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

Judges 13:1-7: Strength

Covenants are important to the Lord. I am reminded of Samson. Samson was bound by a covenant without an expiry date (Jdgs 13:7) that he did not even willingly enter into (Jdgs 13, Cf. 1 Sam 1, Lk 1, Lev 27.28-29) and he struggled to keep. Samson was not to drink nor was he to defile himself. Samson was however a liar at times (Jdgs 16:7ff) and a killer (Jdgs 14:19). He visited prostitutes (Judges 16:1). He put himself and others ahead of God at times (Jdgs 14:17). Samson disobeyed his vows. Samson transgressed his covenant with God. The Lord did not forsake him though (Jdgs 16:22, Rom 3:3,4). At times Samson did follow the Lord’s direction. At times he experienced the blessings that accompanied his covenant. At times Samson drew on the strength of the Lord and was used greatly by God to accomplish His purposes. At other times Samson sinned. Every time Samson turned to and drew on the strength of the Lord, the Lord delivered him. No matter what Samson did, the Lord did not leav...
Post a Comment
Read more

Luke 24:38-34: Revelation of a King

James V, the King of Scotland used to go around the country disguised as a common person. That is because he wanted to meet the everyday people of the country not just the rich and powerful. He wanted to see how the normal people lived. One day he was dressed in very old clothes and was going by a place known as Cramond Brig, when he is attacked by robbers who don’t know who he is. There is a fierce struggle and he is nearly overcome when, at just the right moment, a poor farm worker - Jock Howieson - hears the commotion comes to the disguised king’s aid. Now Jock, the poor labourer, who works on this portion of the King’s land, Cramond Brig, unawares takes the undercover king home and gives him a dinner of broth and Jock - as the king is recouping – naturally asks the man who he is. The King responds ‘I’m a good man of Edinburgh.’ ‘And where do you live in that city and where do you work?’ ‘Well,’ says James, ‘I live at the palace and I work there too.’ ‘The palace, is it?...
Post a Comment
Read more

Lanterns (Matthew 25:1-13, Psalm 146)

  The topics I chose from our Lenten list for today are “God has rescued us from the Dominion of Darkness”; “He has Freed Us from the Power of Sin”; the Kingdom of God is at hand. Do we believe that? Do we live that?   In theology we use the term ‘prolepsis’ to refer to the time when the Kingdom of God begins, which is now, the time between the resurrection of Christ and His return at the eschaton. This is the time in which we are living and as Christians it is our responsibility to be willing instruments of God to display what it means that He has rescued us from the Dominion of Darkness; He has Freed Us from the Power of Sin, that the Kingdom of God is at hand. But do we even actually believe that He has already done this? And if He has why does it not seem that the Sin and Darkness still reign?   We know the parable of the bridesmaids (holy ones) in the Bible who needed to keep their lanterns lit – because lit lanterns were to be there when the Bridegroom Jesus returns...
Post a Comment
Read more