Responding to the Poor?

Today I begin seven weeks of teaching - four different subjects in six different class settings. So, time for thoughtful reflection on the John 13:34 Blog may be few and far between. But, I promise to do my best for my awesome readers who come daily to find inspiration and hope. What follows below is a reflection which appeared in yesterday's church bulletin at The Community of Saint Peter's, a faith congregation that is "preserving and renewing a living tradition". The pastor, Robert Marone preached a brilliant sermon on 'hearing and speaking' that I will be writing about in this Thursday's post. The noted author Gail Ramshaw is the author of the following passage. She writes:

"The close of the Middle Ages marked the establishment of capitalism in the West. Particularly among economically successful Protestants the opinion grew that money is God's reward for work well done, and such money can serve the society in many ways, including feeding the poor. The late nineteenth century saw the emergence of what has been termed the gospel of wealth, a conviction held by some Christians that God's Good News was money. Meanwhile, throughout the centuries many wealthy Christians believed that generous contributions to the poor were the one way they expressed to God their gratitude for a life of privilege. So the Church lives in ambivalence about money. This ambivalence, openly discussed by many contemporary Catholic vowed religious, addresses one of the classic three monastic vows, which is to a life of poverty. Yet as participants in our society, these sisters and brothers recognize poverty as a great social evil that the Church must combat. How can one be vowed to evil? What is meant by poverty? One of the most influential Christian movements in the twentieth century was liberation theology, led by theologians within the community of the poor. The movement enabled the poor themselves to speak out, resulting in eloquent expressions of God's preferential option for the poor. The mainstream church tends to listen with compassion and charity, without joining the life of poverty. The lectionary includes prophetic condemnation of the rich. This biblical strain says that people are poor, not because of God's fault, or fate's, but because of the greed and dishonesty of the rich. Amos says that if the rich were not breaking or stretching the law, there would be no poor. According to Luke's memorable parable of the rich man and the poor Lazarus, the rich man bears full responsibility for not having fed, clothed and nursed the beggar on his doorstep, and his disregard for the poor lands him in a place of torment." (Treasures Old and New)

Love One Another - Brian