What are the biggest things that get in the way of people working towards social justice?

[flameburns623]

Learn more about the “Little Way” of St. Terese and about the Divine Mercy of Sr. Faustina. Learn to turn the little things in your life into penances. Offer up the sufferings of your state in life to God on behalf of unbelievers, blasphemers, the souls in Purgatory. If you endure actual physical suffering–get help, but in the interim, offer that up as noted above. Don’t go without nutrition to the point that it endangers your health, but fast periodically if your circumstances permit. Even if they don’t learn to make penances of small irritations and inconveniences: don’t like the casserole your wife made, or the recipe she used to make it? No reason to mention it, presuming it is nutritious and/or doesn’t violate some dietary restriction (medical or religious). Kids having a good time and doing nothing wrong, but getting under your skin? Offer it up.

 

[St_Francis]

Maybe when I’m able to pay my rent on time, pay my car note on time, my car insurance, my utilities…and buy all my own food at the grocery store rather than relying on food pantries to get by I will be in a better postion to do more for others.

As it stands I work full time with the mentally ill, a job that many probably couldn’t stand doing, and don’t get paid much for what I do.

So I feel comfortable doing my best to take care of my family and giving money to my Church (and being kind/polite to my neighbors) at this point. I really don’t think I’m capable of doing more right now, and the things that are at the top of my to do list are additional things I must do to better my family.

Hope that makes sense and clears up my situation for anyone who was wondering.

God Bless,
Bill

When I had little children and my older children were in CCD, I felt bad that I could not help. When my youngest started CCD, after a couple of weeks of enjoying that free hour, I suddenly realized I could now help!

And this is a part of life: for every thing, there is a season. I apologize for misunderstanding when you said you felt blocked–I thought you meant the kind of internal blockage that is like: I’ll give to te poor after I’ve bought myself a Ferrarri, rather than feeling blocked by the circumstances of your life, which is totally different.

We practice charity *where we are. *You have a family to care for. You are not a monk, or a single man–tgose are not your state of life. It sounds to me, from what you have said, that you are totally doing the right thing.

 

[djames99]

A world that is not fully Catholic as God had intended. A rejection of God’s true justice cannot be the source for principles for human justice has He intended it to be. There then becomes a choice of imperfect and prone to error justice principles of many that suit a human circumstance.

 

[TimeEntrance]

Probably Obamanomics has been the most harmful and destructive thing to happen to the middle class since FDR. A record number have dropped from middle class to poor. We have record americans in poverty, record food stamps usage, record welfare users, record debt, a real debacle.

How do we help people? A prosperous economy that includes low energy costs, plentiful jobs, low inflation, economic growth. None of this exists in Obamanomics., wealth redistribution has never once made any country prosper but it has put them in economic disaster such as Greece.

Strange that Britain and a number of European countries were very prosperous. You’ll find more Mexicans trying to illegally enter the U.S. than British (or probably even Canadian).

Jobs are never going to become “plentiful” in the United States again, Dubay, like they were after the end of WWII. I don’t care what either party says. The reason is immediately after WWII just about all of the industrialized world was devastated from bombings, except for the United States. The United States then held a virtual global monopoly on exports.

Today Europe and Japan are robust and even developing nations are grabbing a greater share of the global pie. That means the United States can’t hog as much of it as it once did.

Neither party will tell the American people this truth. Both will get one of their candidates elected selling a far fetched story of some return to glory.

 

[Bill_7154]

Learn more about the “Little Way” of St. Terese and about the Divine Mercy of Sr. Faustina. Learn to turn the little things in your life into penances. Offer up the sufferings of your state in life to God on behalf of unbelievers, blasphemers, the souls in Purgatory. If you endure actual physical suffering–get help, but in the interim, offer that up as noted above. Don’t go without nutrition to the point that it endangers your health, but fast periodically if your circumstances permit. Even if they don’t learn to make penances of small irritations and inconveniences: don’t like the casserole your wife made, or the recipe she used to make it? No reason to mention it, presuming it is nutritious and/or doesn’t violate some dietary restriction (medical or religious). Kids having a good time and doing nothing wrong, but getting under your skin? Offer it up.

