Here is something worth reading: The Gospel’s Social Relevance
It is a copy of an address that Fr. Raniero Cantalamessa delivered to the general assembly of Caritas International on May 27.
Cantalamessa is the preacher of the Pontifical Household, and a Capuchin priest.
It is entitled, “Not all who love their neighbor love Christ, but all who love Christ love their neighbor.” You will find a multi-layered discussion of the social relevance of the Gospel, including a good analysis of “liberal theology”, “dialectical theology” and the Magisterium in the area of Catholic social teaching. It also contains some memorable lines, which I will let you discover for yourselves.
Gift always comes before duty, as Fr. Cantalamessa says, and God is never stingy with his gifts to us so as to well equip us to do what we ought in service to others. Christianity is a religion of grace, grace freely poured out so that we may work what we must in today’s world to better establish justice through changing the structural barriers in society suppressing the poor and needy and through responding to the needs of the particular situation that demands our immediate response.
We do all because God has first loved us, and we now love him in return, especially in the lives and faces of the poor.
You can read a very similar homily that he gave during Lent at: www.cantalamessa.org/en/predicheView.php?id=417
