{"id":25442,"date":"2025-06-30T10:21:29","date_gmt":"2025-06-30T14:21:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/?p=25442"},"modified":"2025-06-30T10:47:01","modified_gmt":"2025-06-30T14:47:01","slug":"liberation-and-justice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/?p=25442","title":{"rendered":"Liberation and Justice"},"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=\"Zach Williams - Chain Breaker (Official Lyric Video)\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/JGYjKR69M6U?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h1 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Hearing Another Story<\/h1>\n\n\n\n<p>Sunday, June 29, 2025<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Father Richard Rohr explains how the Gospels impart a message of liberation, particularly for people pushed to the margins of society:<\/em>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The vast majority of\u202fpeople throughout history have been poor, oppressed, or in some way \u201con the margins.<\/strong>\u201d They would have read history in terms of a need for change, <strong>but most of history has been written and interpreted from the side of the winners<\/strong>. The unique exception is the revelation called the Bible, which is an alternative history from the side of the often enslaved and oppressed people of ancient Israel, culminating in the scapegoat figure of Jesus himself.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the Gospels, the poor, people with disabilities, tax collectors, sinners, and outsiders tend to follow Jesus. It\u2019s those on the inside and the top\u2014the Roman occupiers, the chief priests and their conspirators\u2014who crucify him. Shouldn\u2019t that tell us something significant about perspective? Every viewpoint is a view from a point. We must be able to critique any winner\u2019s perspective if we are to see a fuller truth.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Liberation theology\u2014which focuses on freeing people from religious, political, social, and economic oppression\u2014is often dismissed by official Christianity<\/strong>. Perhaps that\u2019s not surprising when we consider who interpreted the Scriptures for the last seventeen hundred years.\u202fThe\u202fempowered clerical class enforced their own perspective instead of that of the marginalized, who first received the message with such excitement and hope. <strong>Once Christianity became the established religion of the Roman Empire (after<\/strong> <strong>313 CE), we largely stopped reading the Bible from the side of the poor and the oppressed. <\/strong>We read it from the side of the political establishment and the usually comfortable priesthood instead of from the side of people hungry for justice and truth. <strong>Shifting our priorities to make room for the powerless instead of accommodating the powerful is the only way to detach religion from its common marriage to power, money, and self-importance.\u202f[1<\/strong>]\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>When Scripture is read through the eyes of vulnerability\u2014what Catholics call the \u201cpreferential option for <\/strong>t<strong>he poor\u201d or the \u201cbias from the bottom\u201d\u2014it will<\/strong> a<strong>lways be liberating and transformative. <\/strong>Scripture will not be used to oppress or impress. <strong>The question is no longer, \u201cHow can I maintain the status quo?\u201d (which often happens to benefit me), but \u201cHow can we all grow and change together?\u201d<\/strong> We would have <strong>no top to protect, and the so-called \u201cbottom\u201d becomes the place of education, real change, and transformation for all.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The bottom is where we have no privilege to prove or protect but much to seek and become. Jesus called such people \u201cblessed\u201d (Matthew 5:3). Dorothy Day said much the same: \u201c<strong>The only way to live in any true security is to live so close to the bottom that when you fall you do not have far to drop, you do not have<\/strong> <strong>much to lose.\u201d <\/strong>[2] <strong>From that place,\u202fwhere few would choose to be, we can be used<\/strong> a<strong>s instruments of transformation and liberation for the rest of the world<\/strong>.\u202f[3]\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/cac.org\/themes\/liberation-and-justice\/\">Liberation and Justice<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h1 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The Liberation Journey<\/h1>\n\n\n\n<p>Monday, June 30, 2025<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Father Richard Rohr understands liberation to be the underlying story of both the Hebrew and Christian Scriptures:<\/em>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The theme of liberation is the largest frame in which to understand spirituality. The term\u00a0<em>liberation theology<\/em>\u00a0has a negative connotation for some people. It sounds like something heretical, leftist, or Marxist, and certainly not biblical. <strong>In fact,\u00a0<em>liberation is at the heart of both the Jewish and Christian <\/em><\/strong><em><strong>traditions from the v<\/strong><\/em><strong>ery beginning.<\/strong> <strong>It\u2019s amazing that much of Christianity has been able to avoid that truth for so long, probably because many of us read history from the top down and seldom from the bottom up, which is the recurring perspective of both the Hebrew and the Christian Scriptures.\u202f<\/strong>\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We see the beginnings of the liberation theme as early as fourteen hundred years before Jesus with the enslavement and exodus of the Jewish people. <strong>Something divine happened that allowed an oppressed group of Semitic people in Egypt to experience many levels of gradual liberation<\/strong>. This story became the basic template and metaphor for the entire Bible. The Exodus was both an inner and an outer journey. <strong>If<\/strong> <strong>our inner journey does not match and lead to an outer journey of liberation for all, we have no tru<\/strong>e <strong>freedom or \u201csalvation.