Catholic Sensibility

We are moving toward Pope Leo’s final thoughts on love for the poor. Here, a second-last topic that will occupy our reading and discussion today and for the next week: An inescapable challenge for the Church today

108. At a particularly critical time in the history of the Church in Rome, when the imperial institutions were collapsing under the pressure of the barbarian invasions, Pope Saint Gregory the Great felt it necessary to remind the faithful: “Every minute we can find a Lazarus if we seek him, and every day, even without seeking, we find one at our door. Now beggars besiege us, imploring alms; later they will be our advocates… Therefore do not waste the opportunity of doing works of mercy; do not store unused the good things you possess.” [Gregory the Great, Homilia40, 10: SC 522, Paris 2008, 552-554]

As the world lurches into conflict with weapons, economies, misinformation, character assassination, and such, this is a timely reminder that distractions do not permit Christians to forget their evangelical and charitable duties. “Do not store unused” may be heresy to the modern proponents of mammon, but it is a teaching we can always reject.

Gregory courageously denounced contemporary forms of prejudice against the poor, including the belief that they were responsible for their plight: “Whenever you see the poor doing something reprehensible, do not despise or discredit them, for the fire of poverty is perhaps purifying their sinful actions, however slight they be.” [Ibid., 6: SC 522, 546]

Ah yes: the rich blaming the poor for the plight of inconvenience and the consequences of their own actions. I can imagine MAGA Catholics would be as bothered by Gregory the Great as they were Francis and seem to be more and more with Leo. But truly, the real wisdom that will help all humankind is with this teaching. That include our own struggles and misguided attempts to circle the wagons and build walls rather than welcoming others into our hearts and homes.

Not infrequently, our prosperity can make us blind to the needs of others, and even make us think that our happiness and fulfillment depend on ourselves alone, apart from others. In such cases, the poor can act as silent teachers for us, making us conscious of our presumption and instilling within us a rightful spirit of humility.

You can find this document on the Vatican site here. It is also Copyright © Dicastery for Communication – Libreria Editrice Vaticana. The image is from Giotto, early 14th century, Saint Francis giving his mantle to a poor man.

107. These questions become all the more urgent in light of a serious flaw present in the life of our societies, but also in our Christian communities. The many forms of indifference we see all around us are in fact “signs of an approach to life that is spreading in various and subtle ways. What is more, caught up as we are with our own needs, the sight of a person who is suffering disturbs us.

If we are honest, this disturbance is quite common. I also think it is possible to have that sense of bother, and to move beyond it, through it, and even wrestle with it as we address the challenges some people might present to us. Such troubling feelings might have a source in a negative experience, and that is something to work through and transcend. It might also be a prejudice of our upbringing, and so we struggle within as well as with our parents’ legacy.

And sometimes the bother to our daily life reflects our own selfishness:

It makes us uneasy, since we have no time to waste on other people’s problems. These are symptoms of an unhealthy society. A society that seeks prosperity but turns its back on suffering. May we not sink to such depths! Let us look to the example of the Good Samaritan.” [Fratelli Tutti 65-66] The final words of the Gospel parable — “Go and do likewise” (Luke 10:37) — represent a mandate that every Christian must daily take to heart.

And yes, it also reflects poorly on a society that considers itself at the apex of civilized advancement. The poor, and the world’s treatment of them, suggests that while we may be able to feed the world’s billions thanks to advances in science and technology, our choice not to do so reveals our moral advancement as akin to the Bronze Age–no real advancement into the Space Age.

This document is available in multiple languages, as usual, on the Vatican site here. It is also Copyright © Dicastery for Communication – Libreria Editrice Vaticana. The image is from Giotto, early 14th century, Saint Francis giving his mantle to a poor man.

More from Pope Francis:

106. It is important for us to realize that the story of the Good Samaritan remains timely even today. “If I encounter a person sleeping outdoors on a cold night, I can view him or her as an annoyance, an idler, an obstacle in my path, a troubling sight, a problem for politicians to sort out, or even a piece of refuse cluttering a public space. Or I can respond with faith and charity, and see in this person a human being with a dignity identical to my own, a creature infinitely loved by the Father, an image of God, a brother or sister redeemed by Jesus Christ. That is what it is to be a Christian! Can holiness somehow be understood apart from this lively recognition of the dignity of each human being?” [Gaudete et Exsultate 98] What did the Good Samaritan do?

