As we enter into the lives of the Poor we must notice they are God's prized persons!

As we enter into the lives of the Poor we must notice they are God’s most prized persons!

How easy it is for any of us to look past the needs of so many who appear to accept hand-outs through government programs that keep them from looking for work.  However, we must place ourselves in their shoes without making judgments on their abilities to work or the very psychological impression they have received from society and the put-down attitude from uncaring citizens.  

Listening to gossip among those who are quick to scrutinize the reasons for one or more persons who are recipients of monthly checks that seem to keep them from seeking employment can put negative thoughts into the minds of anyone who are supporters of the poor.  And we must be careful not to make judgments as to their inability to seek employment as some would have us believe.  

Are there people who seem to be like their parents who have always been attracted to doing nothing and live off the government?  Yes, which is an uncomfortable knowledge that they have taken advantage of the rest of society to feed them without the slightest concern of taking us for granted.  But be careful!  We don’t know the depth of their physiological premise that may be at the base of their call for help.  

There is a moral inclusion that we all must consider when making a spiritual decision as to which direction to follow when giving alms to those who may or may not be in dire need. 

God blesses those who come to the aid of the poor and rebukes those who turn away from them: “Give to him who begs from you, do not refuse him who would borrow from you;”  “you received without pay, give without pay.”  It is what they have done for the poor that Jesus Christ will recognize his chosen ones.  When “the poor have the good news preached to them,” it is the sign of Christ’s presence.  (CCC 2443).

Beginning with the Old Testament, all kinds of juridical measures (the jubilee year of forgiveness of debts, prohibition of loans at interest and the keeping of collateral, the obligation to tithe, the daily payment of the day-laborer, the right to glean vines and fields) answer the exhortation of Deuteronomy: "For the poor will never cease out of the land; therefore I command you, ‘You shall open wide your hand to your brother, to the needy and to the poor in the land.’  Jesus makes these words his own: “The poor you always have with you, but you do not always have me.”  In so doing he does not soften the vehemence of former oracles against “buying the poor for silver and the needy for a pair of sandals…,” but invites us to recognize his own presence in the poor who are his brethren:  (CCC 2449).

When her mother reproached her for caring for the poor and the sick at home, St. Rose of Lima said to her: “When we serve the poor and the sick, we serve Jesus.  We must not fail to help our neighbors, because in them we serve Jesus.”

Rich nations have a grave moral responsibility toward those which are unable to ensure the means of their development by themselves or have been prevented from doing so by tragic historical events.  It is a duty in solidarity and charity; it is also an obligation in justice if the prosperity of the rich nations has come from resources that have not been paid for fairly.  (CCC 2439).

We have never been free to refrain from assisting help, individual or national, for poor people; individually or nationally.  When all of us are to stand before Christ the judge of all and every nation, the one question will be how we treated the poor among us?  No one will be able to escape the punishment for an absence of care for the poor who were before us.  Remember; “Woe to you who are rich, for you have  received your consolation.”  (Lk 6: 24).

Ralph B. Hathaway