\u201d<\/strong> That is what liberation theology is honest enough to point out.\u202f\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Moses is the historical character at the heart of the Exodus event and of the spirituality that grew from that experience (Exodus 3:1\u201315). <strong>The voice Moses hears from the burning bush immediately cal<\/strong>ls <strong>him to<\/strong> <strong>confront the pharaoh and tell him to let his people go! It does not tell him to go to a temple or to build one.\u202f\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Here we see a primary inner experience that immediately has\u00a0<em>social, economic, and political implications<\/em>! Liberation theology shows that spirituality and action are connected from the very beginning and can never be separated. Some people set out to act first, and an inner experience may be given to them on the journey itself. Others have an inner experience that then leads them into action. It doesn\u2019t matter on which side it begins. <strong>Eventually action and spirituality must meet and feed one another.<\/strong> <strong>When prayer is authentic, it will always lead to actions of mercy; when actions of mercy are attempted at any depth, they will always lead us to prayer.\u202f\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Very early in the Jewish tradition there is a split between the Exodus tradition\u2014which I believe is the original tradition of liberation\u2014and the priestly tradition that develops in Leviticus and Numbers. The <strong>priestly mentality invariably tries to organize, control, and perpetuate the initial mystical experien<\/strong>ce with prayer and ritual.\u202fI<strong>t\u2019s the Jewish prophets who bring together the inner God-experience and out<\/strong>er <strong>work for justice and truth. <\/strong>This connection is desperately needed and yet resented and avoided to this day.<strong> We always and forever need the prophets or else most religion worships itself instead of God. The pattern is persistent.<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>______________________________________________<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Sarah Young Jesus Calling<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u00a0\u00a0I am involved in each moment of your life. I have carefully mapped out every inch of your journey through this day, even though much of it may feel haphazard. Because the world is in a fallen condition, <strong>things always seem to be unraveling around the edges. Expect to find trouble in this day. At the same time, trust that My way is perfect, even in the midst of such messy imperfection.<\/strong><br>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0<strong>Stay conscious of Me as you go through this day, <\/strong>remembering that I never leave your side. Let the Holy Spirit guide you step by step, protecting you from unnecessary trials and equipping you to get through whatever must be endured. <strong>As you trudge through the sludge of this fallen world, keep your mind in heavenly places with Me<\/strong>. Thus the Light of My Presence shines on you, giving you Peace and Joy that circumstances cannot touch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>RELATED BIBLE VERSES:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Psalm 18:30 (NLT)<\/strong><br><strong><em>30<\/em>&nbsp;God\u2019s way is perfect.<\/strong><br><strong>&nbsp; &nbsp; All the Lord\u2019s promises prove true.<\/strong><br><strong>&nbsp; &nbsp; He is a shield for all who look to him for protection.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Additional insight regarding Psalm 18:30: Some people think that belief in God is a crutch for weak people who cannot make it on their own. God is indeed a shield to protect us when we are too weak to face certain trials by ourselves, but he does not want us to remain weak. He strengthens, protects, and guides us in order to send us back into an evil world to fight for him. Then he continues to work with us because the strongest person on earth is infinitely weaker than God and needs his help. David was not a coward; he was a mighty warrior who, even with all his armies and weapons, knew that only God could ultimately protect and save him.<br><strong>Isaiah 41:13 (NLT)<\/strong><br><strong><em>13<\/em>&nbsp;For I hold you by your right hand\u2014<\/strong><br><strong>&nbsp; &nbsp; I, the Lord your God.<\/strong><br><strong>And I say to you,<\/strong><br><em><strong>&nbsp; &nbsp;\u2018Don\u2019t be afraid. I am here to help you.&#8217;<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Hearing Another Story Sunday, June 29, 2025 Father Richard Rohr explains how the Gospels impart a message of liberation, particularly for people pushed to the margins of society:&nbsp; The vast majority of\u202fpeople throughout history have been poor, oppressed, or in some way \u201con the margins.\u201d They would have read history in terms of a need [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"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\/25442"}],"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\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=25442"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25442\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25446,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25442\/revisions\/25446"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=25442"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=25442"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=25442"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}