Jesus “didn't come to abolish the law", which was and is the Word of God given in covenant to His people. He condemned the Pharisees not because they were following the law, but because they were not building a relationship with God. The rules must be followed in Love to build relationships.
Our take on this should be different than most. The Catholic Church is the church that goes back to the root of Jesus' teaching, with a thread of consistency in sharing the message of love proclaimed by Jesus; but we need to struggle with this concept of law and relationship.
Those who obey only the law are not in right relationship with God because the Word is not getting through to their hearts. It's about coming to the edge of chaos and the conversion that takes place as a result of encountering Christ in the Liturgy. We must change our hearts to be more like Christ, so that we can in-turn reconcile ourselves to Christ.
Jesus is asking us to return to a time when we were right with God. Liturgy puts us back in this right relationship with God and that is what Justice is. Liturgy trains us in obedience through listening in ways that matter.
Some people turn liturgy into a ceremonial process hoping to recharge their faith, but it must include conversion. For instance: If there is a group that is discriminated against (we vs. they) and we do nothing to help we have not experienced conversion.
Jesus was trying to restore the original order, not by retribution but through inclusion, empathy, and equity. For Jesus, justice was about the people that were left out; the poor and the widowed, giving everyone a place at the table.
The challenge is to engage our leadership stance, in a way that will help us understand how we can get better as individuals, and in this way help the Parish get better. Do people feel welcome and included? Do we remove prejudice from our liturgy? Liturgy is only valid when we struggle at the edge of chaos (justice).
We can’t pretend to Love God, Liturgy is anamnestic. It’s in the doing that we celebrate the memory of Christ, which another student pointed out is similar to the idea that “Faith without works is dead”. It's not that God doesn't want us to worship, He doesn't want us to worship without having participated in Justice.
Liturgy and justice are two sides of the same coin. Everybody celebrates and nobody is left out. We want catechumens to learn to be more like Christ, and He wasn’t spending time in the Tabernacle. We too must go out and be radically inclusive, even to the people we don’t know.
We must go out and be the face of Christ in the world. We must live like we pray, and when people ask questions we must be prepared to explain why we live this way. We must be prepared to proclaim what Jesus means to us, and we must share the healing message of Christ with the people we are with.
When we are doing the work of justice we are all doing the work of the Lord, whether it’s Lutheran’s or Catholics, or even atheist’s, it is helping the world move closer to Christ. Where ever Samaria is in your life, cross the border to help those who make you uncomfortable, because Christ taught us the one thing that makes liturgy valid is a love of the poor.
“In the Liturgy, we break our bread and share our wine, and we break open our lives so that God can rush in with forgiveness, peace, hope, and life. Then the doors are broken open and we rush out to be word to others, to tell the story and let it come true in us; to be the bread, to be the wine, and to be the body of Christ for a hungry, yearning world. To do justice and walk humbly with our God: We do this and remember. We remember God, we remember who we are, we remember what we promised in our baptism, and we remember God’s covenant with us.”
My post for the class website:
I was intrigued by the idea that Liturgy puts us back in right relationship with God, and that this right relationship is what justice is. Like Jesus, for me justice is about the people that are left out: For Him it was the poor and the widowed and for me it’s the poor and homeless.
We may never be able to give everyone a place at the table but that should always be our goal, where everybody celebrates and nobody is left out. When we are doing the work of justice we are all doing the work of the Lord, no matter who we are, because it is in the helping that we move the world closer to Christ.
Jesus didn’t spend all of His time in the Tabernacle, and we too must go out and be radically inclusive; even to the people we don’t know. We must go out and be the face of Christ in the world. We must live like we pray, and when people ask questions we must be prepared to explain why we live this way.
It’s in the doing that we celebrate the memory of Christ, which another student pointed out is similar to the idea that “Faith without works is dead”. It's not that God doesn't want us to worship, He doesn't want us to worship without having participated in Justice.
We were challenged to engage our leadership stance in a way that will help us understand how we can become better individuals, and in this way help our Parishes become better communities. Where ever Samaria is in our lives, we must cross the border to help those who make us uncomfortable, because Christ taught us the one thing that makes liturgy valid is a love of the poor.
I would like to end my ILM class on the Liturgy with a powerful quote from Megan McKenna: “In the Liturgy, we break our bread and share our wine, and we break open our lives so that God can rush in with forgiveness, peace, hope, and love. Then the doors are broken open and we rush out to be word to others, to tell the story and let it come true in us; to be the bread, to be the wine, and to be the body of Christ for a hungry, yearning world. To do justice and walk humbly with our God, we do this and remember. We remember God, we remember who we are, we remember what we promised in our baptism, and we remember God’s covenant with us.”
My post for the class website:
I was intrigued by the idea that Liturgy puts us back in right relationship with God, and that this right relationship is what justice is. Like Jesus, for me justice is about the people that are left out: For Him it was the poor and the widowed and for me it’s the poor and homeless.
We may never be able to give everyone a place at the table but that should always be our goal, where everybody celebrates and nobody is left out. When we are doing the work of justice we are all doing the work of the Lord, no matter who we are, because it is in the helping that we move the world closer to Christ.
Jesus didn’t spend all of His time in the Tabernacle, and we too must go out and be radically inclusive; even to the people we don’t know. We must go out and be the face of Christ in the world. We must live like we pray, and when people ask questions we must be prepared to explain why we live this way.
It’s in the doing that we celebrate the memory of Christ, which another student pointed out is similar to the idea that “Faith without works is dead”. It's not that God doesn't want us to worship, He doesn't want us to worship without having participated in Justice.
We were challenged to engage our leadership stance in a way that will help us understand how we can become better individuals, and in this way help our Parishes become better communities. Where ever Samaria is in our lives, we must cross the border to help those who make us uncomfortable, because Christ taught us the one thing that makes liturgy valid is a love of the poor.
I would like to end my ILM class on the Liturgy with a powerful quote from Megan McKenna: “In the Liturgy, we break our bread and share our wine, and we break open our lives so that God can rush in with forgiveness, peace, hope, and love. Then the doors are broken open and we rush out to be word to others, to tell the story and let it come true in us; to be the bread, to be the wine, and to be the body of Christ for a hungry, yearning world. To do justice and walk humbly with our God, we do this and remember. We remember God, we remember who we are, we remember what we promised in our baptism, and we remember God’s covenant with us.”
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