The Faith that does Justice

The inhuman torture of Jesus and His horrifying death on the cross was carried out by Roman soldiers on orders of Pontius Pilate who was at the time the governor of Judea, a colony of the Roman Empire. The followers of Jesus were equally made to suffer and put to death, martyred for refusing to deny their faith in their Risen Lord.

The empire later collapsed not because the Christians armed themselves and fought back. No. They just lived and courageously proclaimed that Jesus was alive, and loved their enemies as Jesus did. Always aware of His presence they lived in communities where out of love for Jesus and for one another they had everything in common. They shared their resources so that no one was ever in need (Acts 4:32-35).

It can be said without any hint of triumphalism that the early Christians “infiltrated” the Roman Empire with the teachings and values of Jesus. Their deep faith in the abiding presence of Jesus led them to be just to God by obedience to His commandments and loyalty to the Church, and to be just to everyone by giving what was their due in all aspects of human life. Like Jesus they suffered death for this. But their blood became “the seed” of new Christians.

Such was the power faith lived in justice that Christian values and life influenced the imperial courts and changed the life of Roman society. The most famous example was the conversion to Christianity of the Roman Emperor Constantine.

Our Christian faith too deeply culturalized in Filipino popular religiosity is still subtly dominated by varied forms of foreign colonizations. After the Spanish and American colonizers we have been under the economic, political and cultural domination by Western powers with their secularist and globalized alliances and projects. Within this subtle bondage Pope Francis identifies what he calls ideological colonization in the area of family life issues. And there is also now the threat of Islamic extremist colonization by the ISIS.

How can our faith that does justice free us and lead us back to the ideal early Christian community described by St. Luke in Acts 4:32-35? The answer is in the inspired 16 documents of the Second Vatican Council. There we find the road map, the general guidelines. But—and these ‘buts’ are many—here we have lots of problems.

I think Pope Francis is providentially opening our eyes, the eyes of faith, and showing us by example the road map which we need to chart a not-too-easy journey of the New Evangelization. He spills out in Evangelii Gaudium.