The time is now, Pope Francis might say. Many years ago, I began to notice who would cross my path. I strove to pay attention. Sometimes I didn’t want to pay attention, and that was also an occasion of noticing my own reactions. All it took was a simple commitment to asl God to help me notice people, then be open to whatever exchange might be called for. Campus ministry is an environment ripe for that sort of discipline. I think I’ve lost something of that in the intervening years. My hope is that it is always something possible to recover, but the settings in which I’ve lived perhaps don’t lend themselves as well to that kind of daily realization, not just noticing the needy.

This document is available in multiple languages, as usual, on the Vatican site here. It is also Copyright © Dicastery for Communication – Libreria Editrice Vaticana. The image is from Giotto, early 14th century, Saint Francis giving his mantle to a poor man.

Recent popes–notably John Paul II and Francis–have urged us to examine the parable of the Good Samaritan. This is not just a review of a story so many Christians know well enough. That we do know it suggests the possibility we dismiss it too easily, like a reboot that fares poorly in comparison to the original.

105. The dominant culture at the beginning of this millennium would have us abandon the poor to their fate and consider them unworthy of attention, much less our respect. Pope Francis, in his Encyclical Fratelli Tutti, challenged us to reflect on the parable of the Good Samaritan (cf. Luke 10:25-37), which presents the different reactions of those confronted by the sight of a wounded man lying on the road. Only the Good Samaritan stops and cares for him.

Pope Francis asked typically Ignatian questions, suggesting we place ourselves into the story and see where we align.

Pope Francis went on to ask each of us: “Which of these persons do you identify with? This question, blunt as it is, is direct and incisive. Which of these characters do you resemble?

Perhaps Christians would casually say they are the Samaritan. Or they want to be.

I think Pope Francis is correct to suggest that we are hardly an advanced or civilized society when it comes to the care of the needy. We may have a twenty-first century status in terms of our technology, science, and medicine. But we aren’t terribly far advanced beyond antiquity when it comes to the most vulnerable people in the world. Our casual dismissal of the needy suggests we are still operating at the cruelty level of the Roman Empire. In many ways, Christians and our few allies are operating at the peripheries of the modern world, rather than taking the care of the needy to a more central consideration.

We need to acknowledge that we are constantly tempted to ignore others, especially the weak. Let us admit that, for all the progress we have made, we are still ‘illiterate’ when it comes to accompanying, caring for and supporting the most frail and vulnerable members of our developed societies. We have become accustomed to looking the other way, passing by, and ignoring situations until they affect us directly.” [Fratelli Tutti 64]

This document is available in multiple languages, as usual, on the Vatican site here. It is also Copyright © Dicastery for Communication – Libreria Editrice Vaticana. The image is from Giotto, early 14th century, Saint Francis giving his mantle to a poor man.

104. No Christian can regard the poor simply as a societal problem; they are part of our “family.” They are “one of us.”

This can be difficult these days, especially in our age of compartmentalizing things, actions, as well as people. Even women and men with good intentions can see needy people as a “project,” people to reform and change according to our own standards and priorities.

The Aparecida bishops give good guidance here:

Nor can our relationship to the poor be reduced to merely another ecclesial activity or function. In the words of the Aparecida Document, “we are asked to devote time to the poor, to give them loving attention, to listen to them with interest, to stand by them in difficult moments, choosing to spend hours, weeks or years of our lives with them, and striving to transform their situations, starting from them. We cannot forget that this is what Jesus himself proposed in his actions and by his words.” [Aparecida 397]

When we are counselled to give “years of our lives,” what feelings or movement does that stir in us?

This document is available in multiple languages, as usual, on the Vatican site here. It is also Copyright © Dicastery for Communication – Libreria Editrice Vaticana. The image is from Giotto, early 14th century, Saint Francis giving his mantle to a poor man.

