Download the gospel call to service

KATE HOWARD
CONSULTING
A HEART
THAT SEES
THE GOSPEL
CALL TO
SERVICE
MODULE 1
Copyright © Institute for Advancing Community Engagement, Australian Catholic University and Kate Howard Consulting.
All Rights Reserved. 2010.
A HEART THAT SEES
A Heart That Sees
Module 1: The Gospel Call to Service
Copyright © Institute for Advancing Community Engagement, Australian Catholic University and Kate
Howard Consulting. All Rights Reserved. 2010.
Australian Edition
First published 2010
Published by:
Australian Catholic University
25A Barker Road
Strathfield NSW 2135
www.acu.edu.au
www.iace.acu.edu.au
and
Kate Howard Consulting
Phone: 02 9360 7250
Mobile: 0413 768 718
Email: [email protected]
Many thanks to our contributing authors:
Anthony Steel, Institute for Advancing Community Engagement, Australian Catholic University
Kate Howard, Kate Howard Consulting
MODULE 1: THE GOSPEL CALL TO SERVICE
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A HEART THAT SEES
PURPOSE
‘A Heart that Sees’ assists school communities to:
• proclaim the Good News within their own and the wider community;
• take up the challenge of ‘passing on the faith’;
• explore the meaning of charity and justice in the Scriptures and Church teaching;
• understand the new evangelisation and its place in education; and
• develop a framework for living their mission.
The purpose of this module is to consider the concept of service within the context of the Gospels and Church
teaching.
Additional Modules:
Module 2: Catholic Schools in Mission explores the principles and practice of service learning in Catholic
education generally and schools specifically.
Module 3: A Way of Living Our Mission considers service learning within the light of a school’s mission and
to support each school in developing strategies for reciprocal service as part of this mission.
OUTCOMES
Through this module, participants will have the opportunity to:
• Better understand the call to charity and justice
• Explore the Gospels in the light of service
• Understand the Church’s teaching on service
OVERVIEW
According to the Gospel – a call to charity and justice:
• How do the Gospels call us to service?
• What gospel values underpin this service?
A Gospel story – the Good Samaritan
According to Church teaching:
• What does the church say about charity and justice?
• How can this be translated into action?
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A HEART THAT SEES
THE GOSPEL CALL
‘........on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. And he stood up to read. The scroll
of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written:
“The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind,
to release the oppressed,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.”
DISCUSSION POINT
Where is this happening in your school?
With these words, Jesus began his ministry of service. He responded to the call of the scriptures and in so
doing he gave us an example of service based on justice. Basing his ministry on these words from Isaiah, he
also gave all who follow him a reference point for their lives. Throughout his life, Jesus preached through
parable and example the importance of love of God and love of neighbour.
The Gospels are much more than just recordings of events and sayings of Jesus. They are also statements about
early Christian theology. In dealing with and interpreting the mission and meaning of Jesus, they guide us to
an understanding of how we too are called to live out our own mission by endeavouring to emulate his actions
and values.
In Matthew 25: 34-40, we are reminded that any service rendered to any other is a service to God:
Then the king will say to those at his right hand, ‘Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom
prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and
you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me
clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.’ Then the righteous will
answer him, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something
to drink? And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing?
And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?’ And the king will answer them, ‘Truly I tell
you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.’
This passage presents Christians with the challenge of recognising the person of Jesus in the most unlikely of
places and gives recognition to the importance of service in living the gospel values of compassion and justice.
It also presents a picture of reciprocity, a cycle of giving and receiving which is mutually beneficial to both
parties. Recognition or seeing plays a large part in this passage, ‘when did we see you........? The ability of
individuals and groups to recognise or see a need and act on it forms the basis of our Christian call to service.
The concepts of recognition and reciprocity will be explored more fully in Module 3.
DISCUSSION POINT
What do you think is the key message of the passage from Matthew 25: 34-40? Why is recognition
so important to action?
