The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius Loyola have a structure which forms a counterpoint to racism and can help social activists in their confrontation with it.
At a time when the church’s doctrinal teachings on faith and morals are questioned everywhere, the relevance of such teachings to the believers brought up in diverse contexts is of utmost importance.
In a world that was coming to understand the structural underpinnings of poverty and violence, Father Gutiérrez was a prophet who saw clearly how the Christian proclamation of salvation involved not merely the afterlife but included human liberation in this life as well.
If our true desire is for others to know Christ, we must imitate him. Authentic evangelization is not accomplished through clever argumentation but by bearing witness to the working of God’s love and mercy in our lives.
The church's teaching on servile work as it developed over the centuries is another indicator of how the church constantly sought ways not only to extend its evangelization but to challenge itself to recognize fully the others for whom Christ died.