My dear parishioners, do the underprivileged merit a greater share of God's care and favor due to their distressed conditions? Is impoverishment an inherently favorable environment in which to seek the Lord? Do we draw closer to God more easily if we are less distracted by the care of possessions and ownership? We must answer, in many circumstances, yes, perhaps most, but not by necessity. Some embrace poverty as an aid to their salvation and for the “sake of the kingdom of heaven.” [cf. Mt 19:12] Many, poor from birth or impoverished by circumstances, neither escape nor transcend the cruel environment in which they live.
Sacred Scripture clearly does not suggest that Our Lord (son of a carpenter and teacher of teachers) was drawn personally to the sociology and politics of personal distress, cruel circumstances or calamity. He was, nevertheless, drawn to the persons involved in such adversities. Our Lord dearly loved the women who lost their husbands, the children who were abandoned, and the poor who had nothing. To anyone who suffers, whether their distress be physical, spiritual, or relational, he offers shelter in his Sacred Heart.
For human beings, a conscious act of solidarity may be required to appreciate that a suffering person is fully human. We sometimes forget, and willingly so, that the sick, aged, impaired and unborn bear God's image and likeness just as attractive and powerful persons do. People who suffer are in need. They languish in the lowest places of society. It is an axiom that if you search for Jesus, he will be found at prayer in the wilderness or surrounded by the poor and afflicted.
The plan of salvation centers on this mystery: “God chooses what is low and despised in the world, things that are not, to reduce to nothing things that are, so that no one might boast in the presence of God.” [1Cor 1:28-29] What greater human longing exists than the hunger to encounter the mercy of Christ? God cherishes the sinner who turns to him with all his heart.
Human need is itself a compelling proof of God’s existence. For who would lift up his eyes to heaven and cry out to nothing? Human need, likewise, is a compelling proof of God's mercy. For who would cry to God for help only to receive punishment? To Moses on Mount Sinai, God himself declares: “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin.” [Exo 34:6-7] Blessed are you who approach God in your need. God opens the storehouse of heaven’s blessings for you: consolation, a noble inheritance, justice, mercy, sonship, great reward, and the promise of beholding him face-to-face. [cf. Mt 5:1-12]
Understandably, persons ensnared by poverty may have little opportunity or inclination to reflect on hardship’s finer points. It is a fine irony, therefore, when human beings, for whom material goods are available in abundance, recoil at the thought of genuinely contemplating the nothingness of the poor. (Continued from page 1 Blessed Are You Well then to whom, if not God, does a wealthy person give thanks for his wealth? “He who is kind to the poor lends to the LORD, and he will repay him for his deed.” [Pro 19:17] Breaking bread and praying together foretell the feast of heaven, the nuptial banquet of Christ, the groom, and his bride, the Church. To this feast God invites the poor in spirit, the sorrowing, the meek, the righteous, the merciful, the pure in heart, the peacemakers and all brave souls persecuted for the sake of his Kingdom. “O, blessed be the name of the Lord!” [Psa 113:2]
For not a single person of this numberless heavenly multitude -- crowned and adorned by the impoverished, widowed and orphaned -- can repay Our Lord for the graces and blessings he has received in life. Hence, we must implore God to receive our human love and praise of him as “payment in full” in the name of Jesus Christ. “Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city.” [Heb 11:16] The poor have much to teach you. God cares. God can be trusted. God desires to dwell with you. Sincerely in the hearts of Jesus and Mary. Your pastor, Reverend Richard Barker. +++