Cornerstone 10-16-11 Lesson 5 : The Oldies

Note to Reader: As part of the implementation of  New Roman Missal Changes we are taking an in depth at the Mass during Cornerstone. This will be the first of six lessons about the components and traditions of the Holy Mass.

“Be pleased to look upon these offerings with a serene and kindly countenance, and to accept them, as you were pleased to accept the gifts of your servant Abel the just, the sacrifice of Abraham, our father in faith, and the offering of your high priest Melchizedek, a holy sacrifice, a spotless victim.” – Eucharistic Prayer I, New Roman Missal

Resources: Bible, “The Bible and the Mass: The Jewish Roots of Christian Liturgy” By: Dr. Brant Pitre, Professor of Sacred Scripture Notre Dame Seminary, The Catechism of the Catholic Church

The Key Questions

How does Old Testament worship prefigure the Mass?

Key Points

Liturgy

From the very beginning God’s people have been called to worship and praise him. The public prayer of the Church called is called Liturgy meaning “public work” or “ service” in the original Greek. (Pitre) Liturgy is the participation of People of God in the “work of God” (John 17:4). Christ is the ultimate example of this completion of the “work” and is the one true “high priest” of the Liturgy of the Church (Heb 8:2-6); through him and with him the Church, through Her ordained ministers, “celebrates in the liturgy above all the Paschal mystery by which Christ accomplished the work of our salvation.” (CCC 1067). In Liturgy God offers himself to us and we (should) continually give ourselves to him by our praise, love, and adoration.  Our Catholic Liturgy (made most manifest in the Mass) is prefigured throughout the Old Testament.  

Abel’s Sacrifice and Melchizedek’s offering of Bread and Wine

Even in Genesis we can find types of the Mass. (The word “type” is used throughout to mean an Old Testament action or person prefiguring and superseded or brought to fulfillment by the New Testament e.g. Moses was a type of Christ because he led his people out of the slavery of Egypt, just as Christ leads us out of the slavery of Sin. Christ’s action is prefigured by Moses’ and it is larger.) Abel offers the “the firstlings of his flock” (Gen 4:4) just as we ask each Mass that “the Lord accept the sacrifice,” of our first fruit: the gifts of bread and wine and equally important our lives, hurts, joys, humiliations, pain, laughter, and our very selves. (USSCB Roman Missal). Each Mass the priest asks in the Eucharistic prayer that Lord would look upon our offering and it be acceptable to Him just as He “looked with favor on Abel and his offering” (Gen 4:4).

Another of the earliest type of the Mass was the offering of bread and wine by the Priest-King Melchizedek in Genesis 14:18-20. 

Melchizedek, king of Salem, brought out bread and wine. He was a priest of God Most High. He blessed Abram with these words: ‘Blessed be Abram by God Most High, the creator of heaven and earth; And blessed be God Most High, who delivered your foes into your hand.’ Then Abram gave him a tenth of everything. (Gen 14:18-20)

It is obvious that this offering of thanksgiving that was made on Abram’s behalf to God Most High prefigures our Catholic Mass. Melchizedek is a type of Christ who is yet to come as explained by St. Paul in the Letter to the Hebrews, Chapter 7, in which the Priesthood of Christ is more fully explained; Another supporting statement is found in Psalms 110:4: “The LORD has sworn and will not waver: ‘You are a priest forever in the manner of Melchizedek.’”

