Skip to main content

Matthew 26:10: The Poor will always be with you

The great salvific task, then, is to evangelize the poor so that out of their material poverty they may attain the awareness and the spirit necessary, first to escape from their indulgence and oppression, second to put an end to oppressive structures, and third to inaugurate a new heaven and a new earth, where sharing trumps accumulating and where there is time to hear and enjoy God’s voice in the heart of the material world and in the heart of human history. - Ignacio Ellacuria

The poor unleash solidarity. Solidarity means poor people and nonpoor people mutually bearing one another, giving to each other and receiving from each other. Often what is given and what is received are in quite different orders of reality: material aid and human acceptance, for example. And what the nonpoor receive may be, as a humanizing reality, superior to what they give. This kind of solidarity goes beyond mere unilateral aid, with its intrinsic tendency toward imposition and domination. It goes beyond alliances between those who wish to defend their own common interests over against other people's interests. Understanding solidarity in the sense of unequals bearing each other mutually is something novel, but such solidarity is necessary in a world of unequals; it can resolve the ambiguity and root out what is harmful in the falsely universalizing concept of globalization. - John Sobrino

We need to create economic, political and cultural models that can enable a civilization of labour to replace a civilization of capital. We need shared solidarity, a fundamental fundamental characteristic of the civilization of poverty, in contrast to the closed and competitive individualism of the civilization of wealth. - Ignacio Ellacuria

Societies based on wealth (capitalism) can never be Christian (Matthew 6:24) as they exclude the poor.

Deuteronomy 15:4: There doesn't need to be any poor among us

The important thing then is that we no longer objectify others and exclude them from society. The society of Jesus is inclusive. We need to not only allow but also invite our neighbour to participate in society. We need to give every person every opportunity to be part of our group. Allow every person to serve. Do not force anyone to just be served. Allow everyone to help. Do not demean some by considering them as unable to assist. The Kingdom of God is about inviting others to be part of a society of Jesus where we love and serve one another. Today, I encourage you to look for an opportunity to invite someone to serve our Lord alongside you - to help you give out clothes to others who need clothes, allow someone who has enjoyed a meal with you at a soup kitchen to clean tables or do dishes alongside you, ask someone their opinion; ask them to pray for you.

Let us look for opportunities not to merely serve others but to invite others to be a part of the Kingdom of God by serving God alongside us. Only then will we all have an opportunity to truly be part of the society of Jesus.

www.sheepspeak.com
www.facebook.com/salvogesis



Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Psalm 147:7-11: Does God Prohibit the Kilt?

  7 Sing to the Lord with grateful praise;     make music to our God on the harp.   8 He covers the sky with clouds;     he supplies the earth with rain     and makes grass grow on the hills. 9 He provides food for the cattle     and for the young ravens when they call.   10 His pleasure is not in the strength of the horse,     nor his delight in the legs of a man [or ‘the warrior’]; 11 the Lord delights in those who fear him,     who put their hope in his unfailing love.   Psalm 147:10 : “His pleasure is not in the strength of the horse, nor his delight in the legs of a man.” I thought this was an appropriate passage to look at on Robbie Burns Day. For Christmas one year Susan bought me some Bible Commentaries on Psalms. In one of these books the author, Peter C. Craigie, from Scotland, writes:   …. It was the custom in Scotland for boys to ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Resurrection and Frankenstein's Creation (2 Corinthians 5:17 and Revelation 21 3b-4)

 2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!  We went to see Frankenstein the Ballet last night. If anyone knows that story. The beginning is like the book. Dr. Frankenstein makes a creation out of the parts of corpses who had had terrible things happen in their lives - and then he brings life to the new creation and it becomes whole - with a whole new lease on life. A new chance to live. No matter all the awful stuff that had happened before. Now - the book actually ends poorly after that but the ballet does not. The ballet includes a story of Giselle. This bride, who herself suffered a horrible fate, learned forgiveness and is resurrected. She meets Frankenstein's creation; they fall in love - and start off again, this time living a transformed life. Revelation 21:3b-4: God himself will be with them and be their God. 4 ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Low Saturday (Genesis 3, Revelation 21)

  Hello, I am Major Michael Ramsay from TSA. As well as running The Salvation Army, the Bread of Life soup kitchen, shelter and The Salvation Army thrift store, I am a Christian pastor / teacher. This weekend is Easter. That is the most important time on the Christian Calendar. Christians acknowledge Jesus as God. Our teachings tell us that God, as creator, created the whole world. And when He did it was perfect. Not only did we not harm each other, ourselves or the earth; but we never got sick, we never got injured; and the earth itself – the trees did not fall to the ground and die. Animals did not eat animals. All of creation was in perfect harmony. The Creator even walked in this Garden He created with people He created. Then something happened. The first people created made a choice.   Because of this choice, death, decay, harm and hurt entered the world. Where there was none before, now there was illness, injury and death for all of creation. Plants, animals and al...
Post a Comment
Read more