The Poor

[BarbTherese]

Reflecting on The Gospel for today (in Aust, Gaudate Sunday, 3rd Sunday Advent), in the concluding words, St John speaks of "The One who is to come".  In Luke's Gospel after the temptations of Jesus and in the next Chapter, Chapter 4, Jesus speaks for the first time of His Mission - of His Brief from The Father :  " [18] The Spirit of the Lord is upon me. Wherefore he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor, he hath sent me to heal the contrite of heart,  To preach deliverance to the captives, and sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of reward" This, for me, tied into Psalm 9 "he hath not forgotten the cry of the poor."

 

One of the striking things about the teaching of Jesus in His Times was that the goods of this world are given solely in stewardship and are to be shared with the poor.  This would have indeed startled the rich and brought comfort to the poor - that they have a God Gifted claim on the wealth of the rich and totally in opposition with the culture and religion of Jesus in His Times.  That the 'rich' have a responsibility and indeed accountability insofar as material goods are concerned for the poor.  The goods of this world are not gifted in order to improve oneself no matter how noble and lofty, pious, the rationalization. 

 

In the early Church this basic teaching of Jesus was taken quite literally and all possessions were pooled and the most needy cared for first.  

 

As I examined my own conscience, I realized how difficult it is to embrace this teaching - to fully internalize it, as I am always finding quite noble and lofty, pious, quite just rationalizations and reasons not to part with the goods of this world to favour the poor.  And it is quite cultural even Catholic cultural to do so.  My mind then shifted on to something else Jesus said and about His Second Coming:  "[21] Not every one that saith to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven: but he that doth the will of my Father who is in heaven, he shall enter into the kingdom of heaven."

 

I have no idea how to internalize this basic teaching of Jesus and deny my own culture and rationalizations - other than to pray ardently and urgently that I do so and that it becomes Catholic cultural to do so.  It will be a great Grace and the salvation of souls I suspect if we can do so and it becomes imbedded in our Cathoic mentality and culture to do so.

 

I finished up my reflections at this point with today's Gospel by realizing that my rationalizations can water down The Gospel out of fear of facing its very real challenges.  I, and possibly we, want The Gospel to justify rather than to raise very real and difficult challenges ahead.  This reminded me of something else that Jesus said "[39] He that findeth his life, shall lose it: and he that shall lose his life for me, shall find it."  And this is the very thing I am afraid of I had to face - of loosing my life as I know it and as I have fashioned it.  I am afraid of facing my fears as challenges, prayerful challenges that only God's Grace can meet and overcome.

[LouisvilleFan]

Not to encourage scandal, but it's easy to romanticize what the early Church was like. Perhaps like God, we mercifully recall the good deeds (poolings goods to give to those in need) while easily forgetting that neglect of widows, the poor, and others in need was a big enough problem for St. Paul to confront it head on in his letters. Certainly we could all do a lot more, yet as you recognize these sacrifices are difficult (imagine that... a difficult sacrifice). It's one of those things where we need to pray that we become the change we hope to see in the Church and the world. Pray for one step at a time. "He who is faithful with small amounts will be faithful with large amounts."

[theculturewarrior]

See comment in other thread entitled "Poor."

[BarbTherese]

See comment in other thread entitled "Poor."

 

 Apologies!  My response is here http://www.phatmass.com/phorum/topic/125983-the-poor/page-2#entry2525494

[add]

"Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

[4588686]

<blockquote class='ipsBlockquote'data-author="LouisvilleFan" data-cid="2525421" data-time="1355876681"><p>
Not to encourage scandal, but it's easy to romanticize what the early Church was like. Perhaps like God, we mercifully recall the good deeds (poolings goods to give to those in need) while easily forgetting that neglect of widows, the poor, and others in need was a big enough problem for St. Paul to confront it head on in his letters. Certainly we could all do a lot more, yet as you recognize these sacrifices are difficult (imagine that... a difficult sacrifice). It's one of those things where we need to pray that we become the change we hope to see in the Church and the world. Pray for one step at a time. "He who is faithful with small amounts will be faithful with large amounts."</p></blockquote>

A single payer system and universal basic income would also help.