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A HEART THAT SEES
TASK 1 - PERSONAL REFLECTION
THE GOSPEL VALUES
Gospel values are derived from what Jesus did, said and taught. They are the basis of Christianity. Before the
20th century they were primarily applied to individual and interpersonal relationships. Beginning with the
encyclicals of Pope Leo XIII at the end of the 19th century, and culminating with the Documents of the Second
Vatican Council in 1962, Gospel Values provided the foundation for Catholic Social Teaching by extending
them beyond personal relationships to the systems, structures and social institutions of modern life.1
The shift from values as a personal characteristic towards values as indicative of a group is in keeping with the
concept of cultural values. Cultural values are those which define a group of people and by which other groups
of people recognise it as distinctive. While there are many shared values among cultures, research indicates that
they have different weighting in the way they are expressed and understood. The Dutch psychologist Geert
Hofstede2 while in the employ of IBM during the 1960s and 1970s developed a database for analysing the
ways in which cultures differ from one another. For example, while a value such as ‘respect’ is considered
valuable by all cultures, some give it greater weight when applied to elders or people in authority.
Fundamentally, values are the hallmark of a culture and the way they are expressed is what makes it unique.
Similarly all religions have a value system that characterises who they are and for what they stand. It would not
be easy to identify values that are distinctly Christian, or Islamic, or Buddhist, or Hindu. Each religion
identifies values as keystones to its belief system. Each religion calls on its followers to give expression to their
faith through living such values. How does, for example, the charity expressed by a Christian differ from the
charity expressed by a Muslim? Perhaps the answer lies not in the expression itself, but in the importance
placed on the value, the teachings behind its expression and how it is taught and handed down. Christianity
therefore is not isolated in espousing the following values as core to its belief system nor is it singular it calling
its followers to action based on these values.
FAITH
CHARITY
HOPE
JUSTICE
TRUTH
FORGIVENESS
COMPASSION
JOY
PEACE
GENEROSITY
DISCUSSION POINT
How were these values handed down to you? Where did you learn the importance of giving
expression to your faith through living the Gospel values?
Throughout the Gospels, we read stories meant to emphasis a point or develop the listeners understanding of
what is needed to be a believer, one whose life gives expression to a value in the way Jesus would.
1 http://www.ndpteachers.org/justice/gospel_values2.htm
2 Culture’s Consequences: Comparing Values, Behaviours, Institutions and Organisations Across Nations; Geert Hofstede; Thousand Oaks; California
Sage Publications; 2001
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A HEART THAT SEES
The story of the Good Samaritan is synonymous with the Gospel call to service. Following an exchange
between a lawyer and Jesus about what one must do to gain eternal life, he tells the story in response to the
question, ‘who is my neighbour?’
An expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit
eternal life?” “What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?” He answered: “ ‘Love the Lord
your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and,
‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’” “You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.”
But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbour?” In reply Jesus said: “A man
was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him of his
clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. A priest happened to be going down the same road,
and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. So too, a Levite when he came to the place and
saw him, he passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he travelled, came where the man was; and when
he saw him, he took pity on him. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he
put the man on his own donkey, took him to an inn and took care of him. The next day he took out two silver
coins and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for
any extra expense you may have.’ “Which of these three do you think was a neighbour to the man who fell
into the hands of robbers?” The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.” Jesus told him,
“Go and do likewise.”
Luke 10:25-37
The parable of the Good Samaritan leaves the reader/listener in no doubt as to the emphasis that Jesus placed
on the value of service. And service that challenges current and often cultural acceptance. While much
importance has been placed on the role of the Good Samaritan in acting with charity towards someone in
need, little consideration has been given to the two others, both holding significant positions within the
hierarchy of the day and to whom the ‘common person’ would have looked for example. Neither the priest nor
the Levite went out of his way to help, in fact by crossing the street, both went out of their way not to help.
What lessons can be learned from them? Sometimes we have to take a stand or engage in an action that may
not be considered wise or prudent by others. Sometimes we have to respond to what our inner person tells us
is true and right and we should be able to rely on our enculturation as Christians to know when and where this
is appropriate.
Often too the emphasis in the story is on the actions of the Good Samaritan however the question, ‘Who is my
neighbour?’ is also a fundamental teaching point of the parable. The relationship to neighbour is best summed
up in the words of the Bishops in the document, ‘Justice in the world’:
According to the Christian message,…our relationship to our neighbour is bound up with our relationship to
God; our response to the love of God, saving us through Christ, is shown to be effective in his love and service
of people. Christian love of neighbour and justice cannot be separated. For love implies an absolute demand
for justice, namely a recognition of the dignity and rights of one’s neighbour. Justice attains its inner fullness
only in love. Because every person is truly a visible image of the invisible God and a sibling of Christ, the
Christian finds in every person God himself and God’s absolute demand for justice and love.
