• Exodus 17:8-13. As long as Moses’ arms are outstretched in prayer, Israel remains victories against the army of Amalek. Aaron and Hur prop up Moses’ arms!
• 2 Timothy 3:14 – 4:2. All Scripture is inspired of God and is useful for teaching, correcting and training in holiness. I charge you to teach the word, never losing patience.
• Luke 18:1-8. The parable of the widow, beseeching the judge continuously and never losing heart. God too will do justice to his chosen ones who call out incessantly.

Thoughts for your Consideration, By John Gonzalez

The Scripture readings for this week rally us to be persistent in the faith. This is a consistent message in all three lectionary readings for this Sunday. The first reading offers us an historical example of persistence paying off. Joshua’s victory was dependent on Moses’ outstretched arms. Naturally, Moses’ physical limitations tired him out and at times he could not continue and the tide of battle would turn against Joshua. The day of battle ebbed and flowed but in the end Moses, with the help of Aaron and Hur, persisted and Joshua won the day.

Our social battles ebb and flow like Joshua’s battle against the army of Amalek. This week we again reflect on the international observance of global hunger. Since 1979 the international community has observed World Food Day and through a number of targeted themes and campaigns. Many concerned members of the human community have raised their voices to this issue. Religious communities like our own have added their voices, in praying and advocating for policies to eliminate world hunger. Many times we hear people tell us that we have the capacity to address this issue, but like Moses the international political will always seems to tire out and the battle looms on. This week our international Passionist community will again raise its voice with others to stand united against hunger, but some of us will have our doubts as to the negligible impact that this campaign can have. The issue remains with us and in some ways the situation seems to be getting worse.  How do we persist in addressing God’s vision of feeding the hungry when more people are going hungry every day and political leaders seem to be caring less?

In the Gospel reading Jesus offers us a great and poignant parable of social persistence.  The dishonest judge could care less for the ideal of justice and morality. In the end he dispenses justice to the widow’s case not because he cared but because she would not stop. There is even an allusion by the judge that he might fear the potential repercussion of his negligence to her case. Through this parable Jesus describes to us the power of persistent prayer and faith. If we persevere in praying for justice then Jesus assures us that that God will answer our prayer. But he ends his parable with the cautious question, “But when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”

There is a wonderful Latin phrase that says: “lex orandi, lex credendi,” the law of prayer is the law of faith. Many of us understand this expression to say that how we pray ultimately informs how we believe. Others have added a third component to this Latin formula, “lex vivendi.” How we pray, informs what we believe which then defines how we live. Prayer is habit forming. If we publicly or privately declare our prayer intention to God with regard to an issue like world hunger we are ultimately forming our conscience towards a deeper sensitivity towards this concern. If we pray these intentions in public then we have the opportunity to touch the conscience of our neighbors by bringing them into awareness.  God in turn will grant us the grace to further address this issue. The widow did not stop in her perseverance of justice and the judge was becoming nervous about the potential threat that she could pose to him. For that reason he acted. Jesus cautions us to persevere in prayer. The “world judge” may not act today and tomorrow, but in galvanizing the human community we will ultimately triumph in directing the political will that is necessary for us to bring about the Gospel’s vision of justice.

Paul reminds us that the blueprint for our faith and prayer exist in a sacred document which we call Scripture. “All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for refutation, for correction, and for training in righteousness.” The fact of the matter is that scripture can and has been used in the past in defense of social ills. Slavery has been a case in point where people once argued in defense of this evil institution through their own personal misuse of Scripture. This is an error of interpretation that is called “proof texting.” In other words, the bible is used to defend an existing political or social agenda rather than to defend a social position that is based on the vision of Sacred Scripture. It is the latter goal that St. Paul the Apostle is pressing us to persevere in. St. Paul challenges us to be persistent in our faith by applying a consistent social ethic that is found throughout Sacred Scripture. This social vision is identified in what Jesus Christ calls the “Kingdom of God” and if you want to get a sense of what citizenship of this “Kingdom” looks like go over the final judgment of Matthew 25.

This week we observe and advocate to God, the great judge, and all the world leaders to address the issue of world hunger because this is part of our consistent social commitment that we are called to do in Scripture

• Catholic Social Ministry Gathering
• Ecumenical Advocacy Days
• Churches for a Middle East Peace

We continue to collaborate with other organizations to promote in an ongoing way these social issues of Catholic concern. We encourage the members of the Passionist family to keep engaged on these issues and links through these organizations. The summer offers us many opportunities to engage with our congressional representatives locally due to the summer recess which will begin on August 9 and go through September 12. During this time your congressional representatives will be in their districts so you can call their local district scheduler to see when you can make an appointment to see them locally.  Below is a highlight of updates and links related to the campaigns and issues the JPIC office has addressed.    

