Download or read book Poverty written by Kenneth R. Himes, OFM and published by Paraclete Press. This book was released on 2018-05-01 with total page 129 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The poor will always be with you, Jesus said – but that doesn’t mean Christians have ever figured out how to be with the poor. Pope Francis has emphasized a vision of a “Church that is poor and for the poor.” But growing economic inequality continues to spread across the globe. This book takes a fresh look at the role of churches, and individual Christians, in relating to poverty and the poor among them. A strong focus is placed on the biblical and theological roots of the Church’s commitment to care for the poor. At times praised as a virtue and blessed as a condition, poverty easily confuses us, and we are often left doing little to nothing to make a difference with and for the poor. As a social evil and a burden, poverty has elicited many kinds of reactions among the followers of Christ. It is time for Christians to figure out what to do about it. Contributors include Pope Francis, Pheme Perkins, Sandra M. Schneider, and Thomas Massaro SJ. “This book provides a wonderful, provocative theological framework for those of us who minister among our most vulnerable sisters and brothers. For anyone who regularly looks into the eyes of suffering, this book offers context, hope, and inspiration.” —DONNA MARKHAM, OP, President and CEO, Catholic Charities USA “The authors challenge us to see, hear, and think differently about the meanings of poverty, and to love passionately those whom Jesus loved—the poor.” —PROFESSOR M. SHAWN COPELAND, author of Enfleshing Freedom: Body, Race, and Being “As a good Franciscan, Ken Himes knows poverty from the inside and has taught well his student Conor Kelly. Here they draw together rich resources that call all of us to the poverty we need, and to resist needless poverty. This book is an ideal resource for conversation.” —THOMAS H. GROOME, author of What Makes Us Catholic, Sharing Faith, and many other books Published in cooperation with the Church in the 21st Century Center, Boston College

Download or read book Happy are You Poor written by Thomas Dubay and published by Ignatius Press. This book was released on 2009-09-03 with total page 188 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: To the modern mind, the concept of poverty is often confused with destitution. But destitution emphatically is not the Gospel ideal. A love-filled sharing frugality is the message, and Happy Are You Poor explains the meaning of this beatitude lived and taught by Jesus himself. But isn't simplicity in lifestyle meant only for nuns and priests? Are not all of us to enjoy the goodness and beauties of our magnificent creation? Are parents to be frugal with the children they love so much? The renowned spiritual writer Dubay gives surprising replies to these questions. He explains how material things are like extensions of our persons and thus of our love. If everyone lived this love there would be no destitution. After presenting the richness of the Gospel message, more beautiful than any other world view, he explains how Gospel frugality is lived in each state of life.

Download or read book Chastity Poverty and Obedience written by Mary Francis and published by Ignatius Press. This book was released on 2010-05-26 with total page 144 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Among the many topics addressed by the Second Vatican Council was the need for the renewal of religious life. Some forty years later, many religious orders of women are dying out, begging the question: Did the reforms of Vatican II help the religious orders become more fruitful, or did they plant the seeds of destruction? In writing this work, Mother Mary Francis, P.C.C., carefully and prayerfully examined the decree on religious life promulgated by the Council Fathers and uncovered its noble meaning and purpose. With her penetrating eye and thoughtful reflection, Mother goes to the heart of the document, Perfectae Caritatis, and finds there the calling to pursue perfect love though chastity, poverty and obedience that Christ himself extends to those disciples who would follow him more closely. This book is a timely volume on this important topic for religious life in the Church. For Catholics who want to discover how the religious life can be restored, this is a fine place to start.

Download or read book Shelter Theology written by Susan J. Dunlap and published by Fortress Press. This book was released on 2021-08-10 with total page 188 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Susan J. Dunlap offers the theological fruits of time spent working as a chaplain with people without homes. After depicting the local history of her small southern city, she describes the prayer service she co-leads in a homeless shelter. Clients offer words of faith and encouragement that take the form of prayer, sayings, testimony, song, and short sermons. Dunlap describes both these forms of expression and their theological content. She asserts that these forms and beliefs are a means of survival and resistance in a hostile world. The ways they serve these purposes are further demonstrated in life stories told as testimonies, incorporating scripture, sayings, oral tradition, and popular culture. Dunlap concludes that white supremacy and neoliberalism have produced the problem of homelessness in America and are forms of idolatry. The faith and practices shared at the shelter are spiritual and theological resources for people in the grip of and seeking freedom from this idolatry. Claiming that only God can free us from bondage to idolatry and that to draw close to the poor is to draw close to God, Dunlap calls for proximity to people living without homes who are practicing their faith amid poverty.

