LOVING THE POOR, A PRIORITY?
A multitude of poor people barely survives in our rich world. Forced poverty is a curse that cries out to heaven in a word that has enough for all to live a decent life and that wastes too much on weapons of destruction and killing.
Christian love or charity is divine love – God’s love and grace in us – and brotherly love: God is our Father and we are all his children and therefore we are brothers and sisters in Jesus. This fraternal love is the birthmark of the disciples of Jesus. Brotherly love is universal, not selective: “By this will all people know that you are my disciples if you have a love for one another” (Jn 13:35).
This universal fraternal love is, however, focused on a special love for the poor neighbor, called since the late 1960s the preferential option or love for the poor. At the level of theory, we continue talking about this preferential love, which is often denied at the level of practice by a superfluous, consumeristic, wasteful lifestyle.
In the Old as well as in the New Testament, the praxis of justice-love is directed principally towards the poor and the marginalized. In the Old Testament, particularly in the prophetic tradition, we see God - the God of justice and mercy - on the side of the poor and needy: “He will do justice to the poor” (cf. Is 58:6-10; Am 8:4-7; 1 Jn 3:17).
Jesus’ poverty is the poverty of being, “kenosis”: “He emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness” (Phil 2:7); “Being rich, he became poor for our sakes” (2 Cor 8:9). The poverty of Jesus is also the poverty of having. The crucified and risen Christ asked all his disciples to be poor: “None of you can be my disciple if you do not give up all your possessions” (Lk 14:33). Christ was born, lived, and died poor, and was close to the poor, to the materially and socially poor.
Jesus, the Son of God and the Man-for-others invites all his followers to live soberly and to love the poor: “The invitation [to the rich young man] ‘go sell your possessions and give the money to the poor,’ and ‘you will have treasure in heaven [Mt 19:21] are meant for everyone” (John Paul II, Veritatis Splendor). Hence, excessive spending and squandering are sins (cf. CCC, 2409).
The apostles were committed to helping the poor, and asked Paul to do the same: “They [the apostles] asked only one thing, that we remember the poor, which was actually what I was eager to do” (Gal 2:10).
The Fathers of the Church practiced and taught to all Christians the special love for the poor as an obligatory option or love. Piercing words: “He who takes the clothes from a man is a thief. He who does not clothe the indigent, when he can, does he deserve another name but a thief?” (St. Basil the Great).
St. Thomas Aquinas, expressing creatively Christian Tradition, spoke strongly of the right of every person to a share in the goods of the earth and of the grave obligation of the rich people to share with the poor: the goods of the world were created by God for all and therefore everyone has the right to the share needed to live a decent life (cf. GS, 69).
In her evangelization mission, the Church opts preferentially for the poor, the materially poor, and the socially marginalized of our societies: “Christians have to raise their voice on behalf of all the poor of the world.” The preferential option for the poor implies not only effective help but also effective love to them, that is, “getting close to them so that the hand that helps is seen not as a humiliating handout but as a sharing between brothers and sisters”; “We must therefore ensure that in every Christian community the poor feel at home” (John Paul II). It is also the option that “must pervade the presentation and study of Christian truth” (Pope Francis, VG).
What is the meaning of the preferential option for the poor? “Option” means decision and commitment in favor of the poor; it is not an optional but an obligatory option for all disciples of Jesus. “Preferential” means the choice of the poor as a priority of Christian witnessing of justice and solidarity – a witnessing that is necessary for salvation. “Poor” means the economically poor and the socially poor – the marginalized, the oppressed, the exploited. (Certainly, there are “the spiritually poor”; some love to mix both - “we are all poor”- and thus tame the evangelical radicalism of the “preferential love for the poor”).
We may say that the implications of the option for the poor are three: poverty in spirit, a simple lifestyle, and solidarity with the poor. Poverty in spirit (cf. Mt 5:3) is a condition of Christian discipleship, a true sign of Christian identity, which implies the power to recognize Jesus in the poor.
Poverty in spirit leads to a simple lifestyle (cf. Lk 12:22-34; 1 Tm 6:8): Let us live simply so that others may simply live (Canadian Bishops); “No one can be poor in spirit while living like the rich man” (J. L. Martin Descalzo). A simple lifestyle leads to solidarity with all, particularly with the needy and poor (cf. Ez 16:49; Ga 2:10). Solidarity means compassionate love: being united to the poor in fraternity and sharing something with them.
In Novo Millenio Ineunte (NMI, 2001), John Paul II wrote powerful and innovative words – perhaps, generally ignored - on the preferential love for the poor: Not to practice the preferential love for the poor is a kind of heresy – not against orthodoxy- but against orthopraxis. Pope Francis is asking us: Is the poverty of Jesus Christ our faithful companion of life?
Jesus: I was hungry and you gave me food… (cf. Mt 25:31-46). Lord Jesus, “let us serve you in the hungry and give you to eat.” (FGB)
