The Competence to See and the Courage to Act

 What from last class stuck out to you?  What was your reaction to it?  How do we respond? What is the solution to this?

 What is your definition of justice?

 The Church teaches that Justice is rooted in Scripture ◦ Is 1:15 “Make Justice your aim.” ◦ Micah 6:8 “You have been told, O man, what is good and what the LORD requires of you: Only to do the right, and to love goodness, and to walk humbly with your God.” ◦ LK 10:34 Which of these three, in your opinion, was neighbor to the robbers’ victim?” He answered, “The one who treated him with mercy.”

 Not about straight correlations  About making things RIGHT  We need to correct our relationship with: ◦ God ◦ Each other ◦ Creation

 Brings together all people, place, events, and movements following the call of the Scriptures  The lived experience of this call  Dorothy Day

 Reflection on what it means to live JUST lives  Patristic and Classical ◦ Aquinas ◦ Augustine  Ongoing Theological Inquiry ◦ Liberation Theology ◦ Eco-theology

 Official teachings of the Magisterium  Papal Encyclicals ◦ Rerum Novarum – Caritas in Veritate  Bishops Conferences

 Offers Wisdom about building a just society  Able to offer an unchanging light to the new problems that we are confronted with

 The Scriptures make social demands on us ◦ Matthew 25 ◦ Prophets ◦ The Law is for Love

 Encyclical Letter of John XXIII  Four Major Sections: ◦ Individual and Humankind ◦ Individual and State ◦ States and the Rights and Duties of Individuals ◦ Community amongst States  This encyclical outlines a clear social teaching of the Church founded on Justice and Equality

 “Man has a right to live.”  “Right to bodily integrity.”  “Right to be looked after in ill-health.”  Pacem en Terris (11)  Right to worship God according to one’s conscience (14)

 We have a right to exercise personal initiative in the work we do (18).  Wages are determined with the precepts of justice (20).  Right to own private property is a social obligation (22).  We have to meet these criteria if we are to live in a just society

 The existence of rights are necessarily tied to duties  We have an obligation to protect our rights, and the rights of others  Rights can only function when exercises them with duty

 Dignity of the Human Person  Community and the Common Good  Rights and Responsibilities  Option for the Poor  Dignity of Work  Solidarity  Care for Creation

 These are the basis for all of CST  These principles will never change, though may be applicable in any situation  Everything in CST is centered on the Dignity of the Human Person

 Foundation of CST  Humans are created in the Image of God  All human life, from conception to natural death is sacred.  Gen 1:26 Then God said: “Let us make man in our image and after our likeness.”  Eph 4:23-24 And be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and put on the new self, created in God’s way in righteousness and holiness of truth.

 Humans are social beings  Perfect model is God’s Trinitarian (Relational) Nature  We realize our own humanity in relationship with others  Lv 19:9-15 “These things you shall leave for the poor and alien. I, the LORD, am your God.  Jn 13:34 “I give you a new commandment: love one another. As I have loved you, so you also should love one another.”

 “With great power comes great responsibility”  We must fulfill basic rights for human dignity to be recognized  Rights are not the ends we seek; we have to ensure that others can exercise theirs as well  Am 5:21-24 “Then let justice surge like water, and goodness like an unfailing stream”  Mt 23:11 “The greatest among you must be your servant”

 Every person, regardless of status is welcome in Christ  We stand with the poor and afflicted because only from there can we appeal as Jesus did for the conversion and deliverance of all.  Constitutions of the Congregation of Holy Cross, 13  Ps 41:1-3 “Happy those concerned with the poor and the lowly”  Lk 4:16-30 “It was to none of these that Elijah was sent, but only to a widow”

 Our human vocation is to participate in the creative work of God  This necessarily means that we are made to work; work is a good thing  Work must be dignifying  Every person has a right to fair, meaningful, decent work that respects their dignity

 As humans, we are connected to all other human beings  There is a global dimension to loving our neighbor  We come not just as servants, but as their neighbors, to be with them and of them.  Constitutions of the Congregation of Holy Cross, 13  Is 32:16 “Right will dwell in the desert and justice abide in the orchard”  Mt 25:31-46 “Amen, I say to you, what you did for the one of these least ones, you did for me”

 All creation is a gift from God  We are not masters of creation; we are the stewards of creation  Responsible to protect it  Gen 2:15 “The LORD God then took the man and settled him in the garden of Eden, to cultivate it and care for it”  Mt 6:25 “Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing”

 Every economic decision has a moral consequence  Caritas in Veritate  We can tell a lot about people based on their economic choices

 Our choices reflect what we believe in  If we believe in Christ, we must act like it ◦ We are not taking sides against “sinful enemies”  Constitutions of the Congregation of Holy Cross, 13 ◦ As Christians, we are to serve:  The Oppressed  Relieving their suffering  The Oppressor  Conversion of heart

 CST is not just our mind, or heart, or soul isolated from one another  It is all three integrated  Ought to be a transformative experience  Andre House Experience

“The mind will not be cultivated at the expense of the heart.” - Blessed Basil Moreau, C.S.C. “For the Kingdom to come in this world, disciples must have the competence to see, and the courage to act.” -Constitution 2: Mission