We Are More than Social Workers, We Are Catholics

“We are not social workers. We may be doing social work in the eyes of some people, but we must be contemplatives in the heart of the world.” This is what Mother Teresa keeps reminding the world who she and her sisters was.

Don’t get me wrong, social workers do a lot of good in the world. And God bless them. But as Catholics, we are called beyond social work. Salvation of souls comes first before “social justice” for us Christians. To reverse the priority is to fail to do both. What use is it to save the body when the soul is going to be damned in the end?

“For what shall it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his soul?” Mark 8:36

Sadly, there are a lot of Catholics that have set the Gospel aside and made “social justice” their new gospel. The more they divorce their “social justice” from the Gospel, the less and less it becomes social and just. In the end, the end justifies the means. They say that to be socially just, let us cut down the population of the world so there would “supposedly” be more resources for all (meaning them). If killing the unborn would meet that end, then that is the socially just thing to do. Another way is to pump contraception to the poor. It might be harmful for their health and mostly their soul, but who cares! It is for the good of society. It is just. Right?

When Catholics stop being Christians and just social workers, the world will be doomed and damned. Christ came to liberate us from sin first, liberation from poverty just a consequence of that. Poverty will never be remedied by some economic program… as long as sinners are running the program. Poverty will be eradicated when we start loving each other. And the will only happen when we convert our hearts to Christ.

Jesus Himself denied this temptation of to be just a social reformer.

The tempter came to him and said, "If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread."

Jesus answered, "It is written: 'Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.'" - (Mat 4:3-4)

From Bishop Fulton Sheen’s Life of Christ

Our Lord was not denying that men must be fed, or that social justice much be preached; but He was asserting that these things are not first. He was, in effect, saying to Satan, “You tempt Me to a religion which would relieve want; You want me to be a baker, instead of a Savior; to be a social reformer, instead of a Redeemer. You are tempting Me away from My Cross, suggesting that I be a cheap leader of people, filling their bellies instead of their souls. You would have me begin with security instead of ending with it; you would have Me bring outer abundance instead of inner holiness. You and your materialist followers say, ‘Man lives by bread alone,’ but I say to you, “not by bread alone.’ Bread there must be, but remember even bread gets all its power to nourish mankind from Me. Bread without me can harm man; and there is no real security apart from the Word of God. If I give bread alone, then man is no more than an animal, and dogs might as well come first to My banquet. Those who believe in Me must hold to that faith, even when they are starved and weak; even when they are imprisoned and scourged.

Written by Daxx Bondoc