War and Peace
The Churches teaches that 'Justice towards men disposes one to respect the rights of each and to establish the rights in human relationships the harmony that promotes equity with regard to persons and to the common good'. The Churches also says ' Masters treat your slaves justly, knowing that you too have a master in heaven'. From this we can see that Jesus wants us to treat each person fairly and with justice and respect. Jesus never made distinctions between people we can see this in the story of the Mary Magdaline. The Catholic Catechism also states the ' you shall not be partial to the poor or defer to the great, but in the righteousness shall judge your neighbour'. This means that the rich and powerful should not receive special treatment and in the eyes of God we are all equal.
The teaching of the Catholic Church is based on the words and actions of Jesus Christ and other pieces of writing in the Bible. If we take the parable of the Sheep and goats for example we can see that those on the right hand side are said to be 'Blessed by the Father.' Jesus is trying to say that righteous people are not those whom merely follow the so-called written rules for example prayer and fasting, but are truly righteous towards their fellow human beings. . We must treat people fairly and with justice. We must try to know and understand our 'enemies' and we should not restrict our charitable actions to those who share the same race, or language or religion as ourselves. We must reach to all peoples. In today's world this message has great relevance especially here in Northern Ireland. If we tied to live the message taught in the story of the Centurion's Servant Northern Ireland would be a more peaceful harmonious society.