Hi flameburns,

Thanks for your post. But I’m not sure I understand. Can you try to explain it to me a different way so that I can understand and try to follow the best I can. I’m in a very bad way psychiatrically right now. I’ve lost my appetite and lost 20 lbs in the past 3 weeks without trying. I eat 1 mean maybe every 3 days and only have a desire to drink milk, so try to do that as much as I can. So I am physically suffering and my dr says it’s psychiatric. I just saw him again today and he wrote me a note to be out of work during evaluation and treatment. So I need time off of work to just work on trying to get a simple daily routine back, getting up out of bed, taking a shower, getting a psychiatrsit, a therapist, trying to interact with my wife and baby in postive ways as much as I am able (I have little to no energy and am very, very depressed). I’m hoping the time off of work will give me the break I need to relieve some pressure and help me to get back on track. Live has been, and continues to be, a significant challenge to me. This weekend I was so depressed I was praying that I wished I was dead. I know this is bad, just saying this so people know how much of a bad way I am in and this has been part of my life (not usually that bad) for decades, all from childhood abuse and neglect.

So if I can understand your post bette rmaybe I can apply it and help myself and others.
Thanks very much.

God Bless,
Bill

 

[Bill_7154]

When I had little children and my older children were in CCD, I felt bad that I could not help. When my youngest started CCD, after a couple of weeks of enjoying that free hour, I suddenly realized I could now help!

And this is a part of life: for every thing, there is a season. I apologize for misunderstanding when you said you felt blocked–I thought you meant the kind of internal blockage that is like: I’ll give to te poor after I’ve bought myself a Ferrarri, rather than feeling blocked by the circumstances of your life, which is totally different.

We practice charity *where we are. *You have a family to care for. You are not a monk, or a single man–tgose are not your state of life. It sounds to me, from what you have said, that you are totally doing the right thing.

Thanks for understanding. And I do truely want to do more for others. But as you can tell from my post I made just prior to this one, I"m not exactly even stable myself and am struggling quite a bit to be a stable and responsible father and husband the best I can. I need a lot of help. I’m working on it the best I can. Maybe someone reading this can say a prayer for me if they are so inspired. It would be much appreciated.

God Bless,
Bill

 

[flameburns623]

Hi flameburns,

Thanks for your post. But I’m not sure I understand. Can you try to explain it to me a different way so that I can understand and try to follow the best I can? . . .

In Catholic teaching, suffering of all kinds, when joined to Christ’s suffering and offered up as such, is a source of grace, of spiritual strength and sustenance. That grace can be offered up on your own behalf–to remit some of the temporal consequences associated with your own sins–but it can also be offered up on behalf of others. Just say a little mental prayer each time you sense yourself inconvenienced, imposed-upon, deprived of something you wish differently. In that prayer, say something like, “All for You, Jesus”, “For the poor souls in Purgatory”, “For the hungry, or the sick, or the oppressed, or the angry, or those who do not believe”. Etcetera. It’s a way of engaging in social justice when your physical or financial means are limited. Hope this helps!

 

[Bill_7154]

In Catholic teaching, suffering of all kinds, when joined to Christ’s suffering and offered up as such, is a source of grace, of spiritual strength and sustenance. That grace can be offered up on your own behalf–to remit some of the temporal consequences associated with your own sins–but it can also be offered up on behalf of others. Just say a little mental prayer each time you sense yourself inconvenienced, imposed-upon, deprived of something you wish differently. In that prayer, say something like, “All for You, Jesus”, “For the poor souls in Purgatory”, “For the hungry, or the sick, or the oppressed, or the angry, or those who do not believe”. Etcetera. It’s a way of engaging in social justice when your physical or financial means are limited. Hope this helps!

So if I am praying for spiritual strength in times of need (which is often) I say something like “for me and for all of your other children who are suffering in a similar way” or something like that?

God Bless,
Bill

 

[Robert_Sock]

So much of it comes down to the ‘self.’ We must rid ourselves of ‘self’ in order to grow in holiness and spirituality. So much of ‘social justice’ begins from within.

