The Bible Study Evangelista

  Category:  Social Justice   Tag:  Bible reading ,  faith ,  faith and works ,  social justice   Justice is the moral virtue that consists in the constant and firm will to give their due to God and neighbor. Justice toward God is called the “virtue of religion.” [Worship.] Justice toward men disposes one to respect the rights of each and to establish in human relationships the harmony that promotes equity with regard to persons and to the common good. The just man, often mentioned in the Sacred Scriptures, is distinguished by habitual right thinking and the uprightness of his conduct toward his neighbor (CCC 1807). “Justice is a habit whereby a man renders to each one his due by a constant and perpetual will” (St. Thomas Aquinas). “For the rich man in the Gospel who was clothed in purple and fine linen, and feasted sumptuously every day, is not said to have stolen what belonged to others, but to have used what was his own unfruitfully; and...

  Category:  Social Justice   Tag:  Bible reading ,  faith ,  faith and works ,  social justice   “On this earth there is room for everyone: here the entire human family must find the resources to live with dignity, through the help of nature itself—God’s gift to his children—and through hard work and creativity. At the same time we must recognize our grave duty to hand the earth on to future generations in such a condition that they too can worthily inhabit it and continue to cultivate it.” —Pope Benedict XVI,  Charity in Truth  ( Caritas in Veritate ), no. 50 Topics Discussed: Catholic social justice principle #8, Care for Creation Creation as home-building, covenant making, and Sabbath keeping Church documents on caring for creation Overview: Minutes 00:12:00 – Solidarity with creation and the poor    Minutes 12:01-24:00 – Creation as home-building, covenant making, and Sabbath keeping Minutes 24:01-36:00 – Transgr...

  Category:  Social Justice   Ta g:  Bible reading ,  faith ,  faith and works ,  social justice This highly detailed image of the Crab Nebula combines data from telescopes spanning nearly the entire breadth of the electromagnetic spectrum. The picture includes data from five different telescopes: the Spitzer Space Telescope (infrared) in yellow; the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (radio) in red; Hubble Space Telescope (visible) in green; XMM-Newton (ultraviolet) in blue; and Chandra X-ray Observatory (X-ray) in purple. Notice that the green color is all we can (could) see with our own eyes. The rest is invisible to natural human sight. Topics Discussed: Catholic social justice principle #6, solidarity and connectedness Quantum mechanics  and God Pope Benedict XVI, Charity in Truth (Caritas in Veritate) St. Catherine of Sienna’s  Dialogue  St. Thomas Aqunias’  Summa  on  being (existence), evil, and angels Overv...

Category:  Social Justice   Tag:  Bible reading ,  faith ,  faith and works ,  social justice For us as believers the dignity of work comes out of the whole theology of creation. Work is part of human dignity and written in natural law. As the parables of the talents and vineyard illustrate, every human being is created and gifted with special privileges – physical privileges, spiritual privileges, mental privileges, economic privileges, social privileges – precisely in order to use and work in them as God’s hands and feet on behalf of others, to make the world a more just and loving place.  The economy must serve people, not the other way around. Work is more than a way to make a living; it is a form of continuing participation in Gods creation. If the dignity of work is to be protected, then the basic rights of workers must be respected–the right to productive work, to decent and fair wages, to the organization and joining of unions, to priva...

Category:  Social Justice   Tag:  Bible reading ,  faith ,  faith and works ,  social justice A basic moral test is how our most vulnerable members are faring. In a society marred by deepening divisions between rich and poor, our tradition recalls the story of the Last Judgment (Mt 25:31-46) and instructs us to put the needs of the poor and vulnerable first. “The poor not only suffer injustice, they also struggle against it! . . . [Solidarity] means that the lives of all take priority over the appropriation of goods by a few. It also means fighting against the structural causes of poverty and inequality; of the lack of work, land and housing; and of the denial of social and labor rights. It means confronting the destructive effects of the empire of money: forced dislocation, painful emigration, human trafficking, drugs, war, violence and all those realities that many of you suffer and that we are all called upon to transform . . . Love for the poo...

Category:  Social Justice Tag: Bible reading, faith, faith and works, social justice “In human society one man’s natural right gives rise to a corresponding duty in other men; the duty, that is, of recognizing and respecting that right. Every basic human right draws its authoritative force from the natural law, which confers it and attaches to it its respective duty. Hence, to claim one’s rights and ignore one’s duties, or only half fulfill them, is like building a house with one hand and tearing it down with the other.” —St. John XXIII, Peace on Earth (Pacem in Terris), no. 30  SHOW NOTES  Topics Discussed: Catholic social justice principle #3, rights and responsibilities The parable of the rich man and Lazarus US foreign aid Overview: Minutes 00:12:00 – Responsibilities and rights are inseparable, the contemporary imbalance Minutes 12:01-24:00 – The Bill of Rights, healthcare, single-parent families, smoking, abortion Minutes 24:01-36:00 – Right...

 Category:  Social Justice Tag:  Bible reading ,  faith ,  faith and works ,  marriage ,  social justice The person is not only sacred but also social. “We have all known the long loneliness, and we have learned that the only solution is love, and that love comes with community” (Servant of God, Dorothy Day). How we organize our society — in economics and politics, in law and policy — directly affects human dignity and the capacity of individuals to grow in community. Marriage and the family are the central social institutions that must be supported and strengthened, not undermined. “The family… is the first and most important school of mercy, in which we learn to see God’s loving face and to mature and develop as human beings” (Pope Francis). We believe people have a right and a duty to participate in society, seeking together the common good and well-being of all, especially the poor and vulnerable.