The Exodus and Passover

During the Easter Vigil the Priest or Deacon reads or sings aloud the Exsultet which speaks of salvation history and compares the Exodus of the Jews away from Egyptian slavery and into freedom. It calls Easter mysteries “the feasts of Passover, in which is slain the Lamb, the one true Lamb, whose Blood anoints the doorposts of believers.”(Roman Missal) Christ becomes our Passover Lamb whose blood protects us from the death we deserve because of our sin. Continuing it further emphasizes the connection between the two actions in beautiful language:

“This is the night, when once you led our forebears, Israel’s children, from slavery in Egypt and made them pass dry-shod through the Red Sea. This is the night that with a pillar of fire banished the darkness of sin. This is the night that even now, throughout the world, sets Christian believers apart from worldly vices and from the gloom of sin, lending them to grace, and joining them to his holy ones. This is the night when Christ broke the prison-bars of death, and rose victorious from the underworld. Our birth would have been no gain, had we not been redeemed.” (Exsultet Easter Vigil)

The story of the Exodus is found in Exodus chapters 12-14 and it would be a good bible study for your small group. Furthermore, the rituals of the Old Testament sacrifice are explained more fully in Leviticus 23:4-5 and surrounding; Numbers 28; Deuteronomy 16:1-7. Notice the similarities between them and our Mass; unleavened bread, sacrifice, and the Lamb in particular. 

Fulfillment in the Mass

Our Catholic Liturgy (most fully complete in the Mass) was prefigured throughout the Old Testament by the actions of our Jewish ancestors of the faith. The purpose of this lesson is to convey that the Mass was typified by and is the perfect and unchanging completion of the Old Testament customs and sacrifices. At each Holy Mass the Sacrifice of Christ at Calvary is represented to God the Father for the forgiveness of sin.

The Catechism puts it this way: 

CCC 1066 In the Symbol of the faith the Church confesses the mystery of the Holy Trinity and of the plan of God's "good pleasure" for all creation: the Father accomplishes the "mystery of his will" by giving his beloved Son and his Holy Spirit for the salvation of the world and for the glory of his name.

Such is the mystery of Christ, revealed and fulfilled in history according to the wisely ordered plan that St. Paul calls the "plan of the mystery" and the patristic tradition will call the "economy of the Word incarnate" or the "economy of salvation."

CCC 1067 "The wonderful works of God among the people of the Old Testament were but a prelude to the work of Christ the Lord in redeeming mankind and giving perfect glory to God. He accomplished this work principally by the Paschal mystery of his blessed Passion, Resurrection from the dead, and glorious Ascension, whereby 'dying he destroyed our death, rising he restored our life.' For it was from the side of Christ as he slept the sleep of death upon the cross that there came forth 'the wondrous sacrament of the whole Church."' For this reason, the Church celebrates in the liturgy above all the Paschal mystery by which Christ accomplished the work of our salvation.

CCC 1070: In the New Testament the word "liturgy" refers not only to the celebration of divine worship but also to the proclamation of the Gospel and to active charity. In all of these situations it is a question of the service of God and neighbor. In a liturgical celebration the Church is servant in the image of her Lord, the one "leitourgos"; she shares in Christ's priesthood (worship), which is both prophetic (proclamation) and kingly (service of charity):

The liturgy then is rightly seen as an exercise of the priestly office of Jesus Christ. It involves the presentation of man's sanctification under the guise of signs perceptible by the senses and its accomplishment in ways appropriate to each of these signs. In it full public worship is performed by the Mystical Body of Jesus Christ, that is, by the Head and his members. From this it follows that every liturgical celebration, because it is an action of Christ the priest and of his Body which is the Church, is a sacred action surpassing all others. No other action of the Church can equal its efficacy by the same title and to the same degree

CCC 1074 "The liturgy is the summit toward which the activity of the Church is directed; it is also the font from which all her power flows."13 It is therefore the privileged place for catechizing the People of God. "Catechesis is intrinsically linked with the whole of liturgical and sacramental activity, for it is in the sacraments, especially in the Eucharist, that Christ Jesus works in fullness for the transformation of men."

Questions for Discussion:

1. What is liturgy and why is it important to the Church?
2. What similarities to the Mass do you find in the Old Testament?
3. What other types (prefiguring people or things) of the Mass can you find in the Old Testament?
4. Where was the Mass instituted in the bible? (Last Supper Narratives)
5. How can learning about the Old Testament help you to understand what you do at Mass more fully?
6. What part of the Mass do you understand the least? The best?
7. How can you be a better participant in the Mass?

