A New Understanding of Sin
Fifty years ago, the 1971 Synod of Bishops on ‘Justice in the World’ was a watershed moment for the Church. The Synodal document in the section on ‘The Gospel Message and the Mission of the Church,’ offered a new understanding of sin “In the face of the present-day situation of the world, marked as it is by the grave sin of injustice, we recognize both our responsibility and our inability to overcome it by our own strength. Such a situation urges us to listen with a humble and open heart to the word of God, as he shows us new paths toward action in the cause of justice in the world.” The bishops went on further to state, “While the Church is bound to give witness to justice, she recognizes that anyone who ventures to speak to people about justice must first be just in their eyes. Hence we must undertake an examination of the modes of acting and of the possessions and the life-style found within the Church herself.”
Bringing the Church Up-to-date
That Synod was the logical outcome of a very special period in the history of the Church. In 1959, when St Pope John XXIII announced the Second Vatican Council, he emphasised that he wanted it to be a Pastoral Council, not necessarily creating new definitions in doctrine, but an aggiornamento—essentially an updating of what the Church is all about, in order to communicate more effectively the values of the kingdom with the men and women of the modern world. The key question which was therefore raised at the Vatican Council was “what does it mean to be the Church of God in the modern world?” The path-breaking Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the modern world (Gaudium et Spes) was a fitting response to what Pope John XXIII wanted as a sum and substance of a historic intervention. Earlier, in his Encyclical Pacem in Terris, he underlines the inviolability of human rights and the four non-negotiables of Truth, Justice, Charity and Liberty, which are fundamental for sustainable peace; and that famous statement, “There is a saying of St Augustine which has particular relevance in this context: ‘Take away justice, and what are kingdoms but mighty bands of robbers.’”
St Pope Paul VI, given the renewal that was taking place everywhere because of the Church ‘opening its doors’ post-Vatican II, convoked the 1971 Synod. The Synod document’s message can be summed up in one well-known sentence, “Action on behalf of justice and participation in the transformation of the world fully appear to us as a constitutive dimension of the preaching of the Gospel, or, in other words, of the church’s mission for the redemption of the human race and its liberation from every oppressive situation.” The promotion of justice is a necessary feature in the task of evangelization. There simply is no sharing of the good news of Jesus Christ if the commitment to justice is downplayed or eliminated. Since then, all the Popes have reiterated the Church’s position for a more just society. In his Encyclical Caritas in Veritate, Pope Benedict XVI puts it strongly, “Love—caritas—is an extraordinary force which leads people to opt for courageous and generous engagement in the field of justice and peace.”
Pope Francis: The ‘Smell of the Sheep’
Since 2013, Pope Francis has not lost any opportunity of insisting that engagement to counter the rampant injustices in the world, is an essential part of discipleship. In Evangelii Gaudium, he says, “An evangelizing community gets involved by word and deed in people’s daily lives; it bridges distances, it is willing to abase itself if necessary, and it embraces human life, touching the suffering flesh of Christ in others. Evangelizers thus take on the ‘smell of the sheep’ and the sheep are willing to hear their voice. An evangelizing community is also supportive, standing by people at every step of the way, no matter how difficult or lengthy this may prove to be.” He adds, “I prefer a Church which is bruised, hurting and dirty because it has been out on the streets… I do not want a Church concerned with being at the centre and then ends by being caught up in a web of obsessions and procedures.”
He insists: “Peace in society cannot be understood as pacification or the mere absence of violence resulting from the domination of one part of society over others. Nor does true peace act as a pretext for justifying a social structure, which silences or appeases the poor, so that the more affluent can placidly support their lifestyle, while others have to make do as they can. Demands involving the distribution of wealth, concern for the poor and human rights cannot be suppressed under the guise of creating a consensus on paper or a transient peace for a contented minority. The dignity of the human person and the common good rank higher than the comfort of those who refuse to renounce their privileges. When these values are threatened, a prophetic voice must be raised.”
We are in the special Laudato Si year; many do not realise that the greatest challenge of this Encyclical which Pope Francis gave to the world in 2015, is to look into the endemic issues which impact on the environment. Pope Francis is direct, “In the present condition of global society, where injustices abound and growing numbers of people are deprived of basic human rights and considered expendable, the principle of the common good immediately becomes, logically and inevitably, a summons to solidarity and a preferential option for the poorest of our brothers and sisters. This option entails recognizing the implications of the universal destination of the world’s good… it demands before all else an appreciation of the immense dignity of the poor in the light of our deepest convictions as believers. We need only look around us to see that, today, this option is in fact an ethical imperative essential for effectively attaining the common good.”
As religious in India, we are called to respond to the injustices all around. The 1971 Synodal document says we first need to look into ourselves: our attitudes, our relationships, particularly with our ‘collaborators’; we need to look into the realities within our own Congregations and institutions. There is the wider dimension of the Church: in the last Synod of Bishops, Pope Francis called for ‘discernment’ and greater ‘synodality’ for meaningful participation with responsibility, transparency and accountability.
Justice and Injustice Today
Injustices today are mainstreamed and institutionalised. COVID-19 has thrown up new challenges where the plight of the migrant workers, the unemployed, the farmers, the minorities and other excluded like Adivasis and Dalits, children and women are concerned. Fr Stan Lourduswamy, the 83-year-old Jesuit walked the talk; today he is paying the price, languishing in jail since 8 October, because of his courage to accompany the Adivasis in their quest for a more just and dignified life.
Jesus was deeply concerned about the deep-rooted injustices of his time and took a visible stand against them; it was not for nothing that two of the Beatitudes have justice embedded in them, “Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after justice: for they shall have their fill”; and “Blessed are they that suffer persecution for justice’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
Never Abandon Prophecy!
Pope Francis writes in Witnesses of Joy for the Year of Consecrated Life (2014-15) “I am counting on you ‘to wake up the world,’ since the distinctive sign of consecrated life is prophecy. As I told the Superiors General, ‘Radical evangelical living is not only for religious: it is demanded of everyone. But religious follow the Lord in a special way, in a prophetic way.’ This is the priority that is needed right now: to be prophets who witness to how Jesus lived on this earth…a religious must never abandon prophecy.”
Fr. Cedric Prakash SJ
(He is a human rights & peace activist/writer)
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