa de los Pobres, Tijuana, gather to pray the Stations of the Cross during Lent. The students of Dominican University joined them.
La Voz de los sin Voz
From Mark 7 we read:
Jesus put his finger into the man’s ears . . . and said to him, “Ephphatha!” – that is, “Be opened!” – And immediately the man’s ears were opened, his speech impediment was removed, and he spoke plainly.
There are those in our world who need to be heard. There are those who need to be seen. Let us listen to them and speak on their behalf. Better yet, let us find a way for their voices to be heard.
"La voz de los sin voz" - "The voice of those without a voice."
This sign is displayed in the museum of Archbishop Romero in the University of Central America in El Salvador. Romero was la voz de los sin voz, and it cost him his life.
King David Acted Despicably
One of the wonderful thing about the Scriptures is that they show our ancestors and heroes as unvarnished human beings. Today’s reading from 2 Samuel 11:1-10, 13-17 shows King David at his lustful, adulterous, murderous, and most faithless worst. You can read it for yourself, but basically David commits adultery and makes sure that the woman’s husband will be killed in battle so that he can take his wife for his own without recrimination. Despicable.
Can we find our unvarnished human selves in the pages of Scripture? I’ve been reading about the way the assemblers of iPhones, iPads, and all things Apple are treated in factories in China. And as I hold my own Apple products I have to wonder, how am I implicitly guilty of the inhuman conditions in those factories? How do my buying habits affect others in the world?
How am I complicit in the War Against the Poor?
Dominicans for Peace and Justice
When I pray for peace,
I pray not only that the enemies of my own country may cease to want war,
but above all that my own country will cease to do the things that make war inevitable.
- Thomas Merton
Dominican Sisters demonstrating at the School of the Americas in Fort Benning, Georgia
We pray for peace.
We pray for an end to violence and the teaching of violence.
Let us not study war any more.
We pray for all those who will be gathered this weekend at Fort Benning.
We pray for those who ask that we close the School of the Americas.
We pray for those who will cross the line.
What Do Football and the Church Share in Common?
There’s a common thread that runs through many of the latest news items.
I’m just wondering what is it that Football and the Church have in common?
- Is it that they both have major celebrations on the weekends?
- Is it that they are both male bastions?
- Is it that they both adhere to a code of silence?
- Is it that their most loyal fans cry “Foul!” in disbelief?
- Is it because both “institutions” are hierarchical – and seemingly beyond blame?
- How else can you explain the feeling of vulnerability of the janitor/witness?
- How else can you explain away the fact that the university police didn’t pursue this?
- How else can you explain the D.A. not investigating or prosecuting?
- How else can you explain all those men knowing . . . and doing nothing?
May our resolve for justice be like this sister in El Salvador and the persistent widow in Luke's Gospel.
When a child is attacked, they look the other way. When a woman reports her attacker, she is called a whiner, and others are warned not to speak up. Women and children . . . the powerless ones . . . the vulnerable ones.
On behalf of the vulnerable, we must be like the widow in today’s Gospel reading:
Jesus said, “There was a judge in a certain town who neither feared God nor respected any human being. And a widow in that town used to come to him and say, “Render a just decision for me against my adversary.” For a long time the judge was unwilling, but eventually he thought, “While it is true that I neither fear God nor respect any human being, because this widow keeps bothering me I shall deliver a just decision for her lest she finally come and strike me.”"
The Lord said, “Pay attention to what the dishonest judge says. Will not God then secure the rights of his chosen ones who call out to him day and night? Will he be slow to answer them? I tell you, he will see to it that justice is done for them speedily. But when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?” (Luke 18: 1-8)
Who do you want to stand with?
Taking Jesus Seriously
A few years ago I read a book entitled, Taking Jesus Seriously, by John Cowan. I recall agreeing with the author that we tend to rationalize away many of the things that Jesus said, and thus don’t really take him seriously. Just pay attention, what are the things that many religious people (we) wave their (our) arms about? Then ask yourself, did Jesus talk about these things? And then look at the overwhelming social needs in our country and world. Then ask yourself, what did Jesus say about this?
Today’s Gospel reading from Luke left me wondering.
On a sabbath Jesus went to dine at the home of one of the leading Pharisees. He said to the host who invited him, “When you hold a lunch or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or sisters or your relatives or your wealthy neighbors, in case they may invite you back and you have repayment. Rather, when you hold a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind; blessed indeed will you be because of their inability to repay you. For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”
So, if I pay attention to my life, and the banquets and dinners I attend, I see tables of plenty. Then I ask myself, “Who is missing?” How do the guest lists match up with Jesus’ guest list, without my trying to rationalize it with giving time or money to a homeless shelter?
What will it cost me to really take Jesus’ words seriously? And how can we encourage one another to really do just that?
Table of Plenty - Set for Whom?
Bent Over with a Burden
In today’s Gospel reading (Lk 13:10-17), Jesus heals a woman whose back is so bent and deformed, she cannot stand. There are many today who have burdens that keep them from standing and walking freely. How are we working to free and heal them?
This woman is not bent over, but her poverty is truly a burden that keeps her from standing and walking as freely as we do.
Saint Raphael
Angel by Michelangelo at age 19, on the Tomb of St. Dominic in Bologna
We celebrate the archangel Rafael today, who both assists pilgrims on their journeys,and wipes the scales from our eyes so we can see.
We need this kind of assistance in our day. There are many competing voices . . . so many choices . . . so many distractions. Would we like clarity? I think the angels are still willing to wipe the scales from our eyes, but are we willing to see? I’ve been thinking about a quote of Steven Colbert lately:
“If this is going to be a Christian nation that doesn’t help the poor, either we have to pretend that Jesus was just as selfish as we are, or we’ve got to acknowledge that He commanded us to love the poor and serve the needy without condition and then admit that we just don’t want to do it.”
Please, Archangel Raphael, help us on our journey and wipe the scales from our eyes. Holy Spirit, give us courage.
I don’t know why we aren’t more outraged!
In today’s New York Times, the article, “What Red Ink? Wall Street Paid Hefty Bonuses,” discusses how Wall Street workers and bankers took home huge bonuses if the face of huge losses. It seems odd to me. I always thought that bonuses were based on performance – positive performance that is.
Before I entered the convent, I was in banking. But I guess commercial lending was a different kind of banking than what we are seeing on Wall Street these days, since my bonuses were always based on performance. They had to do with the amount of revenue we were generating for the bank. No revenue – no bonus, and eventually no job. My brother Tom has always worked in sales. His bonuses, too, are based on performance – based on the amount of sales. No sales – no bonus, and eventually no job.
Today’s Gospel reading tells us ‘For there is nothing hidden except to be made visible; nothing is secret except to come to light. Anyone who has ears to hear ought to hear.’ He also told them, ‘Take care what you hear. The measure with which you measure will be measured out to you, and still more will be given to you. To the one who has, more will be given; from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.’” (Mark 4:22-25)
Everyday there are more layoffs. Everyday more families come to St. Dominic’s parish, here in San Francisco, and in churches throughout the country looking for assistance. Everyday there are more family tragedies due to people’s inability to cope with the financial disaster that faces them.
I don’t know why we aren’t more outraged! I don’t know why we don’t demand the kind of transparency from our financial institutions that the Gospel speaks of. I don’t know how we can let our elected officials in California or in our country bicker over bipartisan issues, instead of doing their jobs, and work on behalf of the people who elected them.