Take Home Message:

The Mass was typified by and is the perfect and unchanging completion of the Old Testament customs and sacrifices.

Cornerstone 10-9-2011: Lesson 4 - Care For The poor and Vulnerable

“I cannot fail to note once again that the poor constitute the modern challenge, especially for the well-off of our planet, where millions of people live in inhuman conditions and many are literally dying of hunger. It is not possible to announce God the Father to these brothers and sisters without taking on the responsibility of building a more just society in the name of Christ.” -Pope John Paul II

Resources: Catechism and Bible and USCCB

The Key Question:

Why do we care for the poor and vulnerable?

Key Points:

From the USCCB:

A basic moral test is how our most vulnerable members are faring. In a society marred by deepening divisions between rich and poor, our tradition recalls the story of the Last Judgment and instructs us to put the needs of the poor and vulnerable first:

“For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me, ill and you cared for me, in prison and you visited me.' Then the righteous will answer him and say, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? When did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you?  When did we see you ill or in prison, and visit you?' And the king will say to them in reply, 'Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me.' Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you accursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, a stranger and you gave me no welcome, naked and you gave me no clothing, ill and in prison, and you did not care for me.' Then they will answer and say, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or ill or in prison, and not minister to your needs?' He will answer them, 'Amen, I say to you, what you did not do for one of these least ones, you did not do for me.' And these will go off to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life." (Matthew 25: 35-46)

The apostle John takes it further in this passage as he says:

“For this is the message you have heard from the beginning: we should love one another, unlike Cain who belonged to the evil one and slaughtered his brother. Why did he slaughter him? Because his own works were evil, and those of his brother righteous. Do not be amazed, (then,) brothers, if the world hates you. We know that we have passed from death to life because we love our brothers. Whoever does not love remains in death. Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life remaining in him. The way we came to know love was that he laid down his life for us; so we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. If someone who has worldly means sees a brother in need and refuses him compassion, how can the love of God remain in him? Children, let us love not in word or speech but in deed and truth.” (1 John 3:11-15)

From the Encyclical Letter of Pope Paul VI: “On the Development of Peoples”

#23 "If someone who has the riches of this world sees his brother in need and closes his heart to him, how does the love of God abide in him?." It is well known how strong were the words used by the Fathers of the Church to describe the proper attitude of persons who possess anything towards persons in need. To quote Saint Ambrose: "You are not making a gift of your possessions to the poor person. You are handing over to him what is his. For what has been given in common for the use of all, you have arrogated to yourself. The world is given to all, and not only to the rich". That is, private property does not constitute for anyone an absolute and unconditioned right. No one is justified in keeping for his exclusive use what he does not need, when others lack necessities. In a word, "according to the traditional doctrine as found in the Fathers of the Church and the great theologians, the right to property must never be exercised to the detriment of the common good". If there should arise a conflict "between acquired private rights and primary community exigencies", it is the responsibility of public authorities "to look for a solution, with the active participation of individuals and social groups". Boom. 

Catechism references concerning Caring for the poor and Vulnerable

2443 God blesses those who come to the aid of the poor and rebukes those who turn away from them: "Give to him who begs from you, do not refuse him who would borrow from you"; "you received without pay, give without pay." It is by what they have done for the poor that Jesus Christ will recognize his chosen ones. When "the poor have the good news preached to them," it is the sign of Christ's presence.

2444 "The Church's love for the poor . . . is a part of her constant tradition." This love is inspired by the Gospel of the Beatitudes, of the poverty of Jesus, and of his concern for the poor. Love for the poor is even one of the motives for the duty of working so as to "be able to give to those in need." It extends not only to material poverty but also to the many forms of cultural and religious poverty.

2445 Love for the poor is incompatible with immoderate love of riches or their selfish use:

Come now, you rich, weep and howl for the miseries that are coming upon you. Your riches have rotted and your garments are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver have rusted, and their rust will be evidence against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have laid up treasure for the last days. Behold, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, cry out; and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts. You have lived on the earth in luxury and in pleasure; you have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter. You have condemned, you have killed the righteous man; he does not resist you.

