Instead of becoming and being a "poor Church serving the needs of the poor", as the late Pope Francis called us to be, we seem to be choosing to remain as materially wealthy Church wherein the poor (materially, economically and spiritually) are marginalized and often excluded. This appears especially true in the "First World" or modern nations wherein poverty is being criminalized.
Each of us has a choice to "love our neighbors, our brothers and sisters" and act in support and solidarity with them or, to cross over to the other side of the path and ignore them as the Pharisee and the scribe did in the Gospel story of "the Good Samaritan"...
If you side with the poor, following the urging of St. Teresa of Calcutta and "giving until it hurts", you will "lose your life so as to gain your life"...
It becomes a choice to live a life following the "two greatest commandments" so that all else will be given to us and we might receive the grace of eternal life.
Christ walks hand in hand with the poor, materially and spiritually poor. He dines with the hungry and lives with the homeless. He is imprisoned with the oppresses and those seeking justice. He is the only hope of the abandoned, the excluded. He is the healing of the sick and suffering. He is the person you see sitting on the sidewalk who longs for human contact.
Live love so that you might truly live.
There is no need for violent confrontations, aggressive demonstrations, angry rhetoric or a judgmental attitude. Just go about each day living your faith and allowing God to do the rest.
A forever example of a person who tried their best to walk as Jesus Christ walked. A true “Jesus follower”
Instead of becoming and being a "poor Church serving the needs of the poor", as the late Pope Francis called us to be, we seem to be choosing to remain as materially wealthy Church wherein the poor (materially, economically and spiritually) are marginalized and often excluded. This appears especially true in the "First World" or modern nations wherein poverty is being criminalized.
Each of us has a choice to "love our neighbors, our brothers and sisters" and act in support and solidarity with them or, to cross over to the other side of the path and ignore them as the Pharisee and the scribe did in the Gospel story of "the Good Samaritan"...
If you side with the poor, following the urging of St. Teresa of Calcutta and "giving until it hurts", you will "lose your life so as to gain your life"...
It becomes a choice to live a life following the "two greatest commandments" so that all else will be given to us and we might receive the grace of eternal life.
Christ walks hand in hand with the poor, materially and spiritually poor. He dines with the hungry and lives with the homeless. He is imprisoned with the oppresses and those seeking justice. He is the only hope of the abandoned, the excluded. He is the healing of the sick and suffering. He is the person you see sitting on the sidewalk who longs for human contact.
Live love so that you might truly live.
There is no need for violent confrontations, aggressive demonstrations, angry rhetoric or a judgmental attitude. Just go about each day living your faith and allowing God to do the rest.
Yours in Christ,
Br. William Joseph Marie
What’s the source of the Dorothy Day quote, I couldn’t find it on the internet.
Hi, Bryce! I actually linked to it in the editorial open. It's from a 1957 column "On Pilgrimage" in the Catholic Worker: https://thecatholicnewsarchive.org/?a=d&d=CW19570301-01.2.9&srpos=2&e=-------en-20-CW-1--txt-txIN-%22great+mass+of+the+poor%22-------
Thank you very much, Renée!