Tag Archives: the poor and disadvantaged

Daily Riches: The Globalisation of Indifference Towards the Poor (Pope Francis)

Posted on by under The Love of God, The Poor and Disenfranchised, The Upside-Down Kingdom

“Jesus states that we cannot serve two masters, God and wealth. … Jesus tells us what the ‘protocol’ is, on which we will be judged: I was hungry, I was thirsty, I was in prison, I was sick, I was naked and you helped me, clothed me, visited me, took care of me. (Matthew 25) Whenever we do this to one of our brothers, we do this to Jesus. Caring for our neighbour; for those who are poor, who suffer in body and in soul, for those who are in need. This is the touchstone. …Poverty takes us away from idolatry and from feeling self-sufficient. …the Gospel does not condemn the wealthy, but the idolatry of wealth, the idolatry that makes people indifferent to the call of the poor. …

‘The Church [is] everyone’s Church, and particularly the Church of the poor.’ (Pope John XXIII)

In the following years, this preferential treatment of the poor entered the official teachings. Some may think a novelty, whilst instead it is a concern that stems from the Gospel and is documented even from the first centuries of Christianity. If I repeated some passages from the homilies of the Church Fathers, in the second or third century, about how we must treat the poor, some would accuse me of giving a Marxist homily.

‘You are not making a gift of what is yours to the poor man, but you are giving him back what is his. You have been appropriating things that are meant to be for the common use of everyone. The earth belongs to everyone, not to the rich.’ (St. Ambrose) … ‘not sharing your goods with the poor means robbing them and taking away their life.’ (St. John Chrysostom)

…this concern for the poor is in the Gospel, it is within the tradition of the Church, it is not an invention of communism…. The Church, when it invites us to overcome what I have called ‘the globalisation of indifference’, is free from any political interest and any ideology. It is moved only by Jesus’ words, and wants to offer its contribution to build a world where we look after one another and care for each other.” Pope Francis

Moving From Head to Heart

  • What feelings arise when you hear Pope Francis suggest building “a world where we look after one another?”
  • Is your church “indifferent to the call of the poor?” Is it a church “of the poor?”
  • Have you imagined being truly poor?

Abba, help!

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These “Daily Riches” are for your encouragement as you seek after God and he seeks after you. I hope you’ll follow my blog, and share it. My goal is to share something of unique value with you daily in 400 words or less. I appreciate your interest!  –  Bill (Psalm 90:14)

Daily Riches: God’s Call to Evangelicals … And All Christians (Lloyd Gestoso)

Posted on by under Community & the Church, Contemplation and Activism, Jesus the Savior, Loving Well, Social Justice, The Poor and Disenfranchised

“I want the evangelical church in America to be a place of safety and hope for real people who face real problems. …Christianity is one of the largest religions in the world. Evangelical Christians are very influential in this country. Our churches are very well-positioned all over the country. We have the infrastructure built. But people who have real problems, people who have real challenges, people who need hope often are not turning to our churches. It’s partly because, since the New Deal and all the things that happened in the 1930s, all the people born after that think the government is the group that takes care of people’s needs, and the church takes care of just the spiritual. But if you look at history before the Great Depression, the church was very, very active in caring for all needs, for all people, all children. They were educating the illiterate; they were caring for the orphans; they were really seeking to care for people who were addicted to alcohol. And I think we can be that place of refuge again for people when they see the shallow and empty solutions that are available and they want something more real, something of depth, something beyond what we can see. They want to connect with a real God, to the real Almighty God. And I think sometimes our churches are caught up with what others think or with being afraid to speak out, and we’re often caught up, unfortunately, judging others … looking at each other as competitors, not as brothers and sisters, weighing whether they deserve our time or our love. And that’s really unfortunate. We really need to understand the grace of God that’s in our lives, set aside our preoccupation with deciding people’s worthiness, and really begin to see every human being with value, seeing every human being as a human soul that has crossed our paths for some purpose. That’s really why God put us on Earth: to love profoundly. And I think we are still not known for loving profoundly.” Lloyd Gestoso

“whoever loves others
has fulfilled the law.”
Romans 13:8

  Moving From the Head to the Heart

  • Do you calculate “people’s worthiness” before you decide whether to help them?
  • Does your denomination “love profoundly?” …your church? Would others use those words to describe you?
  • Is your church more likely to produce people who are “judging others” or helping others “connect with” the God who is real?

Abba, help us, whoever we are, to love profoundly.

For More: The Soul of Politics by Jim Wallis

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These “Daily Riches” are for your encouragement as you seek God and he seeks you. My goal is to share something of unique value with you daily in 400 words or less. –  Bill (Psalm 90:14)