Poor and Vulnerable

Below is the 27^th in the August Catholic Social Teaching series: Poor and Vulnerable

We search the gospels to read about miracles, to get insights about Jesus’ identity and teaching and sometimes in our eagerness to do that, we do not notice a major feature of Jesus’ ministry, his compassion for the poor and vulnerable. Hence, the Church has made this one of the principles of Catholic Social Justice:  the preferential option with the poor.

Teresita Scully, MTS

The Second Vatican Council put it eloquently in the opening lines of Gaudium et Spes,

“The joys and the hopes, the griefs and the anxieties of the people of this age, especially those who are poor or in any way afflicted, these are the joys and hopes, the griefs and anxieties of the followers of Christ” 

Scripture

• Leviticus 19:9-10: A portion of the harvest is set aside for the poor and the stranger.

• Job 34:20-28: The Lord hears the cry of the poor.

• Proverbs 31:8-9: Speak out in defense of the poor.

• Isaiah 58:5-7: True worship is to work for justice and care for the poor and oppressed.

• Matthew 25:34-40: What you do for the least among you, you do for Jesus.

• Luke 4:16-21: Jesus proclaims his mission: to bring good news to the poor and oppressed.

• 1 John 3:17-18: How does God’s love abide in anyone who has the world’s good and sees one in need and refuses to help?

Tradition

“What is needed is a model of social, political and economic participation ‘that can include popular movements’ . . . Such movements are ‘social poets’ that, in their own way, work, propose, promote and liberate. (Pope Francis, On Fraternity and Social Friendship [Fratelli Tutti], no. 169) 

“Dialogue must not only favor the preferential option on behalf of the poor, the marginalized and the excluded, but also respect them as having a leading role to play. Others must be acknowledged and esteemed precisely as others, each with his or her own feelings, choices and ways of living and working.  (Pope Francis, The Beloved Amazon [Querida Amazonia], no. 27) 

"God's word teaches that our brothers and sisters are the prolongation of the incarnation for each of us: 'As you did it to one of these, the least of my brethren, you did it to me' (Mt 25:40). The way we treat others has a transcendent dimension: 'The measure you give will be the measure you get' (Mt 7:2).  (Pope Francis, The Joy of the Gospel [Evangelii Gaudium], no. 179)

"The obligation to provide justice for all means that the poor have the single most urgent economic claim on the conscience of the nation." (United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Economic Justice for All, no. 86)

"Still, when there is a question of defending the rights of individuals, the poor and badly off have a claim to especial consideration. The richer class have many ways of shielding themselves and stand less in need of help from the State; whereas the mass of the poor have no resources of their own to fall back upon and must chiefly depend upon the assistance of the State." (Pope Leo XIII, On  the Condition of Labor [Rerum Novarum], no. 37)

I encourage you to watch the Poor and Vulnerable video here