Consider the cartoon below which challenges us to reflect on the ancient parable in modern circumstances.
Here we see the Samaritan figure acting with charity towards the injured man only to make his plight even
worse by reacting irrationally to an expression of gratitude spoken in the language of a people seeking a better
life in his country. He even goes further to spread rumours to others about his status and possible terrorist
connections. How relevant is this modernisation and extension of the parable to what is happening right now
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A HEART THAT SEES
Make the language Sri Lankan or Afghani, how willing are we to apply our Christian Values of charity, justice
and service when we are tainted just a little by fear and uncertainty?
Cartoon by Chuck Asay (Liberty-News Newsletter; February, 2009)
Pope Benedict XVI in his Encyclical, ‘Deus Caritas Est’ goes so far as to describe the Good Samaritan Parable as
the program by which all Christians should live:
We contribute to a better world only by personally doing good now, with full commitment and wherever we
have the opportunity, independently of partisan strategies and programmes. The Christian’s programme —the
programme of the Good Samaritan, the programme of Jesus—is “a heart which sees”. This heart sees where
love is needed and acts accordingly.3
TASK 2 - IN OUR TIMES
DISCUSSION POINT
Does the Gospel message, put limits on who we see as our neighbour? What do you believe it
means to have ‘a heart that sees’? To what extent should we and those we teach be encouraged
to take action on behalf of marginalised and vulnerable people? Is such action consistent with our
Catholic faith?
3 Deus Caritas Est; Pope Benedict XVI; 2006; # 31b
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A HEART THAT SEES
THE CHURCH’S CALL
From its earliest inception, the Church has been calling on the faithful to give expression to their faith through
good works. The early letters to the faithful clearly set out the importance of service to others as basic to living
a Christian life.
‘What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but do not have works? Can faith save you?
If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food, and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace; keep warm and
eat your fill’, and yet you do not supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that? So faith by itself, if it has
no works, is dead.’
James 2: 14-17
Down through the centuries, built on the Gospel call to serve in justice and love, the Church through
successive Encyclicals and documents has strived to articulate for the faithful what this call means and how we
should respond in our lives.
Vatican II is seen as a major turning point in the Church’s understanding of herself in the modern world. Until
that time, the Church had seen itself as separate from and intrinsically different to the world in which it
existed. Here at last was a Church willing to remove some of the edifice that divided it from the common
person and to see itself as one with humankind sharing its concerns, pain, joys and successes. Even the title of
the document, ‘The Church in the Modern World’, clarifies for believers that here was a church which
recognised it should not exist in isolation from the world around it. This same Church was also defining for its
followers how they would best live the Gospel call to charity and justice through sharing a common humanity
and responding to recognised needs.
The best way to fulfil one’s obligations of justice and love is to contribute to the common good according to
one’s means and the needs of others, and also to promote and help public and private organisations devoted
to bettering the conditions of life.4
Mindful of the words of the Lord: “By this all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one
another” (Jn. 13:35), Christians can yearn for nothing more ardently than to serve the people of this age
successfully with increasing generosity. Holding loyally to the Gospel, enriched by its resources, and joining
forces with all who love and practice justice, they have shouldered a weighty task here on earth and they must
render an account of it to him who will judge all people on the last day.5
In 1971, Catholic Bishops at the World Synod again gave voice to this need to serve in order to give genuine
expression to our redemptive mission in communion with God and other believers:
Action on behalf of justice and participation in the transformation of the world fully appear to us as a
constitutive dimension of the preaching of the Gospel, or, in other words, of the Church’s mission for the
redemption of the human race and its liberation from every oppressive situation.6
The call to ‘action on behalf of justice’ stirs within us the desire to seek ways to contribute in some measure
to ‘liberation from every oppressive situation’. Often these notions seem too lofty and unattainable except by
those who work specifically in charitable works (such as Caritas). Yet the Bishops’ call is universal, citing that
solutions to injustice require action from ‘every sector of society’.
