Preferential Option for the Poor and Vulnerable

Sirach 7:32

Stretch out your hand to the poor, so that your blessing may be complete.

1 John 3:17

How does God’s love abide in anyone who has the world’s goods and sees a brother or sister in need and yet refuses help?

Proverbs 19:17

Whoever is kind to the poor lends to the Lord, and will be repaid in full.

Question 449: What significance do the poor have for Christians?

Love for the poor must be in every age the distinguishing mark of Christians. The poor deserve not just a few alms; they have a claim to justice. For Christians there is a special obligation to share their goods. Our example in love for the poor is Christ. “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Mt 5:3)—that is the first sentence in Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. There is material, emotional, intellectual, and spiritual poverty. Christians must look after the needy of this earth with great consideration, love, and perseverance. After all, on no other point will they be evaluated by Christ so decisively as on their way of treating the poor: “As you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me” (Mt 25:40).

Question 94: What does the common good mean for the poor?

The poor must be at the heart of the Church, or else the Church betrays her mission. In Gaudium et Spes (the Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World), the Second Vatican Council speaks about a preferential option for the poor (GS 1). From this results the central social obligation of the individual and of the whole Church to take care of the needs especially of those who are on the peripheries of society. The Beatitudes in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus' own poverty, and his loving care for the poor show us the way. Standing up for marginalized people is a direct command of Jesus: "As you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me? (Mt 25:40). Jesus also warns, however, against the ideological notion that we can completely do away with poverty in the world (Mt 26:11). Only at Christ's Second Coming will this be possible.

• Click here to be redirected to the Development and Peace website for activities highlighting world economic realities.
• Consider fundraising for Catholic Missions in Canada. Click here for more information.
• Saint Pope John Paul II, in a speech to the Bishop of Brazil on July 10, 1980, explained the preferential option for the poor as "..an invitation to a special solidarity with the small and the weak, with those who suffer and cry, who are humiliated and left on the margins of life and of society.." Read his full speech here.
• Doctors Without Borders have excellent educational resources dealing with topics of refugees, disease, conflict and others. Click here to be redirected.

Direct our Actions

Lord God, your eyes are ever upon us and you see all of our steps. Help us to know and walk in your ways that we may live the Beatitudes and, like Christ, be open to the cries of the poor and the vulnerable. Direct our actions that we may have compassion for all people, seeing them as our neighbours, and caring for them in ways that are generous and true. May we not delay in giving help to those in need. Through Christ our Lord. Amen

Prayer by Michelle Hoogveld, District Chaplain

If you are interested in preparing a liturgy or staff meeting around this Catholic Social Teaching, please consider these songs:

1. Ad Maiorem Dei Gloriam / For the Greater Glory of God (Dan Schutte)

2. Come to the Water/I Will Run to You (Foley/Maher)

3. God of the Hungry (Scott Soper)

4. Here at This Table (Janèt Sullivan Whitaker, Max Whitaker)

5. Table of Plenty (Dan Schutte)

All titles are found in Breaking Bread 2019 and are permitted for reprint with One License. Click on the song title to listen to a sample. Songs researched by Andreas Berko, Consultant, Fine and Performing Arts.

Created by Nancy Krar, Secondary ELA Consultant, these posters are intended to create discussion around books and lessons in Catholic Social Teachings. The idea is to print the poster and then create a display of books around the theme or concept. Click the image to the left for other ideas.