During the last 2,000 years, we the Church have mostly been conventional. We have mostly talked about Jesus while devoting ourselves to Pluto.
Happily, some Christians have maintained a radiant witness to Jesus. Francis of Assisi (1181-1226), for example, walked away from Pluto and family wealth to earn nothing. Instead, he witnessed to Jesus by serving poor people and starting a monastic order of beggars. The Roman Catholic Church rightly calls him a saint.
For centuries, a few people made vast fortunes buying and selling other people. Pluto justified this practice by deceiving those devoted to him into thinking that these other people were not quite human. Jesus enabled William Wilberforce (1759-1833) of England to see that lie and affirm the truth. In the late 18th and early 19th centuries, he worked steadfastly within Parliament to outlaw trading in slaves and then slavery itself.
William Booth (1829-1912) committed himself to caring for
Pluto measures virtue in terms of money. With a word from Jesus and the dynamic love of the Holy Spirit, we may do otherwise. As radiant witnesses, we too may practice solidarity with poor people and challenge ways in which our societies keep them poor.
Copyright © 2012 by Steven Farsaci.
All rights reserved. Fair use encouraged.
All rights reserved. Fair use encouraged.