Service Learning
We are created in the image and likeness and that "likeness reveals that man, who is the only creature on earth which God willed for itself, cannot fully find himself except through a sincere gift of himself “ (Gaudium et Spes 21)
Christ Has No Body
by St. Teresa of Avila (1515–1582)
Christ has no body but yours,
No hands, no feet on earth but yours,
Yours are the eyes with which he looks
Compassion on this world,
Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good,
Yours are the hands, with which he blesses all the world.
Yours are the hands, yours are the feet,
Yours are the eyes, you are his body.
Christ has no body now but yours,
No hands, no feet on earth but yours,
Yours are the eyes with which he looks
compassion on this world.
Christ has no body now on earth but yours.
Richard Gula, S.S. in his book Reason Informed by Faith, states that:
“The Trinitarian vision sees that no one exists by oneself, but only in relationship to others. To be is to be in relationship. The individual and the community co-exist. Humanity and relatedness are proportional so that the deeper one’s participation in relationships is, the more human one becomes.What does this mean in English? It means that we are Created Out of Love, To Love and Be Loved. Being created from love means we have an innate desire to love as God loves, to live in love, in relationship with others, and give love, to transform others and the world with love. This is what makes us human Persons. We must also be willing to accept God’s Love/Grace. Love is meant to be a word of being and of action. Love is to be given away to those we are in relationship with. In God’s divine plan love is not only that romantic feeling we get when we find our future husband or wife. Love is better understood as a decision to “will the good of another” (St Thomas Aquinas, as quoted in CCC 2351).
Catholic Social Teaching
“The Church's social teaching is a rich treasure of wisdom about building a just society and living lives of holiness amidst the challenges of modern society. Modern Catholic social teaching has been articulated through a tradition of papal and episcopal documents.
- Life and Dignity of the Human Person
- Call to Family, Community, and Participation
- Rights and Responsibilities
- Option for the Poor and Vulnerable
- The Dignity of Work and the Rights of Workers
- Solidarity
- Care for God's Creation”
The disciples asked Jesus to teach them to pray. Jesus taught the Lord’s Prayer in the phrase, Give us this day our daily bread we can recognize the deep connection to Catholic Social teaching. This petition is entrusted to us to meet all our needs-physical and spiritual- to the loving providence of the Father (CCC 2830) and it also is a call to live in solidarity with the hunger of all humanity and to tend to the physical and spiritual needs of others. (CCC2829) Even in prayer Jesus is our best model of what it means to be a Human Person.
Social Service- Service Learning- Social Justice – Social Action
"You have been told, O man what is good and what Yahweh asks of you, simply this:to act justly, love tenderly and walk humbly with your God." Micah 6:8
Social Service is giving direct aid to someone in need. It usually involves performing one or more of the corporal works of mercy. That is, giving alms to the poor, feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, visiting the sick or imprisoned, taking care of orphans and widows, visiting the shut-ins etc. Another name for it is charity (http://www.ecatholic2000.com/sj/socjust.shtml)
Service Learning "Service learning provides a means of doing and of making the entire community a learning environment." (John Briscoe) Social Action is correcting the structures that perpetuate the need. Another name for this isSocial Justice. Through the lens of social justice, we begin to take a look at the problems and issues facing us in our own communities, the nation and finally the world, and we begin to ask questions such as, "Why is there so much unemployment in our area?" "Why are there so many poor in our community?" "How will the deforestation of our rain forests affect our global climate?" etc.
Very often when you are performing social service, you also become involved in solving the problem which created the need in the first place, and the two are closely related and often blend together. An example of this would be, someone comes to your food pantry, and tells you he/she has no food, because he/she lost their job recently. You may know of an employer looking to hire someone right away for a job requiring little or no skills. You give that person food, then place that person in touch with the employer. You then would have solved both problems for that person: (a) the immediate need of food through an act of charity (social service) and (b) you would have corrected the problem which created and perpetuated the need. (social justice)(http://www.ecatholic2000.com/sj/socjust.shtml)
An example showing the difference between social service and social justice might be ~ We can give a hungry person a fish which would be charity-social service or we can teach them to fish allowing them to care for themselves and allowing their God given dignity, this would be social justice.