Warszawskie Studia Teologiczne, 2006, T. 19

Stały URI dla kolekcjihttps://theo-logos.pl/handle/123456789/43094

Przeglądaj

Przeglądaj Warszawskie Studia Teologiczne, 2006, T. 19 wg Autor "Dziuba, Andrzej F."

Wpisz kilka pierwszych liter i kliknij przycisk przeglądania
Teraz wyświetlane 1 - 1 z 1
  • Miniatura
    Pozycja
    Dyskryminacja rasowa i pojednanie
    Dziuba, Andrzej F. (Wydawnictwo Archidiecezji Warszawskiej, 2006)
    Though God intended that all creation live in the harmony and love that unites it as one, human beings, exercising their free will, defied the will of God and replaced the divinely planned harmony with division, the divinely willed unity with conflict, the divinely intended community with fragmentation. One form of human division, conflict and fragmentation is racism: personal, social, institutional and structural. Racism mars our identity as a people, as the human race made in the image and likeness of God. Racism, whether personal, social, institutional or structural, contradicts the purpose of the incarnation of the Word of God in the womb of the Virgin Mary. Racism contradicts God’s will for our salvation. We cannot claim to love God without loving our neighbor. Since racism is failure to love our neighbor, only freedom from racism will enable us to be one with God and one another. Ethnic, cultural and racial diversities are gifts from God to the human race. In Jesus, we are called to a radical love - to love of the stranger as our neighbor. Others may be different from us in every respect except one: each man, woman or child we encounter is also a child of God, a brother or sister in the Lord, whom we should welcome as our neighbor. The stranger whom we encounter is really our neighbor in Christ. Through communion with our neighbors who are racially and culturally distinct from ourselves, we begin to live, as a community, the unity in diversity that is the life of the Triune God. We can learn to live, work and pray in solidarity with the stranger now recognized as our neighbor. Loving only people who are just like ourselves, loving only those who are members of our biological family or who share our own ethnic or cultural background, our own political views or our own class assumptions, does not fulfill the challenge of the gospel: „If you love only those who love you, what reward can you expect; even the tax collectors do as much as that” (Mt 5:46-47). Striving to be a witness for Jesus Christ as a good neighbor to all is difficult. To embrace the vision proclaimed in Jesus' preaching of the Reign of God, we need to see new patterns and possibilities. Too often, when Church-planning decisions are being made, the persons around the table do not adequately reflect the rich cultural diversity that shapes our Church, city, nation and world. As we continue to struggle against racism within the Church, we see a time when all of God’s children will be contributing to the governance of our local dioceses. Constructing socially just patterns of relationships within our ecclesiastical institutions presents the same difficulties met in being a good neighbor anywhere; but, as Christians seeking to be true disciples, we can never abandon our efforts to embody the love and justice given us by Christ. Most of all, we can count on his grace to bring power to the vision faith gives us. We are most ourselves in the celebration of the Eucharist. Our sacramental worship unites us and makes us a community of believers. The Mass calls us to communion with one another in Christ Jesus. The proclamation of God’s holy Word and reflection on it within the celebration of the Eucharist, which is Christ’s life poured out for us, cannot help but deepen our spiritual unity and make our social solidarity possible. From diverse ethnic and racial backgrounds, we accept and embrace in faith the love of God that compels us to dwell together in love. After reflecting on the historical, social and economic dimensions of our complicity with the sin of racism, we ask as Catholics for the grace of conversion from the sin of racism, which has separated us from our neighbor and from God.