2446 St. John Chrysostom vigorously recalls this: "Not to enable the poor to share in our goods is to steal from them and deprive them of life. The goods we possess are not ours, but theirs. "The demands of justice must be satisfied first of all; that which is already due in justice is not to be offered as a gift of charity":

When we attend to the needs of those in want, we give them what is theirs, not ours. More than performing works of mercy, we are paying a debt of justice.

2447 The works of mercy are charitable actions by which we come to the aid of our neighbor in his spiritual and bodily necessities. Instructing, advising, consoling, comforting are spiritual works of mercy, as are forgiving and bearing wrongs patiently. The corporal works of mercy consist especially in feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, clothing the naked, visiting the sick and imprisoned, and burying the dead. Among all these, giving alms to the poor is one of the chief witnesses to fraternal charity: it is also a work of justice pleasing to God:

He who has two coats, let him share with him who has none and he who has food must do likewise. But give for alms those things which are within; and behold, everything is clean for you. If a brother or sister is ill-clad and in lack of daily food, and one of you says to them, "Go in peace, be warmed and filled," without giving them the things needed for the body, what does it profit?

2448 "In its various forms - material deprivation, unjust oppression, physical and psychological illness and death - human misery is the obvious sign of the inherited condition of frailty and need for salvation in which man finds himself as a consequence of original sin. This misery elicited the compassion of Christ the Savior, who willingly took it upon himself and identified himself with the least of his brethren. Hence, those who are oppressed by poverty are the object of a preferential love on the part of the Church which, since her origin and in spite of the failings of many of her members, has not ceased to work for their relief, defense, and liberation through numerous works of charity which remain indispensable always and everywhere."

2449 Beginning with the Old Testament, all kinds of juridical measures (the jubilee year of forgiveness of debts, prohibition of loans at interest and the keeping of collateral, the obligation to tithe, the daily payment of the day-laborer, the right to glean vines and fields) answer the exhortation of Deuteronomy: "For the poor will never cease out of the land; therefore I command you, 'You shall open wide your hand to your brother, to the needy and to the poor in the land.'" Jesus makes these words his own: "The poor you always have with you, but you do not always have me." In so doing he does not soften the vehemence of former oracles against "buying the poor for silver and the needy for a pair of sandals . . .," but invites us to recognize his own presence in the poor who are his brethren:

When her mother reproached her for caring for the poor and the sick at home, St. Rose of Lima said to her: "When we serve the poor and the sick, we serve Jesus. We must not fail to help our neighbors, because in them we serve Jesus.

Questions for Discussion:

1.      What does Jesus say about the consequences of how we treat the “least ones” around us?

2.      What’s the importance of Jesus uniting Himself to those “least ones?”

3.      Do you see examples of these “least ones” in your school, job, or family?

4.      What impact, if any, will these words of Jesus have on your relationship with them?

5.      In life sometimes we hesitate to do the right thing because of the social consequences. What does this Scripture say about worrying what others think?

6.      What does this scripture tell us about ignoring our brothers and sisters in need?

7.      What does it mean to truly “know love?”

8.      Does the Church teach that the community is more important than any individual or vice versa?

9.      Define “common good.”

10.  Is it ok for the true Christian to have property?

11.  What does St. Ambrose mean when he says “the world is given to all?”

Take Home Message:

Everything that we have is not our own, and we as stewards are to share it with those in need!

STAY Lesson 10.2.11 - Liturgy

In the modern world and especially among our protestant friends and neighbors, it’s not uncommon for non-Catholics to question the rubrics, rules and prayers of the Catholic faith. Catholics must be prepared to defend their faith by understanding the purpose and design of Catholic Liturgy in order to evangelize and truly live a Catholic lifestyle.

