tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18902745.post115182377824001733..comments2024-02-04T15:10:18.485-05:00Comments on The Continuum: THIRD SUNDAY AFTER TRINITYFr. Robert Harthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05892141425033196616noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18902745.post-1151912529791904072006-07-03T03:42:00.000-04:002006-07-03T03:42:00.000-04:00Amen.I was just thinking this morning that one of ...Amen.<BR/><BR/>I was just thinking this morning that one of the great mistakes made by many modern Christians is to think that the Gospel and Jesus' preaching have no challenge for anybody but the rich or powerful. In other words, anybody who is relatively poor or suffers or is marginalised, for whatever reason, gets a "free pass". Any person who can plausibly be identified as a "victim" is virtually canonised and considered beyond the call to repentance.<BR/><BR/>But Jesus preached repentance to everybody. Indeed, when the crowds asked Him about God's judgement and the case of some people who had a tower fall on them, he said "unless you repent, you too will all perish" (Lk. 13.5). It's just that the poor have less invested in this world and are less insulated from the consequences of their actions, so they are more likely to see their sin for what it is and give it up for God.<BR/><BR/>So, when Christians talk about God's "preferential option for the poor" (or the marginalised) they need to be careful they do not fall into the trap of implying that attempts to preach repentance and reform to those socially dysfunctional through sin are intrinsically hypocritical exercises in "blaming the victim". <BR/><BR/>And, at the very same time, as Fr Hart implies, we must beware of conforming to the "middle-class moralism"-stereotype by targetting less socially acceptable sins but ignoring those nonchalantly practised by the Bourgeoisie, such as divorce.Fr Matthew Kirbyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14386951752314314095noreply@blogger.com