Economic Justice:

The USCCB has promoted a great advocacy site through its Justice, Peace and Human Development Office. Many of the issues that they address are related to the issues of the Catholic Social Ministry Gathering that we attended in February of this year. Another Catholic organization that addresses the issues of Economic Justice is Network, A Catholic social justice lobby group. They have a new website designed for easier access to their action alerts. Some of the issues that they are raising this summer are:

• Support a Responsible Estates Tax
• Support Local Jobs for America  

Immigration:

The Justice for Immigrant Campaign is a coalition of Catholic organizations including the United States Catholic Conference of Bishops. They, along with Network and other immigrant justice organizations, are advocating for a comprehensive immigration reform bill that will address the immigrant issue following the social teachings of the Catholic Church.

• Justice for Immigrant postcard campaign 
• Comprehensive Immigration Reform

Ecology/Energy:

The Catholic Coalition on Climate Change is a newly organized coalition of Catholic organizations that is looking into policies and issues related to climate change. By clicking on this link you will be visiting the action page of the Catholic Coalition which will give individuals some personal practices that will help address our own individual carbon footprint. Unfortunately the Senate has chosen not to create a comprehensive climate bill this summer. Instead we would like push Congress to bring this issue as we advocate against S. 3072 which will undermine the Clean Air Act and block the EPA’s global warming pollution cuts. But we also support any legislation like H.R. 4690 that will push the US to adopt more sustainable living practices especially in developing alternative modes of public transportation. 

• H.R. 4690 Livable Communities Act
• No to S. 3072

Peace and Disarmament:

In the area of international peace there are a great number of concerns. However in this year the United States Catholic Conference of Bishops have placed their emphasis on two priorities. With regards to the conflicts in the Middle East the issue of Israel and Palestine continue to be of primary concern in this area. The other priority continues to be the concern regarding the reduction of nuclear weapons and a call for a new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty.

• Urge President Obama and Congress to take a strong leadership in promoting the two state solution between Israel/Palestine
• Urge the Senate to pass the new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty  

Global Poverty:

The Catholic Church is part of a global family. The growing community now includes our Asian and African brothers and sisters. The social call for developing solidarity is nothing less then a call to be part of the universal church. Our own national policies has economic repercussions throughout the world. Again the issues related to this concern are many but we have tried to focus on current issues related to global poverty. The Democratic Republic of the Congo is one of the fastest growing Catholic communities in Africa and the human right violations that they face is directly related to the interest that our own extractive industry has in the mining operations of this nation.  

• Urge Congress to support Humanitarean Funding FY 2010 Supplemental Appropriations Bill
• Urge Congress to support s. 891/h.r. 4128 to help improve the lives of our Congolese sisters and brothers.

• Jeremiah 1:4-5, 17-19. Jeremiah’s call to prophesy; his strength against all opposition.
• 1 Corinthians 12:31-13:13. The hymn of Love
• Luke 4:21-30. Jesus’ first discourse at Nazareth leads to rejection, even to a threat against his life.

Thoughts for Your Consideration: By John Gonzalez

The readings for this Sunday revolve around the position and responsibilities of a prophet. Jeremiah describes his own calling By God to be “A prophet to the nations.” Jesus Christ emphasizes his prophetic mission by taking up the prophetic responsibilities that are described by Isaiah. The second reading is St. Paul’s famous hymn of love. St. Paul places the virtue of love above all other virtues and as he describes spiritual gift of prophecy he reminds us that the ability to comprehend all mysteries and knowledge is for nothing if it is not done for love.

A prophet is one who critiques society and conventional laws based on the articles of faith and our limited ability to discern the Divine law. If you consider the 8^th Century Prophets especially Micah and Amos you see that their critique was not limited to only spiritual matters. In fact they usually addressed socio-economic issues. This is precisely what Isaiah is describing in the selection that Jesus is reading: “He has anointed me to bring glad tidings to the poor He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free.” This selection from Isaiah is a central message for Jesus in proclaiming the Kingdom of God. This Kingdom is both spiritual and social. It is a Kingdom yet to come in God’s own time but it is also a Kingdom that Jesus expects his followers to initiate within their own society. For that reason the early Christian community established a communal life in Act 2:42 to initiate a social lifestyle based on the Kingdom of God.

Our Christian theology tells us that Christ transcended the structures of society by fulfilling the three great social roles of his day in Himself. Jesus Christ is Priest, Prophet and King for us who are called to be children of God. He is Priest in that he fulfilled the perfect mediation between heaven and earth through his one sacrifice. He is Prophet in that he revealed to us the Will of God and critiqued society based on Will of God. He was King in that through His divinity he has power on heaven and earth and is the supreme ruler of the Universe. In following Jesus we are not merely applying a spiritual asceticism but we are submitting ourselves to a Divine Will that governs all aspects of our existence. There is no separation of the spiritual, natural and social realms. The Kingdom of God transcends all dimensions. It develops an appropriate spirituality establishing communion between us and the author of creation and it is the basis for critiquing unjust social structures and establishing social policies that value the common good. Vatican II’s document on the laity reminds us that we who are baptized into the Body of Christ have these same responsibilities: “As sharers in the role of Christ as priest, prophet, and king, the laity have their work cut out for them in the life and activity of the Church.”           