 

[flameburns623]

So if I am praying for spiritual strength in times of need (which is often) I say something like “for me and for all of your other children who are suffering in a similar way” or something like that?

God Bless,
Bill

Yes. And when you feel the weakness which comes from being unable to eat properly–though solid food repulses you–offer it for those who are hungry but who have no food. When you feel plagued with doubt or fear without proximate cause, offer it up for those who doubt or fear due to crime or war or disaster. And when your wife interupts The Game to ask you to take out the trash, offer up the irritation you feel, the strain of answering her pleasntly, the embarrassment of being ribbed by your buddies for being “henpecked”, on behalf of those who perhaps have lost the ability to participate in sports because of illness or injury. The possibilities are limited only by your insight into the things in your life which have not yet been conformed to the Mind of Christ.

 

[flameburns623]

As respects the other half of your earlier post: if by the grace of God you are able to locate a psychologist/psychiatrist friendly to religious faith, ask them to recommend a priest who can be of help to you as respects the spiritual aspects of the trials you are currently undergoing. THIS SHOUD BE A BOTH/AND ENDEAVOR,not AN EITHER/OR ENTERPRISE. What I mean by this is that YOU should not throw-over getting the mental health expertise you need and simply treat this as a spiritual or moral problem. NOR SHOULD YOU or your therapist NEGLECT THE SPIRITUAL ASPECTS OF YOUR NEEDS. Some branches of the mental health field are not friendly to religion and if you have any say-so in who your mental health practitioner is, avoid the knee-jerk atheists and anti-theists. Unfortunately–your insurace provider or other factors may limit your options here, but do what you can. I believe you’ll make faster and more complete progress to the degree you can integrate your mental health care with the care of your soul. God bless!

 

[St_Francis]

Thanks for understanding. And I do truely want to do more for others. But as you can tell from my post I made just prior to this one, I"m not exactly even stable myself and am struggling quite a bit to be a stable and responsible father and husband the best I can. I need a lot of help. I’m working on it the best I can. Maybe someone reading this can say a prayer for me if they are so inspired. It would be much appreciated.

God Bless,
Bill

I will keep you and your family in my prayers.

So if I am praying for spiritual strength in times of need (which is often) I say something like “for me and for all of your other children who are suffering in a similar way” or something like that?

God Bless,
Bill

Several years ago, I grappled with the idea of mental lack of health and Catholicism, and came to understand that mental illness is just like physical illness that does not reflect in any way one’s faith or lack thereof. It is simply an illness like diabetes, say, and one must accept its presence in one’s life just as one does a physical illness. One must take care of oneself as you are doing, but accept the limitations it places even with care.

It sounds like you have a lot to offer up right now; I would suggest that offering up anything that does not come your way unasked for by you be undertaken only with the help and guidance of a spiritual director.

When I offer something up, I say, All for Thee dear Jesus, Who has suffered so much for me. Sometimes I offer things up for specific intentions, but one doesn’t have to. Just unite your suffering with that of Christ, even if you can only manage an internal glance at Him on the Cross.

As an example of what you can do, if the doctor tells you to eat even if you don’t feel like it, obey him and offer up eating. Things which are done under obedience have a “higher value” spiritually even than those things we voluntarily undertake. It’s the same with medicine: if the doctor tells you to take some, obey him, and if you have a different idea wait until you can discuss it with him before changing (unless of course something really bad is happening). You can offer up all acts of obedience like this, even if they do not bother you.

Everything you offer up, God can use, and then you will be contributing to the spiritual well-being of the world, even when you feel very “little,” as St Terese of Lisieux puts it. I read about a nun who became completely paralyzed and could move only her eyes; she communicated that she wanted a large Rosary put on the wall in front of her, and she would use that to pray the Rosary for hours each day–what a gift to the world which would probably consider her “useless”!

 

[TimeEntrance]

This is just my opinion… but I think many people can over emphasize the social justice thing.

I think one reason many people in the West are drawn to Buddhism is because our image of Buddhism has to do with personal change and growth with Buddhist directions on how to accomplish that personal and interior change.

