Day 254: Social Justice (1928-1938)

• It’s Day 254!!

• ARTICLE 3: SOCIAL JUSTICE

• RESPECT FOR THE HUMAN PERSON

• Paragraph 1929 says, “Social justice can be obtained only in respecting the transcendent dignity of man…”

• We don’t want just individuals to have justice

• We want our society to be just

• It is essential that it is based off of respect for the human person

• EQUALITY AND DIFFERENCES AMONG MEN

• The term SOCIAL JUSTICE was coined by Catholics, maybe some Jesuits

• We use this phrase quite often in our culture now

• BUT…

• This is going to be what we believe is TRUE CHRISTIAN SOCIAL JUSTICE as opposed to something that might try to override or subordinate the dignity of the human person

• Let’s pray!!

Prayer by Fr. Mike: “Father in Heaven, we do praise you, and we do belong to you. We know that you love us. And so in this moment, we give you permission, in the name of your Son, Jesus Christ, to love us. We give you permission to, not only love us with the affection of your true fatherhood, but we give you permission to love us in such a way that changes us. Lord God, help us to receive your love in a way that does not leave us the same but transforms us into people who are new, people who are yours, so that we can care for our brothers, so that we can love the people around us the way you love us. Lord God, let your love change us, but let your love not stop with us. Let it be the kind of love that comes from you as its origin, flows through us, and meets the needs of the people around us. We make this prayer in the mighty name of Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen”

• So there we have it!!

• All of these things make up a whole

• So we can’t ever discard one truth for another truth

• Heresy is a refusal to live in tension

• Heresy is a refusal to live in paradox

• A heretic emphasizes one truth at the expense of another truth

• ARTICLE 3: SOCIAL JUSTICE does not emphasize social justice at the expense of individual justice

• There is a goodness here

• There is a coherence here

• IN FACT…

• What is justice?

• Justice is giving someone what they are owed

• Very simple

• Paragraph 1928 says, “Society ensures social justice when it provides the conditions that allow associations or individuals to obtain what is their due, according to their nature and their vocation. Social justice is linked to the common good and the exercise of authority.”

• We never want to drop one truth to pick up another truth

• We are going to hold them in tension

• Paragraph 1929 says, “Social justice can be obtained only in respecting the transcendent dignity of man…”

• Remember, each individual is greater than any country, nation, government, or corporation

• Why?

• Because every nation, government, corporation, will cease to exist at one point

• There is no human being who will cease to exist

• Every one of us will exist forever, either in glory with the Lord in Heaven

• OR…

• In everlasting shame in damnation in Hell

• Every one of us is destined to live forever

• St. John Paul II says in Paragraph 1929, “What is at stake is the dignity of the human person, whose defense and promotion have been entrusted to us by the Creator, and to whom the men and women at every moment of history are strictly and responsibly in debt.”

• Why would we want social justice?

• Because the people next to us are made in God’s image and likeness

• As Christians, what has been placed upon us is the recognition that not only is every human being on this planet made in God’s image and likeness

• So we are all brothers and sisters in the human race

• Also, Jesus Christ has died for everyone

• Even those who don’t believe what we believe

• Even those people who are our enemies

• Jesus command us to even treat our enemies like our neighbors and our family

• Paragraph 1931 says, “Respect for the human person proceeds by way of respect for the principle that ‘everyone should look upon his neighbor (without any exception) as ‘another self,’ above all bearing in mind his life and the means necessary for living it with dignity.’ No legislation could by itself do away with the fears, prejudices, and attitudes of pride and selfishness which obstruct the establishment of truly fraternal societies. Such behavior will cease only through the charity that finds in every man a ‘neighbor,’ a brother.” 

• What is the second Great Commandment?

• Love your neighbor as yourself

• There is no law that will bring about justice or love

• You can never eradicate hatred or prejudices

• Racism, sexism, or any other kind of prejudice that exists cannot be legislated out of existence

• How often are there times where we get so mad at someone or we prejudge the behavior of somebody?

• And then if you got to know them, your mind completely changes

• Let’s listen to Fr. Mike talk about his family…

• Now he’s moved on to Tim Ballard…

• Every one of us is called to find in every person around us a neighbor or a brother

• Paragraph 1932 says, “The duty of making oneself a neighbor to others and actively serving them becomes even more urgent when it involves the disadvantaged, in whatever area this may be. ‘As you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me.’”

• Those who need help and can’t help themselves, we are called to do something

• Paragraph 1933 says, “This same duty extends to those who think or act differently from us. The teaching of Christ goes so far as to require the forgiveness of offenses. He extends the commandment of love, which is that of the New Law, to all enemies. Liberation in the spirit of the Gospel is incompatible with hatred of one’s enemy as a person, but not with hatred of the evil that he does as an enemy.”

• I can’t hate my enemy

• I can hate the evil he does as an enemy

• LOVE THE SINNER, HATE THE SIN

• We must love the people around us

• We must love our neighbor

• We must love our brother 

• We must love the sinner

• BUT…

• We may not love the sin

• We actually can hate the sin

• We can actually work to stop the sin

• We can actually work to stop the evil that someone is perpetuating

• EQUALITY AND DIFFERENCES AMONG MEN

• Every one of us is equal in dignity

• Paragraph 1934 says, “Created in the image of the one God and equally endowed with rational souls, all men have the same nature and the same origin. Redeemed by the sacrifice of Christ, all are called to participate in the same divine beatitude: all therefore enjoy an equal dignity.”

• There is no room in the Catholic Church for racism, sexism, or anything liek that

• We are equal in dignity

• There are rights that come out of this

• Paragraph 1935 says, “Every form of social or cultural discrimination in fundamental personal rights on the grounds of sex, race, color, social conditions, language, or religion must be curbed and eradicated as incompatible with God’s design.”

• AND YET…

• We are different

• We are equal but not the same

• Plessy vs Ferguson (separate but equal) was not a good court case

• This is what is true about humanity and all of us

• We are equal in dignity

• AND YET…

• We are not the same

• Paragraph 1936 says, “On coming into the world, man is not equipped with everything he needs for developing his bodily and spiritual life. He needs others…”

• A baby needs others

• At any stage in life we need others

• There are differences tied to age, whether that be early age or old age

• THere are differences tied to physical abilities, intellectual, and moral aptitudes

• I can’t fix my car when it breaks down, so I need others

• I can’t give myself an appendectomy, so I need others

• Talents have not been distributed equally

• Some people are smarter than others

• Some people are stronger than others

• Some people are kinder than others

• There is an equality in dignity, but there is not sameness

• Those differences belong to God’s plan

• Why?

• Maybe those differences encourage and often oblige each one of us to be generous, to be kind, and to share what we have

• Maybe those differences mean we get to take care of each other

• We can’t just choose to love our children or not

• We have to love them always, or else they are not getting taken care of

• Think if you just live a selfish life and didn’t care about anyone around you

• Then you didn’t have to be kind, generous, or share your goods

• Paragraph 1938 says, “There exist also sinful inequalities that affect millions of men and women. These are in open contradiction to the Gospel: Their equal dignity as persons demands that we strive for fairer and more humane conditions. Excessive economic and social disparity between individuals and people 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.”

• We get to fight against it with each other and with the grace that comes from God

• Fr. Mike is praying FOR YOU!!

• Please pray for Fr. Mike and for each other!!

• Adios!!