Interesting that we have this Gospel reading about Jesus’ going away and returning on Sunday, May 22, 2011, the day after one Christian group claimed that Jesus was going to return to gather the Church to himself. (Interestingl,we had the same text at Friday’s Liturgy.) Religious confusion about the end times abound in our society because certain “Christians” who claim to be experts in the Bible publish outlandish claims. Like the claims made this weekend, these are often contrary to what the Catholic holds and teaches. It is important that we, as Catholics know our faith so that we are able to counter the supposedly Christian claims when they arise.
But I don’t want to talk about the Gospel today. Instead I want to focus on the first reading, the story of the neglected widows and the Church’s dealing with a problem in its ranks in the first Century. It gives us the opportunity to reflect on another common misunderstanding in a key component of the Church’s teaching about how we are to live the Christian life.
In order to understand the confleict, we must first understand the context provided by two earlier texts in the Acts of the Apostles. We read in Chapter 2:
“They devoted themselves to the teaching of the apostles and to the communal life, to the breaking of the bread and to the prayers. Awe came upon everyone, and many wonders and signs were done through the apostles. All who believed were together and had all things in common; they would sell their property and possessions and divide them among all according to each one's need.”
And again in Chapter 4:
“With great power the apostles bore witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great favor was accorded them all. There was no needy person among them, for those who owned property or houses would sell them, bring the proceeds of the sale, and put them at the feet of the apostles, and they were distributed to each according to need.”
St. Luke paints a very idyllic image of the Church Community - an image of beautiful balance so that the needs of all were met and everyone is committed to the care of others. But we find just a few verses later that there were some interruptions to the balance first we read about Annanias and Sapphira who hold back some of their property while representing that they have given all. And then, here in Chapter 6, we find a cultural linguistic difference. Widows of some in the community are not being cared for. These imbalances threatened to derail the Church’s preaching mission. Jesus himself had taught an idealized image of the Kingdom of God that demanded careful balance to promote the dignity of every person. If that balance did not exist within the Church, how could the church effectively preach the Kingdom to those outside the Church.
Throughout Jewish history, one of the primary symbolic markers of the rectitude of society, has been how that society cared for those who were least able to care for themselves: this would be symbolized by the term “widows and orphans,” but the prophets of old would openly preach that God’s judgment was leveled against Israel when Israel neglected the needs of the poor – those who hunger and thirst, the captive – especially those who had been captured in war, the migrant and the foreigner in your midst, and the powerless: the widow and orphan. Jesus himself would equate worthiness for the Kingdom with caring for the needs of those least able to care for themselves. “Come the blessed of my father and inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world… What you did for the least of my brothers and sisters you did for me…”
This is the driving principle behind this “fix” that we see in today’s first reading. There is an imbalance that is affecting the ability of the Church to effectively preach the Gospel.
This story is often seen as the establishment of the office of “deacon” in the first century church. Deacons were servants who were given the responsibility of helping to maintain the balance in the community that was necessary to give witness to the values of the Kingdom. They were to take care of the needs of widows and orphans. Coming forward into the modern era, it might be said that deacons are responsible for the CHARITY work of the Church. Distributing food and clothing to the poor, taking care of the needs of the underprivileged, looking out for the rights of the powerless. These are the works of Charity. Right?
This is where the common misunderstanding comes in. While this is a common way of speaking about such works, the teaching of the Church would say that these are NOT works of charity, but rather, works of JUSTICE. This is a very important distinction that cuts to the heart of Christian teaching and Christian living. The distinction is so remarkably clear in Catholic teaching, but has been obscured by non-Catholic thinking on the subject and a careless confusion of the two words in modern parlance. I want to carefully draw the distinction for you again and invite you to deeper refection on the importance of this distinction.
CHARITY is a translation of the Latin word CARITAS, which is, in turn, a translation of the Greek word AGAPE. I have preached extensively on AGAPE in the past and you may remember that I said that “love” is not an adequate translation of the word. AGAPE is to love with the LOVE of God – it is the highest love and, I would argue, the only thing that is really LOVE in Christian teaching. All other “loves” must aspire to become the self-sacrificing love we call AGAPE.
