16
May 13, 2014
commentary
T
he Valley Catholic
spirituality
Making a Difference
Two newest saints were voices for voiceless
Our need to share our riches with the poor
By Tony Magliano
By Father Ron Rolheiser
Saints Popes John
XXIII and John Paul
II prophetically raised
their voices on behalf
of suffering masses. They spoke truth
to power, and challenged all of us to
advance the kingdom of God – a kingdom of love, justice and peace.
St. John XXIII, affectionately known
as “Good Pope John,” was expected to
be a “caretaker pope” – someone who
wouldn’t make any waves. He would
have none of that.
In addition to his monumental decision to convene the Catholic Church’s
21st ecumenical council, Vatican II, in
1961 he penned the powerful and controversial encyclical Mater et Magistra
(“Christianity and Social Progress”).
There St. John XXIII wrote that the
economy “has become harsh, cruel
and relentless in frightful measure.”
And that “even public authorities were
serving the interests of more wealthy
men. …”
To those who wrongly insist governments should leave the economy alone
and let the “free market” correct itself,
Saint John XXIII wrote, “Civil authority should resume its function and
not overlook any of the community’s
interests.” And “on a world-wide scale,
governments should seek the economic
good of all peoples.”
Then in 1963, just months after
the Cuban missile crisis ended, he
authored an even more powerful and
controversial encyclical: Pacem in Terris
(“Peace on Earth”).
Mindful of humanity’s recent close
brush with nuclear war, and the devastation conventional wars cause, he
wrote, “Justice, then, right reason and
consideration for human dignity and
life urgently demand that the arms
race should cease, that the stockpiles
which exist in various countries should
be reduced equally and simultaneously
by the parties concerned, that nuclear
weapons should be banned, and finally,
that all come to an agreement on a fitting program of disarmament, employ-
If only the world would
listen to this saint.
ing mutual and effective controls.”
If only the world would listen to
this saint.
“John Paul the Great” – as some of
us refer to St. John Paul II – was bigger
than life!
He took the Good News of the nonviolent Jesus to the far corners of the
earth, boldly defending the vulnerable
and poor.
Early in his papacy in 1979, I remember hearing in Washington, DC – along
with 700,000 others – these challenging
words: “We will stand up every time
that human life is threatened. When
the sacredness of life before birth is attacked, we will stand up and proclaim
that no one ever has the authority to
destroy unborn life!”
St. John Paul was equally committed
to protecting born life as well. Again in
1979, in New York City, he proclaimed,
“The poor of the United States and of
the world are your brothers and sisters
in Christ. Never be content to leave
them just the crumbs of the feast. Take
of your substance, and not just of your
abundance, in order to help them. Treat
them like guests at your family table.”
Confronting the world’s addiction to
the violence of war he said, “War is a
defeat for humanity.” In his Jan. 1, 2005
World Day of Peace message he wrote,
“Violence is a lie, for it goes against
the truth of our faith, the truth of our
humanity. Violence destroys what it
claims to defend: the dignity, the life,
the freedom of human beings.”
In his powerful encyclical Sollicitudo
Rei Socialis (“The Social Concerns of the
Church”), St. John Paul summed up all
of Catholic social teaching in one clear
sentence: “We are all really responsible
for all.”
• Tony Magliano is an internationally syndicated social justice and peace
columnist.
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We need to give
Jesus and the Gospels teach this reaway some of our own
peatedly. The Gospel of Luke, in which
possessions in order
Jesus warns us that it is easier for a camel
to be healthy. Wealth that is hoarded
to pass through the eye of a needle than
always corrupts those who possess it.
for a rich person to enter the Kingdom
Any gift that is not shared turns sour.
of Heaven, nevertheless praises the rich
If we are not generous with our gifts we
who are generous, condemning only the
will be bitterly envied and will eventurich who are stingy. For Luke, generosity
ally turn bitter and envious ourselves.
is the key to health and heaven.
These are all axioms with the same
In the Gospel of Matthew, when Jesus
warning. We can only be healthy if we
reveals what will be the great test for the
are giving away some of our riches to
final judgment, his single set of criteria
others. We need to give to the poor to be
have entirely to do with how we gave to
healthy ourselves. When we
the poor: Did you feed the
give to the poor both charity
hungry? Give drink to the
and justice are served, but
thirsty? Clothe the naked?
‘We are
some healthy self-interest is
Even more strongly, in the
stewards
served as well, namely, we
story of the widow who
cannot be healthy or happy
gives her last two pennies
of our
unless we share our riches.
away, Jesus challenges us to
possessions
That truth is written inside
not only give of our surplus
human experience and into the poor, but to also give
rather than
side every authentic ethical
away some of what we need
owners of
to live on.
and faith tradition.
We see the same message
We know from experithem.’
in the social doctrine of the
ence that when we give of
Catholic Church. From Pope
ourselves we experience
Leo XIII’s Rerum