Download or read book The Option for the Poor in Christian Theology written by Daniel G. Groody and published by University of Notre Dame Pess. This book was released on 2007-04-01 with total page 328 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Since the publication of Gustavo Gutiérrez's 1973 groundbreaking work, A Theology of Liberation, much has been written on liberation theology and its central premise of the preferential option for the poor. Arguably, this has been one of the most important yet controversial theological themes of the twentieth century. As globalization creates greater gaps between the rich and the poor, and as the situation for many of the world’s poor worsens, there is an ever greater need to understand the gift and challenge of Christian faith from the context of the poor and marginalized of our society. This volume draws on the thought of leading international scholars and explores how the Christian tradition can help us understand the theological foundations for the option for the poor. The central focus of the book revolves around the question, How can one live a Christian life in a world of destitution? The contributors are concerned not only with a social, economic, or political understanding of poverty but above all with the option for the poor as a theological concept. While these essays are rooted in a solid grounding of our present “reality,” they look to the past to understand some of the central truths of Christian faith and to the future as a source of Christian hope. Following Gustavo Gutiérrez's essay on the multidimensionality of poverty, Elsa Tamez, Hugh Page, Jr., Brian Daley, and Jon Sobrino identify a central theological premise: poverty is contrary to the will of God. Drawing on scripture, the writings of the early fathers, the witness of Christian martyrs, and contemporary theological reflection, they argue that poverty represents the greatest challenge to Christian faith and discipleship. David Tracy and J. Matthew Ashley carry their reflection forward by examining the option for the poor in light of apocalyptic thought. Virgilio Elizondo, Patrick Kalilombe, María Pilar Aquino, M. Shawn Copeland, and Mary Catherine Hilkert examine the challenges of poverty with respect to culture, Africa, race, and gender. Casiano Floristán and Luis Maldonado explore the relationship between poverty, sacramentality, and popular religiosity. The final two essays by Aloysius Pieris and Michael Signer consider the option for the poor in relationship to other major world religions, particularly an Asian theology of religions and the meaning of care for the poor within Judaism.

Download or read book The Virtue Driven Life written by Benedict Groeschel and published by Our Sunday Visitor. This book was released on 2006-09-22 with total page 177 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Since when is being called "virtuous" an insult? It's a word that has gotten a bad rap, misused and misunderstood even by great thinkers, philosophers, and theologians, and mocked in the cynical sound bites of the media. Rediscover virtue as it should be understood in our lives. With wit, warmth, and wisdom, Father Groeschel reintroduces the seven virtues of prudence, justice, fortitude, temperance, faith, hope, and charity. One by one he makes them meaningful for modern men and women, shaking off the dusty mantle of pretentiousness and demonstrating how each has a real role in a whole and holy life. Father Groeschel's charming conversational style entertains even as he educates and challenges us. History, politics, an advertisement, the neighbor down the street ... all are reference points for Father Groeschel as he explores the meaning of each virtue for Christians today. By the end of the book, you will understand that being labeled virtuous is the ultimate compliment!

Download or read book Compassion Justice and the Christian Life written by Robert D. Lupton and published by ReadHowYouWant.com. This book was released on 2010-10-26 with total page 178 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Rethinking Ministry to the Poor The urban landscape is changing and, as a result, urban ministries are at a crossroads. If the Church is to be an effective agent of compassion and justice, we must change our mission strategies. In this compelling book, Lupton asks tough questions about service providing and community building to help us enhance our effectiveness. Among the questions; What dilemmas do caring people encounter to faithfully carry out the teachings of Scripture and become personally involved with the least of these? What are some possible alternatives to the ways we have traditionally attempted to care for the poor? How do people, programs and neighborhoods move toward reciprocal, interdependent relationships? To effect these types of changes will require new skill sets and resources, but the possibilities for good are great.

Download or read book Discerning Religious Life written by Clare Matthiass and published by . This book was released on 2017-04-20 with total page 227 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A guide to help Catholic women discover a vocation to religious life.