JUSTICE, on the other hand, is the English translation of the Latin word IUSTITIA, which is, in turn, a translation of the Greek word DIKAIOSUNES. This word appears 100 times in the NT, but is most often translated with the English word RIGHTEOUSNESS. Do not let that confuse the distinction I am drawing, the Scriptures are talking about Justice.
Charity and Justice are both religiously important words and principles. In the Catholic understanding of living the Christian life, we would call both VIRTUES. They are similar virtues in that both are virtues that perfect the human person by perfecting their relationships with other people. I am made a better person when I am able to love another, I am made a better person when I act justly towards another person. They are similar in that they do not simply perfect the person in whom they inhere, but they perfect society by helping to maintain balance in our relationships.
But they are different kinds of virtues. CHARITY is one of the 3 THEOLOGICAL or supernatural virtues. (Faith, hope and Charity or Love). As such we gain Charity when we enter into relationship with the Holy Spirit and are expected to perfect charity in our living of the Christian life. As I grow in Charity, this theological virtue helps me to desire God above all other desires and to see that my love for other people is not only consistent with my loving God, it is EQUAL to my loving God. “If I say that I love God who I cannot see,” St. John says, “but do not love my brother, who I can see, I am a liar and love is not in me at all.” (1 John 4)
Justice, on the other hand is not a THEOLOGICAL or SUPERNATURAL virtue, it is a MORAL virtue. In fact, it is one of the CARDINAL or hinge virtues on which all the other virtues turn. Justice is the virtue that helps me to examine my relationship with other people and to understand how I am to behave toward them. Justice strengthens me to give to others what they are owed as a matter of rights. When I grow in the virtue of Justice, I am keenly aware of rights (mine and others’) and the obligations produced by those rights.
While Charity internally perfects the agent in which it inheres, Justice externally, carefully balances the relationship between one human being and another, between one human being and the community in which he lives. In Charity I am kindly disposed toward another; I am internally desirous of that person’s good (even beyond rights). In Justice, I am compelled to act on behalfs of that person’s good in concert with their rights.
While Justice must always be driven by Charity in the Christian person, because Justice is about what is owed somebody as a matter of right, It is seen as more foundational than charity in Christian ACTION. Justice is more foundational because it is about giving to others that to which they have a right. Love or Charity, on the other hand, is about giving someone that to which they are not entitled; St. Paul: Christ proves his love for us in that while we are YET SINNERs (i.e. we have no right to redemption), Christ STILL dies for us…” Charity is, in a sense, more laudible in that I am giving someone beyond what they deserve. I am going the extra mile In Justice, I am only seeking to restore or maintain a balance (scales are the right symbol of justice) with regards to basic rights.
So If I give food to the poor, which I am exhorted to in the Gospel, I am not acting in charity - We can all agree that EVERYONE has a basic right to food (corollary: no one individual or society has a right to hoard food)– rather I am acting out of justice.
UNTIL all people have food, until all people have shelter, until all people have peace and security, until all people have the chance to progress in dignity and happiness, Until there is real balance with regards to these rights, I cannot say that I am doing works of charity, I must say that I am MERELY doing works of JUSTICE, seeking to restore balance in the world. A balance that is a sign of the Kingdom.
Of course there can be disagreements – even among people of good will about what constitutes a right – this demands deep refelction, and staying close to the heart of the Church to Guide us in deeper understanding of these realities.
The Church has a beautiful body of binding doctrinal teaching with regards to the demands of justice. During the last 150 years (Since Pope Leo XIII), the Church has taken its place as a major prophetic voice arguing for the dignity and rights of all people. This body of work is quite accessible – especially in today’s information age- and constitutes the most important theological work of the 20th Century.
No homily about the virtue of Justice would be complete without reflection on these principle of SOCIAL JUSTICE. This is important in today’s American discourse because of a WILLFUL attempt on the part of some in our society to equate SOCIAL JUSTICE with one of the scary bogeymen of political discourse: socialism. Glenn Beck recently told his army of listeners that if your church website has the words “social justice” on it you should run to another church – Social Justice is just code for socialism. [Glenn Beck is so entirely misinformed on this point]
So let me reflect on this for a moment: What we call “Social Justice” takes the principles of Justice and applies them to the community. We are encouraged to examine systems of government, economic systems, business systems and make sure that they are not systemically keeping people from procuring that to which they have a right - to make sure that systems are not standing in the way of human dignity. We are encouraged to work diligently to reform and any systems that do impede human progress and work against human dignity. The greater the threat to human dignity, the more extreme the response demanded. Again, there is a remarkable body of literature that is easily available to learn more aout Justice and social justice. As American Catholics, it is important that we take time to educate ourselves.
