March 11, 2010
Second Sunday of Easter
Passionist JPIC E-bulletin
Greetings!

Passionist JPICThis week the Passionist JPIC Office offers you the following in this week's E-Bulletin:
 
  • The Lectionary reading and reflection for the Second Sunday of Easter with quotes from Catholic Social Teaching related to the readings and reflection.
  • Action alert from the Passionist JPIC office related to issues of social concern for the Catholic and Passionist community.
 
We invite you to visit the Lectionary Reflection and Passion for Justice Blog to engage in discussing on any of our topics or reflections. We also encourage you to visit the Passionist JPIC website which we have modified to add more social networks. Please feel free to share any of these resources with people, communities or organization which you think could benefit from our resources and service.
 
Thank You,
John
 
Lectionary Readings:
  • Acts 5: 12-16. A third portrait (see "A" and "B " Cycles for the other two) describing the life of the early church. The power of healing is prominent in this account.
  • Revelations 1: 9-13, 17-19. John is called to write down his visions by Christ, the Son of Man, once dead and now alive. John shares in the distress, endurance and hopes of his readers.
  • John 20: 19-31. Jesus confers upon the apostles the power of the Holy Spirit to forgive sins. He also overcomes Thomas' unbelief by beckoning him to examine the marks of the nails and spear on his body.
 
Related Quotes from Catholic Social Teaching:
Catholic social teaching calls for bold and generous action on behalf of the common good. "Interdependence," as Pope John Paul II has written, "must be transformed into solidarity. . . . Surmounting every type of imperialism and determination to preserve their own hegemony, the stronger and richer nations must have a sense of moral responsibility for the other nations, so that a real international system may be established which will rest on the foundation of the equality of all peoples and on the necessary respect for their legitimate differences."
- USCCB, Global Climate Change, A Plea for Dialogue, Prudence and the Common Good #29
 
It is imperative that no one ... would indulge in a merely individualistic morality. The best way to fulfill one's obligations of justice and love is to contribute to the common good according to one's means and the needs of others, and also to promote and help public and private organizations devoted to bettering the conditions of life. 
- Vatican II, Gaudium Et Spes #30
 
The obligation to "love our neighbor" has an individual dimension, but it also requires a broader social commitment to the common good. We have many partial ways to measure and debate the health of our economy: Gross National Product, per capita income, stock market prices, and so forth. The Christian vision of economic life looks beyond them all and asks, Does economic life enhance or threaten our life together as a community?
- USCCB, Economic Justice For All (pastoral message)
 
Just freedom of action must ... be left both to individual citizens and to families, yet only on condition that the common good be preserved and wrong to any individual be abolished. The function of the rulers of the State is to watch over the community and its parts; but in protecting private individuals in their rights, chief consideration ought to be given to the weak and the poor.
- Pope Pius XI, Quadragesimo Anno #25
Thoughts for your Consideration: By John Gonzalez
The first reading immediately following Easter Sunday presents to us an image of the early Christian community. The lectionary of readings are done in three cycles (A,B, and C) and this year we are reading from cycle C. however on the Second Sunday of Easter the first reading for each cycle comes from Acts and the readings all demonstrate a characteristic of the fledgling community that follows Jesus. The term Christian actually does not apply because at this point they still see themselves as a Jewish community that follows the ways of Jesus Christ so until St. Paul the Apostle develops the term "Christian" their earliest tag is actually "The Way." The characteristics that each cycle presents are as follows:
  • Cycle A: Acts 2: 42-47 - dedication to prayer, common worship and communion
  • Cycle B: Acts 4: 32-35 - All goods are held in common, communal living
  • Cycle C: Acts 5: 12-16 - The power of healing to those that are sick and disturbed
I received a comment once that Jesus was not an agent of social change. To challenge society usually evokes and image of rebellion or some form of civil disobedience. In the Passion narratives that we just reflected on during Holy Week we are told about a social response to the threat that Jesus posed against the ruling classes of his day. Jesus lived with integrity to an alternative social vision. But to live with integrity meant that he had to be public in promoting and advocating for this other vision (the Kingdom of God.) If he had simply lived a personal vision in isolation he would never have been seen as a threat. His methodology for social change was not typical and that is what throws us off. His was not the standard of society so he did not employ violent insurrection (which may have disappointed some of his followers, especially Judas Iscariot) nor did he organize some form of direct action. Instead he was a public example and what he did organize was an alternative community. In the first reading we witness this public community (Peter, John and the Apostles are out in streets healing and preaching) engage in promoting this social transformation through this methodology of community organizing. They are organizing a community that prays, shares, and heals the greater society.

The second reading along with the Gospel passage remind us that any institution, including the Christian Church, needs to always re-evaluate itself from the dangers of corruption and the adoption of social rather than divine values. In the second Chapter of Revelations Jesus has John address the seven early Christian church communities. With many of these churches however Jesus points out forms of social deviation that has crept into them.  Ephesus and Sardis have lulled in their works of mercy, Pergamum has accepted heretical teachings, Thyatira has engaged in sexual misconduct, and Laodicea has been corrupted by its own affluence.

crossThe formula for reform is suffering. In Revelations and in the Gospel Jesus demonstrates that purification comes through suffering. What is amazing to me is that the Resurrected Christ continues to bear the wounds of his suffering. This is the constant reminder that is needed to keep us on the social vision that we have been set out to build. Like Thomas we are reminded that the way to live our baptismal calling is to be ever present with the ongoing Passion and suffering that continues to be in our world. We are called to be in solidarity with all who suffer. If we stray from the suffering in our society, if we become lax in performing our works of healing and sharing then we will fall victims to corruption, then we will be the ones that will have to be purified.

In reflecting on the "signs of the times" it certainly feels that our Church is passing through such purification. This is an opportunity for us as it was for the seven churches of Revelations. Let us reflect on the vision of God's Kingdom as lived and expressed by Christ and early community, and then let us reengage with our community of faith to be heralds of reform for this vision.         
Actions - Links:
The Passionist JPIC Office's Passion for Justice Blog has been promoting the issue of Immigration reform, while we will continue to offer reflections on this issue this week we will also be promoting issues related to the dignity of human life starting with the abolishing  the Death Penalty. We invite you to visit our blog and to engage in our discussion with these issues of social concern.
 
Visit the Passionist JPIC Action Alert page for the following information on the following events and issues:
 
  • capitol2Churches for Middle East Peace 2010 Advocacy Conference: Come to learn, increase your skills, network and advocate for peace with justice in the Holy Land. The conference will be June 13th - 15th, 2010 at the Kellogg Conference Hotel in Washington, DC.
  • Justice for Immigrants: Visits the Legislative Action Center of the Justice for Immigrant Campaign to advocate for Comprehensive immigration Reform based on the principles of Catholic Social Teaching
  • Please visit the Catholic Mobilization Network to engage with a movement sponsored by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops on abolishing the death penalty and promoting restorative justice.
"Love one another; love one another, my dearest brothers and sisters. Remember, you will never please God if you do not love another. Let there never be any dissension among you, and, if ever any sharp words should pass among you, be quite at once and do not keep talking. Let no disdain take possession of your hearts. So I repeat to you with Saint John: love one another, love one another, for in this is the love of God known. Show great love towards God's poor."
 - St. Paul of the Cross
North American Passionist JPIC Office