Here's this week's STAY Lesson

Q. What is the definition of Liturgy?

A public service, duty, or work. In Scripture it refers to the religious duties to be performed by priests and levites in the Temple, especially those related to the Sacrifice… (Presently) liturgy is the official public worship of the Church and is thus distinguished from private devotion. It is the special title of the Eucharist, and the administration of the sacraments with the annexed use of the sacramentals… (Theologically) the liturgy is the exercise now on earth of Christ's priestly office, as distinct from his role as teacher and ruler of his people. Christ performs this priestly office as Head of his Mystical Body, so that Head and members together offer the sacred liturgy. Its functions are to give honor and praise to God, which is worship, and to obtain blessings for the human race, which is sanctification. (Etym. Latin liturgia; from Greek leitos, of the people + ergon, work: leitourgia, public duty, public worship.) (Fr. John Hardon’s Modern Catholic Dictionary)

A. Litugry is defined as three things:

1. Liturgy is the action of Christ within the Church to draw His people closer to Himself.

2. Liturgy is the public action of the faithful, fulfilling their obligation and desire to participate in the life of the Church for the purposes of worshiping God and sanctifying humanity. This action is administered by the clergy.

3. Liturgy is the special title of the Sacramental rites of the Church which continually lead the faithful to Communion with God, particularly the Holy Mass and the Sacrament of the Eucharist.

Q. What is the purpose of Liturgy?

For it is in the liturgy, especially in the divine sacrifice of the Eucharist, that "the work of our redemption is accomplished," and it is through the liturgy especially that the faithful are enabled to express in their lives and manifest to others the mystery of Christ and the real nature of the true Church. (CCC 1068, Sacrosanctum concilium)

A. Liturgy exists for the purpose of reaching beatitude (heaven) by glorifying God, and sanctifying people:

While it may sound exclusionary to say that the Liturgy exists because there is a right way to worship God, the Catholic Church holds this statement to be true. The truth found in the liturgy of the Catholic Church is intended for all men and women, so that they may participate fully in a communal and individual relationship with God, in order to participate in a foretaste of heaven and move towards it.

Q. From where or whom does the Liturgy originate?

Blessing is a divine and life-giving action, the source of which is the Father. (CCC 1078)

In the liturgy of the Church, God the Father is blessed and adored as the source of all the blessings of creation and salvation with which he has blessed us in his Son, in order to give us the Spirit of filial adoption. (CCC 1110)

“In him we were also chosen, destined in accord with the purpose of the one who accomplishes all things according to the intention of his will, so that we might exist for the praise of his glory, we who first hoped in Christ.” (Eph. 1:6)

"Amen, amen, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave the bread from heaven; my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world." (Jn. 6:32-33)

Thomas said to him, "Master, we do not know where you are going; how can we know the way?"Jesus said to him, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (Jn 14:5-6)

"When the Advocate comes whom I will send you from the Father, the Spirit of truth that proceeds from the Father, he will testify to me.” (Jn 15:26)

A. The Catholic Church teaches that her Liturgy comes directly from God, the Trinity.

The Liturgy originates in the desire of God the Father to lead His people to heaven. For that purpose, Christ was sent to fulfill the law (Liturgy, Mt. 5:17) of God by His gospel, passion, death and resurrection. All of this was made possible by the action of the Holy Spirit who remains among us to inspire and cooperate with the Church within the Liturgy. It is imperative to note that the Church believes in her fullness of truth - that is the belief that the greatest sum of God’s revelation resides and is distributed to man through the Catholic Church. The Church takes Jesus’ promise of the Advocate (the Holy Spirit) quite literally, believing that He is the primary force behind the Liturgy.