I do not have time to go in to any depth about these, but I would like to simply read the list of principles on which Catholic Social Teaching is built and encourage you to read more:
1. Life and Dignity of ALL human persons
2. The Common Good
3. Option for the Poor and Vulnerable
4. Rights and Responsibilities
5. Role of Government and Subsidiarity
6. Economic Justice for All
7. Stewardship of Creation
8. Promotion of Peace and disarmament
9. Participation
10. Global Solidarity and the Progress of peoples
I’d also like to share an example of a great social justice document from outside the Church. Perhaps you will recognize these words:
“When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation. We hold these truths to be self-evident…”
The American Declaration of Independence is one of the greatest Social Justice Documents in human history. From that beautiful preamble, Jefferson will go on to catalogue the various “injuries and usurpations” i.e. injustices, by which the King of Great Britain had intentionally disturbed the balance necessary for human dignity, human freedom, human progress, human flourishing in American colonies. This critique of systemic injustice is at the heart of American independence and of what Catholics call SOCIAL JUSTICE.
The Constitution of 1789 will be another great social justice moment. Its preamble will famously say that it has been ordained for to “establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, and secure the blessings of liberty…” Our Constitution is envisioned less as a governing document and more as guarantor of human dignity. “Justice” is not a slogan or catch phrase, it is a driving principle of our livesw as both Americans and as Catholics. It must be understood in all its nuances.
The Civil war, the emancipation proclamation and the post-Civil War amendments to the Constitution will continue the work of the American Revolution, by extending the blessings of liberty and justice to even more people.
The Civil Rights Movement of my childhood was the next great moment of SOCIAL justice in American life. It is as though the reformers of the 1960s were saying “great job in 1776, and 1789, and 1865, but the work is not finished yet. We STILL have systems in place that are trampling on the dignity of human beings…” Those who worked for Civil rights understood and were driven by the SOCIAL JUSTICE principle that “as long as one human being is denied dignity, we are all denied dignity.” I am so proud as I look at photographic imagery from the Civil rights era, that whenever MLK marched, there were Catholic priests and habited nuns marching with him. The Church embraced the principles of the Civil Rights Movement because it was being driven by a very CATHOLIC understanding of JUSTICE and DIGNITY.
Justice is not dependent on a particular Governing or economic system. There may be justice or injustice in a Democracy or a republic or a monarchy. Even a dictatorship may involve just and unjust elements. There may be just and unjust elements within socialism or communism. The same may be true of capitalism. The Church has been critical of Marxism because it trampled on human dignity by treating human beings as cogs in a production machine at the service of state productivity. The Church has also been critical of unbridled, unregulated free-market capitalism because it can trample on human dignity by treating human beings as cogs in the machinery of private profit. The Church is not advocating for one system or another – RATHER- the Church is, within each system, advocating for the highest principle of justice – THE DIGNITY OF ALL HUMAN PERSONS.
The leaders of the early Church presented in the today’s reading from the Acts of the Apostles, demonstrate this understanding of justice all the way back in the 1st Century. They are busy about the important mission of preaching the WORD. But they understood that the work and life of the Church was being hurt by this imbalance: the needs of all were not being met. Rights were not being attended too. Societal obligations were not being met. In their wisdom and under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, they knew that the mission of the Church could not succeed with this imbalance, and they acted swiftly to restore balance. TO RESTORE JUSTICE.
For nearly 150 years , the Church’s teachings have been carefully crafted to advocate for justice in the modern industrial and post-industrial world. The Church is a champion of human dignity and especially of the poor, the voiceless, and powerless. It is an obligation of our Christian faith and in direct continuity with our religious history going all the way back to the prophets of ancient Israel and the Church’s mission of spreading the Kingdom of God.
The constant call to every Christian is to check our political and economic lives to make sure that we are striving to live these principles of justice in our everyday lives, that we are seeking to uphold the dignity of all human beings, that we are seeking to maintain the balance of justice that IS the Kingdom of God. Amen?