Download or read book Religious Poverty and the Profit Economy in Medieval Europe written by Lester K. Little and published by Cornell University Press. This book was released on 1983 with total page 284 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "In this stimulating and important book Lester Little advances the original thesis that, paradoxically, it was the leading practitioners of voluntary poverty, Franciscan and Dominican friars, who finally formulated a Christian ethic which justified the activities of merchants, moneylenders, and other urban professionals, and created a Christian spirituality suitable for townsmen. Little has synthesized a vast body of specialized literature in Italian, German, French, and English to write an interpretive essay which provides a new perspective on the interaction between economic and social forces and the religious movements advocating the apostolic ideal of voluntary poverty...Little's book is a major contribution, not only to the history of the religious movement of voluntary poverty, but also to the interdisciplinary study of the middle ages." --Journal of Social History

Download or read book The Fire in These Ashes written by Joan Chittister and published by Gracewing Publishing. This book was released on 1996 with total page 52 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Religious Life and the Poor written by Alejandro Cussiánovich and published by . This book was released on 1979 with total page 184 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Always with Us written by Theoharis, Liz and published by Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. This book was released on 2017 with total page 207 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Jesus's words 'the poor you will always have with you' (Matthew 26:11) are regularly used to suggest that ending poverty is impossible. In this book Liz Theoharis critically examines both the biblical text and the lived reality of the poor to show how this passage is taken out of context and distorted. Poverty is not inevitable, Theoharis argues. It is a systemic sin, and all Christians have a responsibility to partner with the poor to end poverty once and for all"--Jacket

Download or read book My Life for the Poor written by Mother Teresa (Saint) and published by . This book was released on 1987 with total page 140 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Gathers into one source what she has said and written about her life, her work, her faith, and the spiritual joy she has found.

Download or read book Religious Life in the 21st Century written by O'Murchu, Diarmuid and published by Orbis Books. This book was released on 2016-08-18 with total page 225 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This seminal work surveys the historical rise and fall of religious orders and congregations and reveals an unfolding pattern that gives hope for the present and future.

Download or read book Radical and Free written by Brian O'Leary and published by Messenger Publications. This book was released on 2017-05-12 with total page 104 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is the result of two preached retreats I gave to mark the recent Year of Consecrated Life (2015). However, the origin of the material goes much further back, drawing on my teaching experience both at Manresa Centre of Spirituality and at Milltown Institute (covering a period of thirty years). In both places I had taught courses on religious life – its history, theology, and most of all its underlying spirituality. Indeed, I have always used history and theology (and other disciplines such as psychology and anthropology) in service of exploring and renewing the spirituality of religious life. Another way of saying this is that I am above all interested in values (as appreciated, appropriated, and articulated). This lies behind my decision to structure the talks (now the book) almost entirely around the vows. After an initial chapter on the origins of religious life, I devote two chapters each to poverty, chastity, and obedience. My emphasis is not on the vows as such (dealing with questions that Canon Law might raise) but on the motivating values that the vows express. Only these values can explain why people enter and flourish in religious life. All religious, without distinction, are called to be “radical and free”.

Download or read book The Fire in These Ashes written by Joan Chittister and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 1995 with total page 196 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Joan Chittister writes from the perspective of decades of deep involvement in religious life. She writes about religious life in the here and now, not about the value of its past nor about the possible shape of its future, asking a simple question: What, if anything, constitutes the spirituality of contemporary religious life? What is the work of religious life now? What are the virtues demanded of religious now that take character and test commitment, that make the world closer to the reign of God and bring a person closer to the Truth of life?

Download or read book A Long Retreat written by Andrew Krivak and published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux. This book was released on 2015-05-12 with total page 380 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This gorgeously written memoir, A Long Retreat, tells the story of one man's search for his religious calling-a search that led him to the Dominican Republic and Central Europe, to Moscow and the South Bronx, and finally into married life with a woman whose search for God coincided with his own. In 1990 Andrew Krivak-poet, yacht rigger, ocean lifeguard, student of the classics-entered the Society of Jesus. The heart of Jesuit training is the Long Retreat, thirty days of silence and prayer in which the Jesuit novice reflects on the Gospels and tests his desire for the priesthood. For Krivak, eight years of Jesuit formation turned out to be a long retreat in its own right, as he tested all his desires-for poetry, for travel, for independence, for love-against the pledge to do all "for the greater glory of God." And in this deeply affecting book the long retreat becomes a pattern for our own spiritual lives, enabling us to embrace our desire for solitude and perspective in our own circumstances, the way Krivak has in his new life as a husband, father, and writer. The search for God is finally the search for oneself, St. Augustine wrote. Krivak's story pushes past the awful stories of scandal in the Catholic Church to reveal why a modern, forward-looking man would yearn to be a priest. Unlike those stories, it has an happy ending-one in which we can recognize ourselves.