{"id":22869,"date":"2023-09-06T09:43:51","date_gmt":"2023-09-06T13:43:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/?p=22869"},"modified":"2023-09-06T09:45:25","modified_gmt":"2023-09-06T13:45:25","slug":"22869","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/?p=22869","title":{"rendered":""},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Church of the Earth - Peter Mayer, with the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Fairfax\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/u-TqIKeNDaw?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The Call to Change Sides<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The essence of the prophetic task is to articulate a vision of the common good that has the power to capture the imagination of the people as a goal worthy of struggle and sacrifice. \u2014<em>St. Francis and the Foolishness of God<\/em>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>The book&nbsp;<\/em>St. Francis and the Foolishness of God<em>&nbsp;describes Francis of Assisi\u2019s prophetic call to \u201cchange sides\u201d and embrace relationship with those on the margins, as Jesus did.&nbsp;<\/em>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For Francis, the order of things was turned upside down, just as it had been for the apostles\u2026. Jesus, whom they followed and called friend, embraced, mingled with, touched, loved, cured, and broke bread with the outcasts, the marginal, the unclean of his day\u2026. In a social structure shaped by exclusion of the leprous, the ritually unclean, the \u201cnon-chosen,\u201d the women, the possessed, tax collectors, sinners\u2014<strong>Jesus embraced them all, both individually and as social groups. In fact, Jesus\u2019s very identity was as one who proclaimed the good news to the poor, who announced the inbreaking of the reign of God, and who lived the announcement by being at the side of the poor himself.\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In Francis\u2019s new upside-down order, his encounter with the leper was indeed an encounter with this Jesus in a person who was marginalized\u2026. As Francis embraced a vivid example of human misery, he tasted great joy; the sweetness he experienced revealed God\u2019s presence pervading his meeting with the outcast.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>The witness of St. Francis and Jesus<\/em><strong><em> inspires us to a solidarity that mourns with people in poverty:\u00a0<\/em>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Encountering the impoverished, <strong>walking for a while in the world of the marginalized, and being with the have-nots of our world is a necessary aspect of the discipleship journey<\/strong>. Our vision thereafter is shaped by this encounter. We realize, and never forget, the <strong>privileged perspective of impoverished people who see reality with a clarity of vision that we may never achieve.<\/strong> Our souls are touched by the encounter as well, and sorrow over the pain and injustice of impoverishment and marginalization fills the crevices of our being&#8230;.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Deep <strong>mourning over the social conditions that make people poor may be the first step we non-poor can take to internalize the beatitudes: <\/strong>\u201cBlessed are you who are now weeping; you shall laugh\u201d [Luke 6:21]. Mourning implies a terrible sense of loss, of regret, an acknowledgment of the real, and a feeling of pain in the face of that reality. Weeping and mourning emerge from our affective side and are profoundly healthy emotions for those of us who are more privileged, <strong>who will never fully share the lot of those who are impoverished by the system that creates our wealth, but who at least can weep over the tragedy of human suffering<\/strong>. Emotions help describe us as whole people and, <strong>if joined with righteous indignation at the injustices that cause marginalization, can lead us toward a relinquishment of the power and privilege that maintain injustice, and toward a solidarity with those who are poor in their claim on justice.\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large is-resized\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/image-2-500x429.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-22871\" width=\"814\" height=\"698\" srcset=\"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/image-2-500x429.png 500w, http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/image-2-300x258.png 300w, http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/image-2-768x659.png 768w, http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/image-2.png 1060w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 814px) 100vw, 814px\" \/><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Call to Change Sides The essence of the prophetic task is to articulate a vision of the common good that has the power to capture the imagination of the people as a goal worthy of struggle and sacrifice. \u2014St. Francis and the Foolishness of God&nbsp; The book&nbsp;St. Francis and the Foolishness of God&nbsp;describes Francis [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22869"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=22869"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22869\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22872,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22869\/revisions\/22872"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=22869"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=22869"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=22869"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}