“Into Your Hands I Commend My Spirit” with Fr. James Rafferty and Deacon James Keating – Discerning Hearts

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Fr. James Rafferty and Deacon James Keating offered a Lenten Morning of Reflection on behalf of the Institute for Priestly Formation entitled “Into Your Hands I Commend My Spirit”.

William-Adolphe Bouguereau’s “Pieta” was used as the vocal point for reflection, as well as the following passages:

From  John 3:16-17

For God so loved the world that he gave* his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life.k17For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn* the world, but that the world might be saved through him.l

Excerpts from Pope Francis’ encyclical “Light of Faith“:

Our culture has lost its sense of God’s tangible presence and activity in our world. We think that God is to be found in the beyond, on another level of reality, far removed from our everyday relationships. But if this were the case, if God could not act in the world, his love would not be truly powerful, truly real, and thus not even true, a love capable of delivering the bliss that it promises. It would make no difference at all whether we believed in him or not. Christians, on the contrary, profess their faith in God’s tangible and powerful love which really does act in history and determines its final destiny: a love that can be encountered, a love fully revealed in Christ’s passion, death and resurrection.

Yet it is precisely in contemplating Jesus’ death that faith grows stronger and receives a dazzling light; then it is revealed as faith in Christ’s steadfast love for us, a love capable of embracing death to bring us salvation. This love, which did not recoil before death in order to show its depth, is something I can believe in; Christ’s total self-gift overcomes every suspicion and enables me to entrust myself to him completely.

RN36 – Regnum Novum – “The International Community” – Compendium of Social Doctrine Chap 9

Episode 36- Regnum Novum: Bringing forth the New Evangelization through Catholic Social Teaching with Omar GutierrezOmar-Gutierrez-1We continue the study of the “Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church”  Chapter 9 “The International Community”

CHAPTER NINE
THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY

I. BIBLICAL ASPECTS
a. 
Unity of the human family
b. 
Jesus Christ, prototype and foundation of the new humanity
c. 
The universal vocation of Christianity

II. THE FUNDAMENTAL RULES OF THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY
a. 
The international community and values b. Relations based on harmony between the juridical and moral orders

III. THE ORGANIZATION OF THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY
a. 
The value of international organizations
b. 
The juridical personality of the Holy See

IV. INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION FOR DEVELOPMENT
a. 
Cooperation to guarantee the right to development
b. 
The fight against poverty
c. 
Foreign debt

We live at a very special time. The confluence of many things has brought forth the clear need to be able to articulate the Social Teaching of the Catholic Church in a way that is accessible and applicable. This is not to be an effort where high-minded theories are to be bandied about. Rather, this is a time of opportunity wherein we can apply the Social Doctrine to the concrete so as to bring about a New Kingdom, a Revolution. – Omar G.

Also visit Omar’s “Discerning Hearts” page Catholic Social Teaching 101

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You can find Omar Gutierrez’s book here

In The Urging of Christ’s Love Omar Gutiérrez tells the stories of eleven people who lived their lives in pursuit of Christ Jesus. Each Saint, Blessed or Servant of God is considered in the context of Catholic Social Teaching. Then at the end of each chapter a prayer is offered and quotes from the Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church are provided in order to link the lessons we can learn from the saint’s life to Church teaching. By discovering some new saint friends, and rediscovering some old ones, The Urging of Christ’s Love presents Catholic Social Teaching in an accessible and important way.