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COMMENTARY
February 20, 2018 | The Valley Catholic
What Would Jesus Do?
By Tony Magliano
Internationally syndicated social justice
and peace columnist
[email protected]
As countless fellow human beings suffer terribly
in a myriad of ways, and much of our planet groans
from gaping human induced wounds, our govern-
ment, other governments, and many well-off people,
seem to hardly care. It is what Pope Francis calls a
“globalization of indifference.”
Urgently needed is a creative new paradigm – a
fresh life-giving, life protecting, life enhancing model
to guide us out of the selfish, violent, sinful darkness
of religious intolerance, nationalism, isolationism,
materialism, consumerism, racism, secularism and
militarism.
But we don’t need to keep stumbling around in the
darkness trying to find our way out of all this muck.
Instead, the new paradigm we desperately need to
fully embrace is the ever-fresh ancient Gospel of Je-
sus. For in the Gospel we encounter the living Christ
and his ever relevant teachings of compassionate,
just, peaceful, nonviolent, merciful, unconditional
love for all.
An honest, open-hearted, open-minded prayerful
reflection on Jesus’ words and actions will give us
sure guidance on how to morally respond to the life
and death issues facing our nation and world. And
as we do this, we should ask ourselves WWJD, that
is, “What would Jesus do?”
While some will surely say this is overly simplis-
tic; I beg to differ. And so does the Pontifical Biblical
Commission.
“Give me your tired, your poor,
your huddled masses
yearning to breathe free.”
In their book, “The Bible and Morality” they state
that in judging the Christian morality of an action,
the fundamental question is: To what extent is this
action “inspired by the example of Jesus?”
What would Jesus – through whom all things were
made, and who was so at one with the natural world
– do regarding our poisoning of the air, water and
land with toxic waste, and the profit driven burning
of oil, coal and gas that is causing global warming?
Surely he would speak out against it. And surely he
is telling us to stop polluting and dangerously warm-
ing the earth, to clean it up, and be good stewards of
his creation.
What would Jesus – who was an unborn baby – do
regarding the annual 900,000 plus babies brutally
aborted in the U.S., and the more than 55 million plus
abortions worldwide?
Tony is available to speak at diocesan or parish gather-
ings. Tony can be reached at [email protected].
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Surely he would condemn it. And surely he is
commanding us to end it.
What would Jesus – who said “Put your sword
back into its sheath, for all who take the sword will
perish by the sword” – do regarding our fascination
for making, possessing, buying, selling, and using
high tech swords?
He would surely tell us to stop warring and pre-
paring for war. And would add, “To you who hear
I say, love your enemies, do good to those who hate
you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who
mistreat you.”
What would Jesus – who said “For I was hungry
and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave
me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me” – do
regarding the suffering of poor, hungry, thirsty and
migrant persons? He would condemn the tremendous
inequality between the haves and have-nots.
He would insist upon