The mandate to work for revolutionary change comes from Mary’s Magnificat: “He has brought down rulers from their thrones, and has exalted those who were humble.” (Luke 1:52). It was articulated in a call for political change by Pedro Albizu Campos, the Puerto Rican leader who based his political agenda on a moral restoration of Puerto Rican culture against the imposition of colonial rule by the imperialist forces of the United States’ Empire.

The call for justice is inspired by Jesus’ admonition to provide material charity without expecting it to be rewarded by a religious response: “Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.” (Matthew 25:40). I couple this with the reflection on the life of the early Christian community: “And all those who had believed were together, and had all things in common; and they began selling their property and possessions, and were sharing them with all, as anyone might have need.” (Acts 2:44-45). It was this message of the Jesus and his Church that inspired Marx and Engels in The Holy Family to explain their utopian vision as “From each according to his ability, to each according to his need.”

While I recognize the many failures of religious people to live up to these ideals (I include myself on the list), I consider the creative moral revolution called for by religion superior to rationalist destructive revolutions, such as the Reign of Terror launched by the atheistic Robespierre. Likewise, the Marxist utopia failed in part because its corrosive atheism lacked a connection to the yearning of the human spirit for transcendence. I am much influenced in this conclusion by the encyclical, Centesimus annus. I pray every day to the Blessed Mother to help me live my life in the spirit of her Magnificat.