Q. When did Liturgy as we know it, begin?

The divine blessings were made manifest in astonishing and saving events: the birth of Isaac, the escape from Egypt (Passover and Exodus), the gift of the Promised Land, the election of David, the presence of God in the Temple, the purifying exile, and return of a "small remnant." The Law, the Prophets, and the Psalms, interwoven in the liturgy of the Chosen People, recall these divine blessings and at the same time respond to them with blessings of praise and thanksgiving. (CCC 1081)

“Then Noah built an altar to the LORD, and choosing from every clean animal and every clean bird, he offered holocausts on the altar.” (Gen. 8:20)

"Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have come not to abolish but to fulfill. (Mt. 5:17)

Thus the risen Christ, by giving the Holy Spirit to the apostles, entrusted to them his power of sanctifying: they became sacramental signs of Christ… (CCC 1087)

"In the earthly liturgy we share in a foretaste of that heavenly liturgy which is celebrated in the Holy City of Jerusalem toward which we journey as pilgrims, where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God…” (CCC 1090)

A. Liturgy, in some form, has been around since man’s first covenants with God in the Old Testament.

Liturgy, in the sense of man’s way of worshiping God, has been around since the time of Noah. The Old Testament is wrought with covenants, sacrifices and laws that amount to the liturgy of the Jewish people. As Catholics we must not lose sight of the harmony which Catholic liturgy shares with Jewish liturgy. Jesus, a perfect Jewish man, did not come to correct the Jewish liturgy in the New Covenant of His body and blood, but instead to perfect the sacrifice necessary for our salvation. It may seem as though the liturgy of God has changed or been rewritten throughout salvation history, but it is more accurate to say that it has been updated or completed to further our understanding of God and deepen our relationship with Him in the Blessed Trinity. Furthermore we believe that the liturgy we celebrate unites us to the eternal banquet of Heaven and is therefore ongoing as long as there is a Pilgrim Church on earth.

Follow up discussion questions:

What personal actions do you think are necessary to prepare to enter the Liturgy of the Eucharist or other Sacraments? (CCC 1098)

If someone asks you why Catholics have so many “rules,” what will you tell them?

Cornerstone 10-2-2011: Lesson 3 - The Life and Dignity of the Human Person

The Key Question:

What does it mean to be created in God’s image?

The Dignity of ManThe society that we live in today typically can’t agree on much, and perhaps by our seemingly constant infighting, one could say that the only thing we do agree on is the truth of our existence. We read in Genesis how we got here, but is that all we find there? Evolution aside, we were and are created, that much is clear in Sacred Scripture. Why we’re created, however, is sometimes a bit more of a mystery. The Church teaches that our inherent dignity, in itself our purpose, is not only from God, but a perfect recreation of His own image & likeness. Regardless of whether or not we notice His power and grace, He continues to bestow it upon us… all of us.

 CCC 1702 The divine image is present in every man. It shines forth in the communion of persons, in the likeness of the unity of the divine persons among themselves.

Quite simply put, we are the spiritual “face” of God, in that we are given - by our very conception - purpose, love, and a place in His divine plan. The Catechism continues:

CCC 1703-1705 Endowed with "a spiritual and immortal" soul, the human person is "the only creature on earth that God has willed for its own sake." From his conception, he is destined for eternal beatitude. The human person participates in the light and power of the divine Spirit. By his reason, he is capable of understanding the order of things established by the Creator. By free will, he is capable of directing himself toward his true good. He finds his perfection "in seeking and loving what is true and good." By virtue of his soul and his spiritual powers of intellect and will, man is endowed with freedom, an "outstanding manifestation of the divine image."

With Such Dignity We Have Great Responsibility
With the gifts of freedom, our will, and for the very sake of our being, we are then called to live up to a great responsibility. We’re given a tough task in seeing the dignity in every human being, but the Gospel compels us to live a life in the footsteps of Christ. Christ’s passion and death on the Cross is the ultimate example of service to our brother and the re-birth of the perfect human image.

CCC 1701 It is in Christ, "the image of the invisible God," that man has been created "in the image and likeness" of the Creator. It is in Christ, Redeemer and Savior, that the divine image, disfigured in man by the first sin, has been restored to its original beauty and ennobled by the grace of God.