Some Catholics tend to emphasize fixing others or bringing earthly salvation from sufferings and struggles others have rather than fixing themselves.

This might have to do with the happy, hippie Jesus image. I suspect their is a little blasphemous vanity involved in viewing ones self as God Almighty savior.

My own opinion is you take care of your family before you do strangers or your country.

---

Sounds like you are going through some real hard times, Bill. I hope this winter in your life soon gives way to a new spring. Life can be tough. Sometimes it’s sheer hell.

 

[Bill_7154]

Yes. And when you feel the weakness which comes from being unable to eat properly–though solid food repulses you–offer it for those who are hungry but who have no food. When you feel plagued with doubt or fear without proximate cause, offer it up for those who doubt or fear due to crime or war or disaster. And when your wife interupts The Game to ask you to take out the trash, offer up the irritation you feel, the strain of answering her pleasntly, the embarrassment of being ribbed by your buddies for being “henpecked”, on behalf of those who perhaps have lost the ability to participate in sports because of illness or injury. The possibilities are limited only by your insight into the things in your life which have not yet been conformed to the Mind of Christ.

flameburns,

Thanks a lot for this post. My insight into what you are describing is inceasing. Thanks to this post.

God Bless,
Bill

 

[Bill_7154]

As respects the other half of your earlier post: if by the grace of God you are able to locate a psychologist/psychiatrist friendly to religious faith, ask them to recommend a priest who can be of help to you as respects the spiritual aspects of the trials you are currently undergoing. THIS SHOUD BE A BOTH/AND ENDEAVOR,not AN EITHER/OR ENTERPRISE. What I mean by this is that YOU should not throw-over getting the mental health expertise you need and simply treat this as a spiritual or moral problem. NOR SHOULD YOU or your therapist NEGLECT THE SPIRITUAL ASPECTS OF YOUR NEEDS. Some branches of the mental health field are not friendly to religion and if you have any say-so in who your mental health practitioner is, avoid the knee-jerk atheists and anti-theists. Unfortunately–your insurace provider or other factors may limit your options here, but do what you can. I believe you’ll make faster and more complete progress to the degree you can integrate your mental health care with the care of your soul. God bless!

Do priests actually meet with people on any type of a regular basis to offer them counsel? My last therapist believes in God at least (not sure of her religion) as she spoke of saying prayers for my baby when she heard he was born premature. So I know she believes in God. As far as the person who prescribes me psychiatric medicaiton, so little of the interaction is ‘talk’ that I don’t think it makes a differece. They meet with you for 15 minutes and 5-8 of those minutes are doing paperwork. It’s like “how are you doing”, you talk and they pay attn to the first 30 sec of what you say to assess how your doing re: med effectiveness, symptoms, side effects, and that’s about it.

But I didn’t realize that priests met individually with people anymore on any type of a regular basis to provide cousel. I thought they mostly only met with people like when a family member was on their death bed and for issues like that. How would I go about finding a priest to meet with to offer me spiritual counsel. Mine is limited now to what I get in Mass and the minimal ammt I get in confession. (and I rely heavily on prayer). I would also conisder a bible study group but don’t know how to go about finding one. And I only have the weekends as I work all day and my wife works all night (and we take turns taking care of our son). Weekends are the only time I have off.

Any guidance from anyone along these lines would be geatly appreciated!
God Bless,
Bill

 

[Bill_7154]

I’m still having some difficulting understanding the ‘offering up’ concept. I pray, and pray often. I pray for help with my internalt struggles/issues and lots of other things and pray in thanks but am having difficulty understanding the ‘offering up’ way of praying. Is there a link or something someone could provide so I could study it some to get a better grasp of it because from what I am hearing so far it sounds like a great way of praying and something I would like to learn how to do.

Thanks and God Bless,
Bill

 

[jwinch2]

As ‘social justice’ I am NOT defining it as a progressive. I would moreso define it as being kind to one’s neighbor, helping one’s neighbor (singularly or on a larger scale).

