THEO 12_Divine Mercy and Preferential Option for the Poor and Oppressed

4 elements of mercy/compassion

1. the distress or deficiency of the other

2. understanding the distress/deficiency

3. sympathy (feeling other’s pain)

4. doing something or the desire to address the distress/deficiency

what is NOT God’s reaction to sin

indifference

what is God’s reactio nto sin

mercy and compassion

largest evidence of God’s mercy and compassion towards humanity’s sin

giving Jesus

how the OT decribes God as merciful

1. merciful as He is slow to anger

2. mercy enduring forever, especially seen in suffering (ie Egypt)

3. merciful with the compassion of a mother (rakh’am)

hebrew: a mother’s tender feeling for her infant

rakh’am

what was Jesus’ motivation behind His miracles AND where did they come from

strong emotions of mercy and compassion coming from the GUT (according to the Greeks)

how is mercy described in the Gospels

through parables

Jesus’ strongest criticism agains the scribes and pharisees

failure to be merciful

what was the importance of mercy for Jesus in the parable of the last judgement

criterion of holiness

a person who identifies one’s concern with the concern of God

prophet

how Abraham Heschel describes prophets

homo sympathetikos

what do God and prophet’s similarly feel

pathos

what is pathos

feeling of pain

how do people empathize with God according to N.T. Wright

• we were all born with an innate sense of justice that comes with the kit of being human

• there is someone speaking to us, who cares, and created us in His image

• this is God’s way of talking to us and whispering us to do good so that one day the world will be rescued

what does pope francis say about the poor

if we remove the poor from the Gospel, we cannot understand Jesus

Why can’t we understand Jesus when we divorce the poor from the Gospel

God’s love revolves around relieving suffering

issue of the council of Jerusalem AND its verdict

should you be circumcised to be Christian?

answer: no

why do you not need to be circumcised to be Christian

• Paul ministered the non-circumcised (Gentiles)

• Peter ministered the circumcised (Jews)

• it is NON-NEGOTIABLE to be mindful of the poor

what does it means for the church to be of the poor

• detachment to share

• poor are not discriminated against

• poor are not simply recipients but collaborators

• willing to follow Jesus in poverty to carry our salvation

what kind of help does God want us to emulate

paternalistic help

describe paternalistic help

there is no need to ask what the poor need, we should know and give it without their asking

problems of paternalistic help

1. superior-inferior complex

2. taking away poor people’s agency making them dependent on the rich

benefits of paternalistic help

empowering them gives them agency to become collaborators in the future

characteristic of God that paints Him as not concerning of Himself but rather purely for us

non-self-referential

why do we believe in the homily

because it is God’s word

naked to follow the naked Christ

nudum nudum christus sequi

prevalent images of the Christian church, community, and individuals

1. against the world

2. of the world

3. in the world

image of Christians: isolated from non-Christians

against the world

image of Christians: immersed in the world and its structures to the point of no separation of church and state

of the world

problem with the ‘of the world’ image of Christians

religion gets affiliated with bad structures

image of Christians: church engages with the world with critical collaboration

in the world

what does it mean when christians have critical collaboration with the world

they follow when needed but arent afraid to speak out