Resources from the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops:
“FINDING CHRIST”
Paul Jarzembowski, Associate Director, USCCB, Laity, Marriage, Family Life, and Youth
When Jesus invites us to look to the margins to see him more clearly (cf. Mt 25), we naturally ask the question: “What margins?” These are the places in our peripheral vision in life, the locations where we often forget to look and that lie just outside our regular field of view. More importantly, we can find ourselves forgetting about the people who occupy those oft-forgotten spaces.
It can be easy to find Christ reflected in the familiar and the explicitly sacred. Yet for young adults, now is an opportune time in life to practice finding Christ in the margins: in the faces of the people who live and breathe and move just beyond or outside our regular routines. What follows is a discernment tool that offers some initial questions that can lead a person to discover their own peripheries and the people they may overlook or take for granted.
- What does your normal daily or weekly routine look like? It may be helpful to write it out.
- Where do you travel on a normal basis (by foot, by car, by public transportation, etc.)? What
neighborhoods, communities, or locations do you pass by throughout your day? - Who are the people you encounter regularly? Family? Friends? Colleagues or co-workers?
More from Paul Jarzembowski and other scholars and faith leaders:
- More discussion questions and videos
- Paul Jarzembowski on "Practical Ways to Encounter Christ in People on the Margins"
Pastoral and Theological Approaches to Migration
Fr. Dan Groody, University of Notre Dame
In Chapter 25 of the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus provides us a model for how we should treat all others, as if they were Christ in disguise. This model is more commonly referred to as the corporal works of mercy, which "are charitable actions by which we help our neighbors in their bodily needs.” They include our obligations to clothe the naked, feed the hungry, and welcome the stranger. In this video, Fr. Dan Groody of the University of Notre Dame provides an overview of the theology of migration, which highlights some of the ways that we can understand the migration experience in light of the Gospel and Catholic social teaching.'''
Discussion Questions and more resources
