Charity, Justice and the Option For the Poor and Vulnerable

My grandmother died over forty years ago but I still remember her old fashioned refrigerator with a few prayer cards taped to it, like the ones taped to the bathroom mirror and the mirror over the dresser bureau.  (Religious orders often sent such cards in the mail, soliciting support for their mission work.)   One prayer card stayed in my memory.  It had a drawing of a woman opening the back door of her home to find a man begging, sitting on the bottom step looking up with his hand out stretched and in the sky was the faint image of an angel.  The verse inscribed went like this: “‘What, begging again?’ I asked in dismay.  ‘Must I keep giving and giving away?’  -‘Oh, no!’ said an angel, piercing me through, ‘just give until God stops giving to you.’”

The modern terminology of  “compassion fatigue” comes to mind when we hear the words of this woman’s dismay.  Today, we hear people who are “dismayed” suffering from what we might call “civility fatigue” and “taxpayer fatigue” or merely, “fear” of the known (terrorism, economic crisis, etc.) and the unknown future.   We often hear criticism for how the government (federal, state or local) is mis-managing the affairs of state.  There are complaints that the government helps the rich get richer at the expense of everyone else or, that the government fosters multi-generational dependencies of the “poor” amongst us.  There is much to be debated as our states and the federal governments make laws and pass budgets, and everyone has a point of view.   Hopefully, all are striving for a noble solution which seeks the common good of all.

From the Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church [184] we find that: “…‘giving alms to the poor is one of the chief witnesses to fraternal charity: it is also a work of justice pleasing to God,’ [Catechism 2447]…even if the practice of charity is not limited to alms-giving but implies addressing the social and political dimensions of the problem of poverty…  “When we attend to the needs of those in want, we give them what is theirs, not ours.  More than performing works of mercy, we are paying a debt of justice.”[St. Gregory the Great]   The Council Fathers strongly recommend that this duty be fulfilled correctly, remembering that ‘what is already due in justice is not to be offered as a gift of charity’[Vatican II] .   Love for the poor is certainly ‘incompatible with immoderate love of riches or their selfish use.’[Catechism 2445] {James 5:1-6}.”

Jim Albright

Regional Coordinator for the Eastern Vicariate