I think you have already answered your own question. The very fact that you had to add that disclaimer tells us much of how social justice has been hijacked by the liberal left in America and around the world, for their own purposes. The misunderstanding of social justice has been used to cram socialist agendas down people’s throat, been used to invent new rights for people that are man made rather than God given, has tried to make equality equal sameness rather than justice, and has been used to portray those who don’t buy into this narrow view of social justice as mean and heartless. When social justice works this way, as it all too often does, I don’t want any part of it either.

When understood properly and when solidarity is balanced appropriately with subsidiarity, when people’s individual liberty is not being trampled on in the name of equality, I think most people are actually for helping others and doing the right thing. Some are not of course, but the majority are.

 

[flameburns623]

I have never had much problem asking a priest for counsel outside of confession. One must make an appointment and be prepared for/ask for a referral to another priest or religious if the parish priest has limited background with mental health matters. As for the other: read Diary of A Soul by St. Therese of Lisieux (bet I spelled that wrong–as with most things French, it can never be spelled OR pronounced rightly except by a Frenchperson). Hopefully there are others who can suggest other resources–I’m a paper-and-ink book person myself.

 

[TimeEntrance]

I used to have a priest as a spiritual director. We met face-to-face in private through scheduled appointments. All I had to do was call up on the phone ask. I did my confessions face-to-face too.

I think it worked well having my confessor as my spiritual director too. They can peer into your psychological state better that way I think.

 

[Elizabeth502]

This is just my opinion… but I think many people can over emphasize the social justice thing.

It’s not just your opinion because it’s my opnion, too. Too many people have hijacked the term, interpreting it in ways beyond how the Church herself describes it (generally), and (unlike the Church) they demand blanket endorsement of gov’t aid for all people below a certain income, including all the following:

~the people who deserve assistance because their own efforts are insufficient
~the people who lack the ability to take care of themselves, due to age, disability, or infirmity
~the people who scam the system, often conspiratorially, because they have learned how. Often they earn much more than others receiving assistance, as well as more than people who are denied assistance because they earn “too much.”
~the people who have low incomes out of choice, because they value time more than money, or choose to work in low-paying service fields, and/or prefer other kinds of low-paying jobs with little responsibility vs. higher-paying ones with lots of responsibility & visibility.

My own opinion is you take care of your family before you do strangers or your country.

It’s the Church’s opinion, too. It is sinful to neglect our immediate responsibilities in order to help strangers. It violates the Fourth Commandment (mutuality within family). Putting one’s family in danger, when one has a choice not to, is gravely sinful.

I think you have already answered your own question. The very fact that you had to add that disclaimer tells us much of how social justice has been hijacked by the liberal left in America and around the world, for their own purposes. The misunderstanding of social justice has been used to cram socialist agendas down people’s throat, been used to invent new rights for people that are man made rather than God given, has tried to make equality equal sameness rather than justice, and has been used to portray those who don’t buy into this narrow view of social justice as mean and heartless. When social justice works this way, as it all too often does, I don’t want any part of it either.

Three other reasons:

(1) Guilt-tripping others about social justice definitely gets in the way. No one likes being manipulated and harangued. And for all those who claim that Jesus did so, they are ignorant of Scripture. Jesus excoriated those who were capable of giving but were attached to their goods. He wasn’t pounding on those who themselves were part of the working poor, keeping family together.

(2) The size and distribution of the needs. This is a HUGE country. I’m not responsible, nor is any individual responsible, for closing all uncomfortable economic gaps. That is not what social justice is. Locating realistically manageable efforts and causes sometimes seems so overwhelming and unwieldly that it’s a natural reaction to give up entirely, due to the magnitude of problems and geographical disbursement of needs. Combine that with the guilt-tripping I mentioned above, and the entire subject becomes a turn-off.

(3) The understanding by some of us that reasons for needs are complex, many of them related to dysfunctional aspects of modern life: inflation, particularly for basic needs such as housing, food, fuel, and healthcare, combined (again) with the size of the population and lack of connectedness (alienation). Capitalism can be extremely brutal until you reach a level when you do “have.” And if the gov’t, for example, were to be the main source of getting people from a level of “have-not” to a level of sustained self-sufficiency in an expensive First World economoy, the gov’t would go entirely broke. There are too many people in the USA alone who “have not.”