MISSION - You do make a difference and God knows that! Here are some thoughts on what it really means to be brothers and sisters in one family, the Christian family. 

t is impossible to be a whole human being on our own and even more so, a solo Christian. Belief in God immediately brings up into relationship, relationship with God.

Because I am a mystery, an aspect of life's journey is to get to know myself, so I am in relationship with myself too. As I am not the only human being around, I am put into relationship with others by the very fact of my existence.

So certain questions arise: why should we be interested in anyone else? Why not just live for ourselves only? 

“It is impossible to be a whole human being on our own and even more so, a solo Christian. Belief in God immediately brings up into relationship… As I am not the only human being around, I am put into relationship with others by the very fact of my existence.”
Therese Larkin

Egoism invites us to do just that: "To me, my own" but God asks us to see the other selves beside and around us. A little change in the above phrase brings huge implications - "To each his/her own." Now I am not at the center, nor is the other. We are in a world of sharing, where each deserves respect and is valued. So at the most basic level, we each should have what we need. The individualists would say that your entitlements come from your achievements or from gifts from other achievers. Those who believe in the dignity of each person, including us Christians believe that as children of the Creator, equal in his/her eyes, each deserves according to the need.

Needs give entitlement. "To each his/her own" can mean "To each according to his/her needs." Needs give entitlement because of the worth of the needy person. Basic needs issue into rights when their neglect would effectively deny the human worth of the needy.

So meeting essential needs is not an extra, it is a minimal manifestation of humanness. One must be careful when casting this obligation in terms of compassion or charity as it may, then, be declared an option extra and therefore dispensable. In this way of thinking, neglect would be ungenerous but not morally wrong. 

Louis Janssens, defines the human person as follows: "The human person adequately considered is an embodied subject in relationship with God, others, groups of others and the world/cosmos at a specific time and place and fundamentally equal in originality."

This statement can be expanded as follows:

1. Subjectivity: The human person is a subject and not an object to be used or exploited for the purpose of pleasure or advantage (Gaudium et Spes S 27). 

2. Embodiment: We live in this world through the body. Gender, race and ethnicity are bodily realities, which define our personal identity. The societies in which we live assign meaning and value to each of these and at times include unjust discriminatory practices. Identities are forged by resisting or by complying with prescribed embodied identities. Our embodied nature requires the fulfillment of our basic human needs; food, clothing, shelter, water and health are necessary for authentic human living. We are called to take care of our health and bodily integrity and that of others.

3. Relationship.

4. Social Location: We live in a historical and cultural context. Our time is built by previous times and contexts. For example, World War II and the disestablishmentarianism of the late sixties profoundly changed the world and separated persons who were born before from persons who were born after these events. The reality of change must be taken into account. New possibilities, of course, should not be gratuitously accepted simply because they are new, but neither should they be rashly rejected on that basis.

5. Difference: Equality does not mean sameness. We share the same human nature but in a unique and original way. This difference emerges from the concrete, specific constellation of relationships, bodily characteristics, social location and personal qualities for each and every person. In fact, the worth, dignity and quality of human persons rests in difference.

Jesus, as a human person, is one of us. God's greatest intervention to restore right relations was the sending of his son. In Jesus, justice and mercy come together.

Now all are welcome into the kingdom of God. Jesus identified with those marginalized by religious and political structures of first century Israel, thus the body of Christ (us) today is expected to do the same. We are expected to continue the activity and presence of the God of Jesus among those marginalized by economic and religious structures in this historical era. It is the Spirit of God who leads and guides believers into the future of what Jesus did in the past. 
Although it is possible to imagine a static Creator of all things in the beginning, for us Creator is a name for God as ongoing, creating activity at work wherever life is emerging and nurtured. God's abundance in creating the world and gratuity in offering a covenant with us provides the context for our approach to mission and service. 

God, as liberator, calls us to conversion and judges those who oppress persons in the name of economic, religious and political gain. He seeks conversion and transformation of the sinner and the sinful structures, not condemnation.

Who are God's agents to do this in this time?

What about you? If not you, then who?