While education is not specifically named, it is however implied:
4 The Church in the Modern World; Vatican Council II; 1965; #30
5 Ibid; #93 6 Justice in the World; Synod of Catholic Bishops; 1971; #6
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A HEART THAT SEES
We see in the world a set of injustices which constitute the nucleus of today’s problems and whose solution
requires the undertaking of tasks and functions in every sector of society,……..Therefore we must be prepared
to take on new functions and new duties in every sector of human activity……….., if justice is really to be put
into practice. Our action is to be directed above all at those people and nations which because of various forms
of oppression and because of the present character of our society are silent, indeed voiceless, victims of
injustice.7
Pope Benedict XVI in his most recent Encyclical, ‘Caritas in Veritate’ continues to build on and further explore
the notion of the ‘common good’ of society. His statement leaves us in no doubt that the two essential
elements for achieving the ‘common good’ are justice and charity.
[An] important consideration is the common good. To love someone is to desire that person’s good and to take
effective steps to secure it. Besides the good of the individual, there is a good that is linked to living in society:
the common good. It is the good of “all of us”, made up of individuals, families and intermediate groups who
together constitute society. It is a good that is sought not for its own sake, but for the people who belong to
the social community and who can only really and effectively pursue their good within it. To desire the
common good and strive towards it is a requirement of justice and charity.8
In 1986, the US Bishops wrote a statement on Economic Justice for All. It is a strongly worded document that
leaves the reader in no doubt about what characterises and signifies a believer:
The life and words of Jesus and the teaching of his Church call us to serve those in need and to work actively
for social and economic justice. As a community of believers, we know that our faith is tested by the quality of
justice among us, that we can best measure our life together by how the poor and the vulnerable are treated.9
Perhaps the most challenging sentence on the place of justice within the life of a Christian is found in this same
statement of the US Bishops:
No one may claim the name of Christian and be comfortable in the face of hunger, homelessness, insecurity,
and injustice found in this country and the world.10
Finally, Pope Benedict XVI in his Encyclical, ‘Deus Caritas Est’, makes no distinction between ‘love’ and ‘service’.
They are synonymous.
Love of neighbour, grounded in the love of God, is first and foremost a responsibility for each individual
member of the faithful, but it is also a responsibility for the entire ecclesial community at every level ….. As a
community, the Church must practise love. Love thus needs to be organized if it is to be an ordered service to
the community.11
We can therefore deduce that if ‘God is love’ then God is also ‘service’! It follows that those of us charged with
the duty to educate in Catholic Schools are called to teach our young people the meaning of service with ‘a
heart that sees’.
DISCUSSION POINT
How can schools teach their students to have ‘hearts that see’? How can schools build on youth’s
enthusiasm to ‘change the world’?
TASK 3 - EXPRESSION OF FAITH
7 Ibid; #20
10 Ibid; #27
8 Caritas in Veritate; Pope Benedict XVI; 2009; #7
11 Deus Caritas Est; Benedict XVI; 2006; #20
9 Economic Justice for All; US Bishops’ Conference; 1986; #8
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A HEART THAT SEES
TASKS
TASK 1 - PERSONAL REFLECTION
INDIVIDUAL
Take some time to reflect on how you give expression to the Gospel call to service.
TASK 2 - IN OUR TIMES
INDIVIDUAL
Select one of the Gospel values from the list outlined in the notes above (or another one not listed!) and record
on the table below, evidence of how the Church both institutionally and as groups of the faithful is giving
expression to that value in our world at this time.
Gospel Value
Institutional Church
Members of the Faithful
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A HEART THAT SEES
TASK 3 - EXPRESSION OF FAITH
Love of neighbour, grounded in the love of God, is first and foremost a responsibility for each individual
member of the faithful, but it is also a responsibility for the entire ecclesial community at every level ….. As a
community, the Church must practise love. Love thus needs to be organized if it is to be an ordered service to
the community.
INDIVIDUAL
Read the statement above of Pope Benedict XVI and consider how it applies to you as an ‘individual member of
the faithful’:
How do you show love of ‘neighbour’ through service in the community?
SMALL GROUP
Reread the statement and consider how it applies to your school, being part of ‘the entire ecclesial community’
How does your school show love of ‘neighbour’ through service in the community?
Identify at least one other way in which your school could be more proactive in living the message of the
Church to have a ‘heart that sees’?
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