OPTION FOR THE POOR AND VULNERABLE

 

“You shall not oppress the poor or vulnerable. God will hear their cry.” (Exodus 22:20-26)

“How does God’s love abide in anyone who has the world’s goods and sees one in need and refuses to help?” (1 John 3:17-18)

 

“A basic moral test is how our most vulnerable members are faring. In a society marred by deepening divisions between rich and poor, our tradition recalls the story of the Last Judgment (Matthew 25:31-46) and instructs us t put the needs of the poor and vulnerable first.” USCCB

 

The preferential option for the poor and vulnerable is steeped in the Tradition of the Catholic Church and the Gospels. This option is not meant to create and adversarial situation between the poor and the rich but rather calls to mind the admonition in the Sacred Scriptures that “True worship is to work for justice and care for the poor and oppressed.” ( Isaiah 58:5-7) The option for the poor calls us to take care of their needs and see that our way of life does not cause theirs to suffer in any way.

 

"The Church's love for the poor . . . is a part of her constant tradition." This love is inspired by the Gospel of the Beatitudes, of the poverty of Jesus, and of his concern for the poor. . . . "Those who are oppressed by poverty are the object of a preferential love on the part of the Church which, since her origin and in spite of the failings of many of her members, has not ceased to work for their relief, defense, and liberation." (Catechism of the Catholic Church, nos. 2444, 2448, quoting Centisimus annus, no. 57, and Libertatis conscientia, no. 68) 

 

The option for the poor means that their needs must come first. We have an obligation to notice the poor and vulnerable and respond to their needs using not just our surplus wealth but even our very sustenance. “The needs of the poor take priority over the desires of the rich; the rights of workers over the maximization of profits; the preservation of the environment over uncontrolled industrial expansion; the production to meet social needs over production for military purposes.” (United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Economic Justice for All, no. 94)

 

The bottom line is that we possess nothing ourselves that is to be held back from those who are in need. We are, in fact, stewards of the material wealth we are fortunate enough to possess. We are called by our discipleship with Christ to share what we have with others, to give them their due of what we have accumulated. “Faced with a world today where so many people are suffering from want, the council asks individuals and governments to remember the saying of the Fathers:  ‘Feed the people dying of hunger, because if you do not feed them you are killing them,’ and it urges them according to their ability to share and  dispose of their goods to help others, above all by giving them aid which will  enable them to help and develop themselves. (Second Vatican Council, The Church in the Modern World [Gaudium et Spes], no. 69)