“I give praise to you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth for although you have hidden these things from the wise and the learned you have revealed them to little ones”:

As I studied and reflected on the Gospel presented to us this week I discovered that in the scripture passage before this one Jesus had criticized the people of Capernaum for not heeding the teachings that he had taught. They had not changed even when they saw the mighty deeds He did. In this section, Jesus rejoices because the little ones understand and commit their lives to Him. How can we understand what we are being called to? Perhaps one way is to look at our Church’s social teaching. It wasn’t until relatively recently that I discovered our church even had such a thing that could guide our thinking, conversation, and actions. During this time of unrest in our country would be a good time to reflect on our beliefs and actions.

“Catholic social teaching is a central and essential element of our faith. Its roots are in the Hebrew prophets who announced God’s special love for the poor and called God’s people to a covenant of love and justice. It is a teaching founded on the life and words of Jesus Christ, who came “to bring glad tidings to the poor . . . liberty to captives . . . recovery of sight to the blind”(Lk 4:18-19), and who identified himself with “the least of these,” the hungry and the stranger (cf. Mt 25:45). Catholic social teaching is built on a commitment to the poor.”

“Catholic social teaching is a central and essential element of our faith.” www.usccb.org/beliefs-and-teachings

At a recent parish council meeting, it was decided to occasionally devote part of the bulletin to a column titled “Did you know?” This column will contain various topics. Over the next few weeks, we will continue looking at the church’s teachings of social justice to see how they can help us better understand and apply the Gospel message to our current situation.

Peg Orzel