Here we are at the final section of Dilexi Te, CHAPTER FIVE, A CONSTANT CHALLENGE. Will we feel the challenge of the Holy Father? More importantly, as Christians will we feel the challenge of the needy of our world who cross our paths, who comes to mind, and who ask to walk with us? Will we respond in a way befitting a disciple of Jesus?

103. I have chosen to recall the age-old history of the Church’s care for the poor and with the poor in order to make clear that it has always been a central part of her life.

Our tour through history and its saints should be helpful to us. These point us the way if we are hesitant or ignorant.

Indeed, caring for the poor is part of the Church’s great Tradition, a beacon as it were of evangelical light to illumine the hearts and guide the decisions of Christians in every age. That is why we must feel bound to invite everyone to share in the light and life born of recognizing Christ in the faces of the suffering and those in need. Love for the poor is an essential element of the history of God’s dealings with us; it rises up from the heart of the Church as a constant appeal to the hearts of the faithful, both individually and in our communities.

Our encounter with the poor is an encounter with Christ, and thus is a small-s sacramental experience. It also inspires observers, marks us as different from secular concerns. As long as we remain faithful.

As the Body of Christ, the Church experiences the lives of the poor as her very “flesh,” for theirs is a privileged place within the pilgrim people of God. Consequently, love for the poor — whatever the form their poverty may take — is the evangelical hallmark of a Church faithful to the heart of God. Indeed, one of the priorities of every movement of renewal within the Church has always been a preferential concern for the poor. In this sense, her work with the poor differs in its inspiration and method from the work carried out by any other humanitarian organization.

This document is available in multiple languages, as usual, on the Vatican site here. It is also Copyright © Dicastery for Communication – Libreria Editrice Vaticana. The image is from Giotto, early 14th century, Saint Francis giving his mantle to a poor man.

We can learn to trust in God and be inspired by faith in difficult circumstances. That’s the idea here:

102. In light of this, it is evident that all of us must “let ourselves be evangelized” [Evangelii Gaudium 198] by the poor and acknowledge “the mysterious wisdom which God wishes to share with us through them.” [Ibid.] Growing up in precarious circumstances, learning to survive in the most adverse conditions, trusting in God with the assurance that no one else takes them seriously, and helping one another in the darkest moments, the poor have learned many things that they keep hidden in their hearts. Those of us who have not had similar experiences of living this way certainly have much to gain from the source of wisdom that is the experience of the poor. Only by relating our complaints to their sufferings and privations can we experience a reproof that can challenge us to simplify our lives.

This document is available in multiple languages, as usual, on the Vatican site here. It is also Copyright © Dicastery for Communication – Libreria Editrice Vaticana. The image is from Giotto, early 14th century, Saint Francis giving his mantle to a poor man.

101. All this entails one aspect of the option for the poor that we must constantly keep in mind, namely that it demands of us an attitude of attentiveness to others. “This loving attentiveness is the beginning of a true concern for their person which inspires me effectively to seek their good.

Four aspects, according to Pope Francis:

This entails appreciating the poor

• in their goodness,
• in their experience of life,
• in their culture, and
• in their ways of living the faith.

These are all appreciations we give to friends. It underscores the impulse to make real friends among the poor, authentic relationships.

True love is always contemplative, and permits us to serve the other not out of necessity or vanity, but rather because he or she is beautiful above and beyond mere appearances… Only on the basis of this real and sincere closeness can we properly accompany the poor on their path of liberation.” [Evangelii Gaudium 199]

Pope Leo mentions those who choose to live with the poor:

For this reason, I express my heartfelt gratitude to all those who have chosen to live among the poor, not merely to pay them an occasional visit but to live with them as they do. Such a decision should be deemed one of the highest forms of evangelical life.

This document is available in multiple languages, as usual, on the Vatican site here. It is also Copyright © Dicastery for Communication – Libreria Editrice Vaticana. The image is from Giotto, early 14th century, Saint Francis giving his mantle to a poor man.