As Christmas approaches, those who consider themselves followers of Christ would do well to examine their consciences on how they are imitating the God Man in His love for the poor. Christ could have been born in a palace or at least in the comfort of a middle-class household. He chose to be born in a poor family and spent all his earthly life mostly with the poor. He had a few rich friends like Nicodemus, Joseph of Arimathea, Lazarus and his sisters Mary and Martha, and Zacheus the tax collector. But the vast majority of his relatives, friends and acquaintances, not to mention the apostles and disciples, belonged to what we refer to as the poor households.
According to Dr. Bernardo Villegas, the Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches: “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 by 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.”
Since love is demonstrated by deeds, the first way of showing love for the poor is to use one’s own professional work to eradicate mass poverty. No one should believe in the sarcastic remark that God so loved the poor that he created many of them. Except for very rare cases when it is for the spiritual welfare of the individual (like God taking away the riches from Job and making him penniless), it is God’s will that all should make use of the material goods with which He endowed the universe for them to live with reasonable comfort. Material poverty was never the plan of God for humanity. On the contrary, his command to Adam and Eve was to have dominion over the earth so that they and their offspring would live comfortably.
The phenomenon of mass poverty here and abroad can be attributed to human stupidity or malice. Hundreds of millions in China, India, the Philippines and many other countries have suffered from dehumanizing poverty because of erroneous policies followed by their leaders during several decades after the Second World War. Among these policies were an obsession with inward-looking, protectionist industrialization; utter neglect of the agricultural sector; and a wholesale violation of the human right of economic initiative through totalitarian economic decision making. Therefore, those whose professional work involves the development of the agricultural sector (especially through the improvement of rural infrastructures); the reform of economic policies to allow individual citizens to exercise their freedom of economic initiative; and the maintenance of macroeconomic stability through prudent fiscal and monetary management are showing their love of the poor in the most direct way.
Pope John Paul II wrote that even a well-designed market economy will still leave millions of people in dire poverty if there is no direct intervention from the State and/or civil society to address the conditions of those who are too hungry, too homeless, too unschooled and too unskilled to even participate in the market economy. It is clear that markets alone will not completely solve the problem of mass poverty. Therefore, we should count on those professionals and other workers whose competence it is to nourish the poor, provide them with social housing, make quality education accessible to their children and provide technical skills to the youth to demonstrate their love for the poor by competently and honestly performing their duties. In fact, some professional people actually establish what are known as “social enterprises” to address directly the needs of the poor in a more sustainable way.
Of course, there are the traditional corporal and spiritual works of mercy that all Christians must practise if they are to live the highest virtue of charity. The works of mercy are charitable actions by which we come to the aid of our neighbour in his spiritual and bodily necessities. Instructing, advising, consoling, comforting, are spiritual works of mercy as are forgiving and bearing wrongs patiently. The corporal works of mercy consist especially in feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, clothing the naked, visiting the sick and imprisoned, and burying the dead. Among all these, giving alms to the poor is one of the chief witnesses to fraternal charity. It is also a work of justice pleasing to God.
Among families that belong to the well-to-do, it is important to inculcate early in children this compassion for the poor. Besides leading them to cultivate the virtue of poverty, it is also a very effective manner of protecting the children from the scourge of consumerism, which is at the root of the current financial crisis. The Catechism emphatically states “Love for the poor is incompatible with immoderate love of riches or their selfish use.” Rich people will learn how to be moderate in their use of their wealth if they are constantly exposed to the needs of their destitute neighbors. They would think twice before spending on superfluous luxury items if they realize that a part of their money saved can greatly alleviate the plight of the very poor.
With reports from Manila Bulletin Online