The graces of our creation and the gift of the cross call us to lead a life of reverence and respect for our friends, and our enemies. We are called to embrace everyone as Christ would embrace them. We are called to love one another as the Father has loved us by having created us. More simply, because the Father values every soul, so are we inclined to value everyone we meet… Even the folks we can’t stand sometimes.

Around the world, different societies have different ways of showing respect for one another interpersonally and among social groups. These ways of communicating are sometimes extravagant and sometimes very simple, but they point, on a deeper level, to the dignity inherent in us through our creation. When someone that we work or go to school with walks by and acknowledges us, in a way they’re saying that they regard our presence, and therefore affirm our existence as created beings. Likewise, when they don’t acknowledge us, they seem to downplay or outright deny that our existence is important.

We respect the dignity of our fellow man because he also is made in God’s ImageThe Church teaches social justice at the core of it’s ministerial and evangelical practices. We employ that in order to truly be an instrument of God’s wisdom and knowledge, you must first be an instrument of His kindness and charity. To practice God’s true justice in our daily lives we must regard all people with the same esteem and thoughtfulness that we would expect from them.

CCC 1929 Social justice can be obtained only in respecting the transcendent dignity of man. The person represents the ultimate end of society, which is ordered to him: What is at stake is the dignity of the human person, whose defense and promotion have been entrusted to us by the Creator, and to whom the men and women at every moment of history are strictly and responsibly in debt.

Any society - being the product of a group of people who share a particular group of morals or specific traits - must respect first that the individual is a product of creation. Societies must take the rights of individual people into account before they can be implement laws or even basic social norms.

CCC 1930 Respect for the human person entails respect for the rights that flow from his dignity as a creature. These rights are prior to society and must be recognized by it. They are the basis of the moral legitimacy of every authority: by flouting them, or refusing to recognize them in its positive legislation, a society undermines its own moral legitimacy.

Perhaps Christ’s most fundamental teaching, the love for a neighbor as self (Mk. 12:31), sums up both the beatitudes as the divine path, and Christ’s personal invitation to service as respect and love for Him. When we read of Christ assuming equality with us through the incarnation, and by His own words in calling us His brothers and sisters (Mt. 25:40), the weight of human dignity in every person cannot be denied.

CCC 1931-1932 Respect for the human person proceeds by way of respect for the principle that "everyone should look upon his neighbor (without any exception) as ‘another self,' above all bearing in mind his life and the means necessary for living it with dignity." No legislation could by itself do away with the fears, prejudices, and attitudes of pride and selfishness which obstruct the establishment of truly fraternal societies. Such behavior will cease only through the charity that finds in every man a "neighbor," a brother. The duty of making oneself a neighbor to others and actively serving them becomes even more urgent when it involves the disadvantaged, in whatever area this may be. "As you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me.

Despite our differences, we cannot deny the commonalities of our creation. Our common basic existence implores that we embrace our temporal differences. Those differences become the face of our humanity when we share them with one another. If we are truly being Christ to one another, that sharing pours forth as love.

CCC 1933 This same duty extends to those who think or act differently from us. The teaching of Christ goes so far as to require the forgiveness of offenses. He extends the commandment of love, which is that of the New Law, to all enemies. Liberation in the spirit of the Gospel is incompatible with hatred of one's enemy as a person, but not with hatred of the evil that he does as an enemy.

Additional scriptures identifying human dignity: Genesis 3:18-24, Sirach 15:14-20, Matthew 25:34-40, Romans 8:16-21, 2 Corinthians 4:6-12, Colossians 1:9-14, 2 Peter 1: 4-11

Questions:

1. What is dignity?
2. How does the Church know that all people have the same dignity?
3. Can you think of people who are not treated with the respect they deserve? Can you name some reasons that they’re treated differently than everyone else?
4. Are you always treated with the dignity and respect that you deserve? Yes or no, how does that make you feel?
5. Are there people in your school who are not treated with equal dignity?
6. If so, what can you do to ensure that they are treated with equality?

Take Home Message:

We are made in the image and likeness of God!