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The
Easter sacraments of initiation have called us to become
a community of God’s people. The program for this community
of believers is to be of one heart and one mind.
The second
reading deals with the one heart part of being
community: loving God and loving God’s children. The
Gospel deals with the one mind part of being community:
belief in Jesus even among those who have not seen.
What is such a community like? Look at the reading
from Acts. The early church of Jerusalem respected the apostles and their
witness to the resurrection, and along with that they shared their possessions.
Voluntarily surrendering their right to private ownership, they created a situation
in which no one among them was needy. All members of the community had what they
needed, or if they didn’t have it, they got it from the community.
The passage from Acts does not attempt to impose on us a specific economic system.
Rather, it tells us that whatever economic system the followers of Jesus Christ
espouse, it had better be a system that provides for the needs of all the people.
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“A
well-ordered human society requires that men recognize
and observe their mutual rights and duties. It also
demands that each contribute generously to the establishment
of a civic order in which rights and duties are progressively
more sincerely and effectively acknowledged and fulfilled.
It is not enough, for example, to acknowledge and
respect every man’s right to the means of subsistence.
One must also strive to insure that he actually has
enough in the way of food and nourishment.”
Pope
John XXIII, Pacem in Terris (1963) 31-32 |
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Now published in book form, To Love and Serve:
Lectionary Based Meditations, by Gerald Darring
This entire three year cycle is available at Amazon.com.
Copyright © 1994, Gerald Darring.
All Rights Reserved.
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Art by Martin Erspamer, O.S.B.
from Religious Clip Art for the Liturgical Year (A, B, and C).
Used by permission of Liturgy Training Publications. This art may be reproduced only by parishes who purchase the collection
in book or CD-ROM form. For more information go to:
http://www.ltp.org/ |
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