Dear Friends

The Early Church Fathers and Mothers still have much to teach, even though they are far removed from us in time and circumstance. Consider this from St John Chrysostom (c. 347-407):

“Those who are generous should not ask for an account of the poor’s conduct, but only improve their condition of poverty and satisfy their need. The poor have only one plea: their poverty and the condition of need in which they find themselves. Do not ask anything else of them; but even if they are the most wicked persons in the world, if they lack the necessary nourishment, let us free them from hunger. ... The merciful are like a harbour for those in need: the harbour welcomes and frees from danger all those who are shipwrecked; whether they are evildoers, good persons, or whatever they may be, the harbour shelters them within its inlet. You, too, therefore, when you see on land a man or a woman who has suffered the shipwreck of poverty, do not judge, do not ask for an account of their conduct, but deliver them from their misfortune.”

His words have special relevance today because there’s a tendency, an increasing one in affluent countries, for the poor to be blamed for their situation…as though they created their own poverty by not working hard, not planning ahead, not saving. Unfortunately, the most vocal proponents of these views are often adherents of the “Gospel of Prosperity” which claims that God blesses the good with success and wealth.

Pope Francis’ message for the Fifth World Day of the Poor (Thirty-third Sunday of the Year, 14 November), “The Poor You Will Always Have With You” (Mark 14:7) offers a starkly different commentary on poverty. He takes Mark’s account of the Anointing at Bethany as his starting point. From this, he extrapolates some fundamental attitudes that Christians require, and connects the Gospel story to the poor.

He speaks of the woman’s sensitivity to Jesus’ needs, a sensitivity grounded in her own marginalisation. Of this he says: “With a woman’s sensitivity, she alone understood what the Lord was thinking. That nameless woman, meant perhaps to represent all those women who down the centuries would be silenced and suffer violence, thus became the first of those women who were significantly present at the supreme moments of Christ’s life: his crucifixion, death, burial and resurrection. Women, so often discriminated against and excluded from positions of responsibility, are seen in the Gospels to play a leading role in the history of revelation. Jesus’ then goes on to associate that woman with the great mission of evangelization: “Amen, I say to you, wherever the Gospel is proclaimed to the whole world, what she has done will be told in memory of her” (Mk 14:9).

He goes on to comment on the powerful empathy established between Jesus and the woman, and Jesus’ view of her that was so different from the others scandalised by her presence. Such empathy should characterise the Christian’s relationship with the poor. He reminds us that “The poor evangelise us because they enable us to discover in new ways the face of the father”.

He also offers several warnings. One of these is the fact that ‘the poor are always with us’ shouldn’t be used as an excuse to ignore, minimise suffering, or to be “indifferent” to them. He also reminds us that the poor are not “outsiders”, they aren’t just a “category”, “but brothers and sisters whose sufferings we should share, in an effort to alleviate their difficulties and marginalization, restore their lost dignity and ensure their necessary social inclusion”. He also warns against the idea of charity with its assumption of givers and receivers. He prefers the idea of “mutual sharing” which isn’t occasional, as is charity, but an enduring attitude.

He also has some strong words of condemnation, which will resonate with many:

There seems to be a growing notion that the poor are not only responsible for their condition, but that they represent an intolerable burden for an economic system focused on the interests of a few privileged groups. A market that ignores ethical principles, or picks and chooses from among them, creates inhumane conditions for people already in precarious situations. We are now seeing the creation of new traps of poverty and exclusion, set by unscrupulous economic and financial actors lacking in a humanitarian sense and in social responsibility.”

However, his criticisms are not confined only to the “big end of town”. He states what’s true for us all, “individualistic lifestyles are complicit in generating poverty, and often saddle the poor with responsibility for their condition. Yet poverty is not the result of fate; it is the result of selfishness”.

He calls on Governments and people, especially in the affluent world, to adopt a different approach to poverty and to explore creative responses to these complex issues. New “development processes in which the abilities of all are valued” are required “so that complementarity of skills and diversity of roles can lead to a common resource of mutual participation”. As a starting point, everyone, Christians in particular, need to grow in awareness of the needs of the poor, which are always changing.

In essence, the only solution to the world’s tragedies of poverty and violence is radical, personal conversion and more effective evangelisation. No small undertaking! Yet we must embrace hope and work for the coming of the Kingdom.

“Christian discipleship entails deciding not to accumulate earthly treasures, which give the illusion of a security that is actually fragile and fleeting. It requires a willingness to be set free from all that holds us back from achieving true happiness and bliss, in order to recognize what is lasting, what cannot be destroyed by anyone or anything” (cf. Mt 6:19-20). [4]

I recommend the Pope’s full message to you.

Peter