By Beth
DeCristofaro
Now indeed then it is, in any case, a failure on your
part that you have lawsuits against one another. Why not rather put up with injustice? Why not rather let yourselves be cheated? Instead, you inflict injustice and cheat, and this to brothers. Do you not know that the unjust will not
inherit the Kingdom of God? (1 Corinthians
6:7-9)
A great crowd of his disciples and a large number of
the people … came to hear him and to be healed of their diseases; and even
those who were tormented by unclean spirits were cured. Everyone in the crowd
sought to touch him because power came forth from him and healed them all. (Luke 6: 17-19)
Piety
Help me Lord Jesus,
who loved those who sought your healing, to speak your Word each and every day
with my hands, my eyes, my feet, my heart, my thoughts and my words. Let me chose to build the Kingdom at every
opportunity here and now.
Study
This Gospel passage
from Luke opens the “Sermon on the Plains” which includes the Beatitudes like Matthew’s
Sermon on the Mount. Luke makes known to
his non-Jewish audience that not only does Jesus open himself to healing many
people but that He includes people not from the area, from outside the region
and even those who are Gentiles. Jesus
embraced and welcomed strangers to become part of his community, touching them
with his hands as well as his words.
Peter Claver served
the most outcast of the castoffs – Africans arriving on slave ships to be sold
in the Americas. His approach to
ministry is in the words attributed to him:
"We must speak to them with our hands before we try to speak to
them with our lips."[i] Clearly he had listened deeply to and embodied
Christ’s words. He saw evangelization as
love in action which required “concrete service like the distributing of
medicine, food or brandy to his black brothers and sisters.”
Injustice and
cheating even within the Christian community allowed the slave trade to
flourish for centuries. Paul’s message
resonates even today as Christians seek to make the culture work for them
rather than their faith rework the culture and grow the kingdom. If I deserve a doctor’s care when I am ill
then how can I refuse healthcare to others?
If food is my right should it be a right for anyone to not go hungry at
night? If I depend on my government to
keep me safe and provide me rights such as libraries, parks and education, then
why should my taxes not be used for others who are my neighbors?
Action
In what ways do I embody
the healing, touching, welcoming power of Christ to others? Perhaps this is the time, for example, to
support our Muslim brothers and sisters who are fearful, frustrated and sad
that their beliefs have been hijacked by an angry, violent minority. What do I know of those beliefs and
values? The USCCB website has
information on interfaith dialogues. We
can inform ourselves, get to know our neighbors and pray for them as well as
all who are threatened by religious extremists.
http://usccb.org/beliefs-and-teachings/ecumenical-and-interreligious/interreligious/islam/dialogue-with-muslims-committee-statement.cfm
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