Teaching & Living the Faith: February 2011 Archives

chained prisoner Goya.jpgPrograms for prisoner reentry into society is crucial in keeping people clean, working, and being a good citizens. "Do-good-ing" is not a Catholic principle. We have plenty of good people doing good all the time. In fact, my heart is really moved by those who don't have a faith tradition to call their own and are motivated to act charitably toward those in need. Living a life of virtue and prayer are Catholic ways of proceeding. Showing mercy is what we are called to live in concrete ways. Helping the excon get on his or her feet again and walking with them is Jesus-inspired act.

Faith-based community projects, church-based communities of faith, Catholic groups like the Order of Malta and Catholic dioceses are among those who are doing good work to live the gospel of Jesus Christ. Faith-based communities have compassion as part of their mission and many are facing compassion fatigue. Money and red-tape are real obstacles to living the Spiritual and Corporal Works of Mercy.

"... I was in prison and visited me" (Matthew 25:36)
In weekly classes on the Catholic I've been stressing a few (of many) points:

  • lex orandi, lex credendi, lex vivendi (prayer, doctrine, life): all have to cohere
  • the Incarnation is a fact: in faith we encounter this fact, this Person, experience the exceptionality and the wonder
  • the contemporaneousness of Jesus Christ
  • the witness of the Catholic faith is true and it is true for all people
Turkson.jpg
In November the president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace Peter Cardinal Turkson, 63, gave an interview to Zenit on his new work as the head of a Roman office after being a pastor of a diocese in Ghana. Cardinal Turkson is a trained biblical scholar.

My point of bringing this matter up is that those of us who make the claim to be faithful Catholics need to live the faith as though Jesus Christ truly mattered and that what we profess at Mass and in prayer is lived according to correct doctrine while sharing the Good News of Salvation coherently. Cardinal Turkson is not the first to say that we don't always understand social justice, but we need to put a greater effort in doing so. How do we imitate the love of God for other?


About the author

Paul A. Zalonski is from New Haven, CT. He is a member of the Fraternity of Communion and Liberation, a Catholic ecclesial movement and an Oblate of Saint Benedict. Contact Paul at paulzalonski[at]yahoo.com.

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This page is a archive of entries in the Teaching & Living the Faith category from February 2011.

Teaching & Living the Faith: December 2010 is the previous archive.

Teaching & Living the Faith: May 2011 is the next archive.

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