Catholicism Requires Action, Not Just Devotion

I know someone who thinks the world is going to end. So he prays a rosary every day, in hopes it saves him from eternal damnation. A repetitive ten “Hail Marys” followed by an “Our Father” five times.

To devout Catholics, the rosary is prayed with a Mystery separating each decade. The four Mysteries of the Rosary include Joyful, Sorrowful, Glorious and Luminous, each prayed on a specific day and sometimes overruling others during specific times of the Liturgical year. 

In the Joyful Mysteries, the Visitation of Mary to Elizabeth allows connection to the virtue of love, and the exchange of joy with a family member, friend or a passerby. Where the Sorrowful Mysteries like The Crowning with Thorns serves as a reminder to have courage, even in the most brutal of times. 

Using the rosary as a sole form of repentance, like the person who prays due to fear of being stuck at Heaven’s gates, doesn’t signify redemption. Each Mystery offers guidance, provoking the supplicant into action. This is where faith and social justice coalesce — the prompt begging for a response. 

Prayer provokes action. Being Catholic includes a person’s commitment to justice, showcased by the Society of Jesus, also known as the Jesuit Order, which encourage Loyola’s guiding principles.

As an order known to champion a distinctly devout “call-to-action,” the Jesuits frequently stress the import of activism in concert with prayer. Pedro Arrupe, S.J., the 28th superior general of the Jesuits, is a prominent figure in the Jesuit order who preached about the synthesization of Catholicism and social justice. 

“Be and form men and women for others,” Fr. Arrupe said in an address to Jesuit high school alumni, according to The Ignatian Solidarity Network.

Fr. Arrupe is the namesake of my own high school, Arrupe Jesuit, where I first heard this phrase. Since, it has been an additional guide to the Mysteries, synthesizing action and devotion. 

Engagement with the community was a requirement in our classes, but it only began in the classroom. These obligations fostered within students a commitment to social justice — prompting many to seek additional service opportunities. 

Every first Friday and the second Tuesday of the month were dedicated to volunteering at a soup kitchen. Before the van left the school, we’d say a prayer that reminded me of the third Joyful Mystery — The Nativity, which allowed contemplations of poverty, and acknowledging socioeconomic disparities. 

Freshman year, my best friend Makayla and I would be responsible for slicing bread, while the upperclassmen finished preparing the meal for the night. There was something about the simplicity that struck me. Not only was I able to share time with my friend, I was also fulfilling the promise I’d made growing up — following the second of Jesus’ two commandments. 

“Jesus said, ‘Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.’ On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets,” Matthew 22:36-40 reads. 

Jesus simplifies Moses’ Ten Commandments into two simple, easy to live by commandments. So, while beliefs vary by denomination and religion, action should be at the forefront of a devout Christian’s mind. 

Where there is faith, there is social justice.