Opening Prayer:
If you like to use music in prayer, I might suggest Whatsoever You Do as a beautiful reflection by Fr. Bill Jabusch about solidarity.
Questions for reflection-
-What is your initial understanding of the term solidarity? How is it generally employed? With what do you associate it? How would you describe it for your seven-year-old nephew?
-What rings true for you in either the song lyrics or the notion that all people reflect back to us the goodness of the Creator? Has it/how has it informed your interactions with others?
-On the whole, do you associate it with matters of faith? If so, where did that begin? If not, why not?
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Loving God, in the vast network of the human family You remind us that each individual reveals something to the world about Yourself. In our rootedness as image-bearers, guide us to be people of intention and integrity; honoring the whole of the persons we come to know. To move beyond treating others as we want to be treated, into a space that in our encounters with the whole human race, we are graced to encounter You, too. Would that that reality characterize the way we engage the world around us and establish us as a tender and compassionate people. Amen.
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“Live simply, so others may simply live.”
Solidarity
If this topic reminds you of Matthew 25: 35-46, where we began our discussion of human dignity, it should. Solidarity is based on the idea that every person is made in the image and likeness of God, and that their inherent dignity is respected in the way that they are treated. As Saint Paul describes, the pain, as well as the rejoicing of our brothers and sisters, is shared by all, as parts of the whole–members of the body of Christ.
More than other principles of Catholic Social Teaching, Solidarity is often met with resistance because ‘downward mobility’ is so counter-cultural to us that it is nearly foreign. To sacrifice our comfort by way of financially investing in a product that is ethically or sustainably made, voting on a law that might invite families of lower socio-economic means to live closer to my home, shopping locally or second-hand so that small business owners and charities profit rather than consuming the convenience of big businesses–each asks something of us, but is offered for the good of another. This is the premise of solidarity.
So it is with these ideas in mind that we hear from holy men and women about our moments of decision/indecision and the intentionality with which we make those decisions, that we can see, informing our lives of faith as well. These choices can tend toward a sacrificial nature, and it is little wonder that by making decisions that they bring us closer to the heart of God whose earthly ministry was very much amongst those on the margins.
It is imperative that no one…indulge in a merely individualistic morality. The best way to fulfill one’s obligations of justice and love is to contribute to the common good according to one’s means and the needs of others, and also to promote and help public and private organizations devoted to bettering the conditions of life.
Gaudium et Spes (“The Church in the Modern World”), Vatican II, 1965 #30.
But I am sure that God did not intend that there be so many poor. The class structure is of our making and our consent, not His. It is the way we have arranged it, and it is up to us to change it. -Dorothy Day
The poor are your masters and you will find them terribly exacting masters. So the more unattractive and dirty they are, the more rude and unfair they are, the more you must lavish your love upon them. It is only by feeling you love that the poor will forgive you your gifts of bread.” -St. Vincent de Paul
Particularly because we have become accustomed to a very privatized form of faith, whereby my prayer, my relationship with the Lord is my own, this more public aspect of Catholic Social Teaching can push our comfort zones more than a little. Many are familiar with the story of the boy who is afraid in the dark at bedtime. Even after being reassured by his mother that God is with him, he replied sincerely that he needed a ‘God with skin on.’
Think of solidarity as human dignity ‘with skin on.’ It is important that all of us, particularly those on the margins, and those who are suffering, know and believe that God is with them and gives them their dignity; and acts of solidarity are means of showing the Good News–God with skin on, alive and acting on their behalf in a world that feels isolating and frightening.
This is what it means to be functioning members of the body of Christ: To show up with the God-given gift that only we can offer.
Solidarity is not a feeling of vague compassion or shallow distress at the misfortunes of so many people, both near and far. On the contrary, it is a firm and persevering determination to commit oneself to the common good; that is to say to the good of all and of each individual, because we are all really responsible for all. -St. Pope John Paul II
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At another level, the roots of the contradiction between the solemn affirmation of human rights and their tragic denial in practice lies in a notion of freedom which exalts the isolated individual in an absolute way, and gives no place to solidarity, to openness to others, and service of them. . . It is precisely in this sense that Cain’s answer to the Lord’s question: “Where is Abel your brother?” can be interpreted: “I do not know; am I my brother’s keeper?” (Gen 4:9). Yes, every man is his “brother’s keeper”, because God entrusts us to one another. (St. John Paul II, The Gospel of Life [Evangelium Vitae], no. 19).
Individual citizens and intermediate groups are obliged to make their specific contributions to the common welfare. One of the chief consequences of this is that they must bring their own interests into harmony with the needs of the community, and must contribute their goods and their services as civil authorities have prescribed, in accord with the norms of justice and within the limits of their competence. –Pacem in Terris (“Peace on Earth”), Pope John XXIII, 1963#53.
The bread which you hold back belongs to the hungry; the coat, which you guard in your locked storage chests, belongs to the naked; the footwear moldering in your closet belongs to those without shoes. The silver that you keep hidden in a safe place belongs to the one in need. Thus, however many are those whom you could have provided for, so many are those whom you wrong. -St. Basil the Great
Questions for Reflection:
-In what ways can I concretely imagine my attempts to live simply as a means of offering life to those who are marginalized? Is this a compelling reason for change?
-Can you think of an example(s) of when Jesus acted in solidarity with those on the margins?
-Is solidarity an aspect of your personal faith life that you have examined before now?
-Why do you think solidarity is included among the seven tenets of Catholic Social Teaching? What do the faithful/marginalized stand to gain from its inclusion?
-Can you think of specific individuals who model solidarity for you?
*Be on the lookout in the coming weeks for opportunities to act in solidarity in your own sphere of influence.
Closing prayer
Word made flesh, Your dwelling among us is itself an act of solidarity. Guide us to imitate the example you gave us in Jesus. Would that our gifts of self be offered as gifts to You for the good of the other, that we would enter into the places where suffering exists that we might rejoice with one another as You would have us do. We ask this in Jesus’ name. Amen.