In our own day a prophetic role would be very similar to some non-governmental organizations. Think tanks usually offer social critiques to legislation or policies that do not conform to the particular mission of the organization. Project oriented organizations attempt to establish some kind community program again in alignment to the mission of the organization. Faith based institutions such as the Catholic Church have also organized a variety of organizations which are prophetic in nature. Catholic Relief Services, the Catholic Campaign for Human Development and Catholic Charities are such organizations. Catholic Religious communities have also organized valuable organizations like the Center of Concern and NETWORK. It was with this intention that the Passionists organized a Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation Office. Our Church is the vehicle for promoting the vision of the Kingdom of God in its priestly, prophetic and kingly dimensions. Going to Church on Sunday is only the first step in engaging this vision. The sacrifice of the Mass gives us the spiritual context for applying our own prophetic responsibilities. Participating with the recent March for Life is one such prophetic task that the Church organizes for us. In a few weeks a number of Catholic organizations will organize another advocacy event on immigration and economic justice. With the recent earthquake in Haiti the Catholic Church and many religious communities have called us and our nations to act justly and with great charity to those who suffered from this natural disaster.  This is the prophetic task we are called to fulfill.

We are called to be prophets. The example of Jeremiah and Jesus tells us that this will not be easy. We are definitely being challenged outside of our comfort zone to critique our own society and that may not make us socially popular. But God promises to be with us, even when we feel abandoned. Jeremiah and Jesus suffered greatly for their prophetic ministries. But again their reward is not a matter of national honor but the service of the Kingdom of God. Empires and nations come and go. The Kingdom of God is eternal.

As we serve the prophetic challenges in our own society let us keep in mind St. Paul’s admonition to always remember the virtue of love. It is our duty to challenge society on issues that violate the Gospel message but we do this within the framework of God’s love for all humanity. We raise issues of abortion, immigration and economic justice not to cast judgment or to divide a nation. We raise these issues because through these policies we help fulfill a vision for the Kingdom of God which is ultimately meant to unite the human family and all creation with God. If we raise these issues in a way that is divisive or to serve a partisan agenda then we are being political rather than prophetic.

It is with the lens of the social spirituality, articulated in the last blog post, that the regional and international Passionist community has taken to develop these offices or ministries of JPIC. Through JPIC, the Passionists have set three objectives or tasks.

Promote Social Ministries: Engaging in social ministries is not a new initiative for the Passionist family. We can trace early expressions of social ministries from the Passionist founder himself. St. Paul of Cross is known to serve the community as a hospital and military chaplain. He was known to advocate for the poor and to use the opportunity of his missions to organize social charity for the poorer members of society. He also advocated for peace in the midst of a battle during the “War of the Polish Succession.” He was also known to value the integrity and wisdom of the environment and believed in having Christian retreats in places where people had the opportunity to enjoy the presence of God through the beauty of God’s natural creation.

The Passionists have continued to organize various aspects of social and ecological ministries. Through JPIC we look to further these expressions by promoting these isolated ministries into the visible life of the community. The office looks to develop relationships with these social ministries and our institutional ministries like parishes and retreat centers. The JPIC office is also looking for opportunities for the public to engage in these ministries or to create new ones through the Passionist communities and spirituality.

Coordinate Advocacy: The second objective is to empower our Passionist family to engage in the world as a member of civil society and to offer its spiritual wisdom on social issues that concern us. Based on our spirituality we are concerned with social policies or actions that cause tremendous suffering to humanity and creation. We are organizing to be in solidarity with those who suffer. Whenever possible we will walk with those who suffer from the injustices of our global society and we will tend to the needs of those that may be marginalized. Where the dignity of human life and the integrity of the environment are being violated we will be advocating against policies that cause such violations.  

In working with civil society the Passionist JPIC Office will be working with the Catholic Church and several other faith based organization to promote policies that will transform the world into a vision of Justice and Peace that respects the integrity of all creation. This is a vision that we consider to be based in scripture and reflected in that vision which Christ called, “The Kingdom of God.” At the international level we are fortunate to have our own UN organization, Passionists International. At regional levels we will have a number of JPIC offices that will advocate on domestic and foreign issues.

Education and Formation:  The third objective for the office is to develop and create resources on the Passionist spirituality of JPIC. We start by emphasizing Catholic social teachings and principles which are powerful aspects of our faith and tradition which are sadly neglected. On top of this we will promote the social and ecological dimensions of our own spirituality which again is focused on the memory of Christ’s Passion.

Through JPIC we will develop resources for lay and vowed formation. We will also develop liturgical resources on social spirituality either in observance of Holy Days or in observance of social issues. Using some of newest forms of technology like blogs or social networks we will also promote this spirituality along with the other objectives of Passionist JPIC. In North America the JPIC Office is also developing workshops and retreat programs for our retreat and parish ministries.

May the Passion of Jesus, Be Ever in our Hearts