“For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me…” (Matthew 25:35-36)
In the previous reflection on the third theme of Catholic Social Teaching, we delved into rights and responsibilities. We clarified the “duty of love” as described by St. Augustine as being rooted in the two-fold command of love of God and love of neighbor. In exploring the question of “who is my neighbor”, we discovered Simone Weil’s extended treatment of Jesus’ response to this question in Luke 10:25-37 and Weil’s conclusion that the command to love our neighbor is for universal love that demands a wholly presence to all. This presence is one that refuses to treat our neighbors as abstract things and embraces the discomfort of encounter with another. It is here that it is fitting to begin our discussion of the Church’s teaching on the preferential option for the poor and vulnerable.
The Genuine Poor Man
Our instructions to care for the poor and vulnerable have their roots in the Old Testament with passages such as, “You shall not oppress the poor or vulnerable. God will hear their cry” (Exodus 22:20-26); “Speak out in defense of the poor” (Proverbs 31:8-9); and, “True worship is to work for justice and care for the poor and oppressed” (Isaiah 25:5-7).
Even more poignantly, we are challenged in Isaiah’s Suffering Servant to recognize the Son of God, Savior of the world by His poverty: “He had no stately form or majesty to attract us, no beauty that we should desire Him. He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief… He was despised, and we esteemed Him not… He was oppressed and afflicted, yet He did not open His mouth” (Isaiah 53:2-7).
Born in the marginalized town of Bethlehem, the King of Kings was ‘wrapped in swaddling clothes’ and laid in a manger. The Son of God has everything, including Divinity, yet he divests Himself, empties Himself “…taking the form of a slave, coming in human likeness, and found human in appearance” (Phil 2:7). To reconcile all things to Himself, Jesus, our Savior and King, chose to be poor and a stranger.
St. Augustine tells us, “We have found the genuine Poor Man, we have found Him to be kind and humble, not trusting in Himself, truly poor, a member of the poor man who became poor for our sake, though He was rich… He is conceived in a woman’s virginal womb, He is enclosed in His mother’s belly. What poverty! He is born in a mean lodging, wrapped in baby clothes and laid in a manger; He becomes fodder for poor beasts. And the Lord of heaven and earth, Creator of angels, Maker and Founder of all things visible and invisible, sucks, cries, is reared, grows, puts up with being his age, conceals his ageless majesty, later on is arrested, scorned, scourged, mocked, spat at, slapped, crowned with thorns, hung on a tree, pierced with a lance. What poverty!” (Sermon 14).
Lord, When Did We See You Hungry?
“He will place the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.. Then the king will say to those on his right ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world… For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me…Then the righteous will answer him and say, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry….?’ …Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you accursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink… ‘ Then they will answer and say, ‘Lord when did we see you…?” (Matthew 25)
It is not only because of Jesus’ voluntary poverty that we are exhorted to care for the poor and vulnerable—or, said differently, to care for them because He cares for them— but more importantly because Jesus identifies so intimately with the poor, He calls us to recognize Him in the marginalized people, that is the least of these.
The Church teaches: “Beginning with the Old Testament, all kinds of juridical measures… answer the exhortation of Deuteronomy: ‘For the poor will never cease out of the land; therefore I command you, You shall open wide your hand to your brother, to the needy and to the poor in the land.’ Jesus makes these words His own: ‘The poor you always have with you, but you do not always have me.’ In so doing He does not soften the vehemence of former oracles against ‘buying the poor for silver and the needy for a pair of sandals…,’ but invites us to recognize His own presence in the poor who are His brethren” (CCC, 2449).
And let us not forget where His poverty is most pronounced as He becomes our Food and our Drink in the Holy Sacrament of the Eucharist. In fact, we discover that it is the Eucharist that commits us to the poor, “To receive in truth the Body and Blood of Christ given up for us, we must recognize Christ in the poorest, His brethren: [Quoting St. John Chrysostom] You have tasted the Blood of the Lord, yet you do not recognize your brother, … You dishonor this table when you do not judge worthy of sharing your food someone judge worthy to take part in this meal… God freed you from all your sins and invited you here, but you have not become more merciful” (CCC, 1397, cf. Mat 25:40).
In our encounter with Jesus in the Eucharist, we remember His Passion, that is His Sacrifice for our Salvation, and Resurrection, that is His promise of Eternal Happiness with Him. As we feed the poor, with our love in action, we express to them a Eucharistic remembering “take and eat, for the Lord your God has loved you into being and it is His very Life that sustains your life even now.”
The Least of These
In our society there is more than just a tendency to encourage “self-promotion”: to be interesting to others rather than to be genuinely interested in others. This is true particularly in the sphere of business where we are coached to build up our resumes and CVs creatively with almost dishonest descriptions of our duties and job titles. We are taught the two-minute elevator pitch and how to network effectively so as to instrumentalize our new acquaintances to “get ahead” in life.
As we seek to imitate Christ, to live out our true identity as Christians and be His Real Presence in the world by serving the least of these, we must guard against the temptation to help others for ourselves. We might say to ourselves interiorly or aloud to others: “Wow, I’m a really good person – I’m feeding the hungry” or “This is awesome, I have five garbage bags of clothes to donate. I am so generous!” or if someone compliments us, we might respond, “Thanks, Marcia, it’s nice to be recognized once in a while”. Saying the quiet part aloud is not the issue. The issue is allowing our egos to be stroked and not trying to cooperate with grace to cultivate the virtue of humility. What saint has ever given himself or herself credit for their goodness?
To model Christ, then, we must follow His model of accompaniment. Accompaniment is not an asymmetrical encounter adopting an internal posture of “I am here to help you.” Accompaniment is mutual vulnerability. Christ identified with us “not seeking equality with God something to be grasped” (Philippians 2:6). Therefore, we are called to recognize first in ourselves our own poverty, the reality that we are sinners in need of a Savior constantly even to take our next breath is a gift given undeservedly and freely out of God’s never-ending love for us. Then, from there, identify ourselves with the poor and vulnerable as Christ identified with them. It is not enough to view them as our brothers and sisters. They are us. We are bonded together as members of His Body as men created in the image and likeness of God loved into being and sustained by His Love. All of us.
As a final note here, let’s keep in mind that mutual vulnerability asks of us not only to give of ourselves without seeking some positive outcome for ourselves. But also, demands of us to receive others, which is perhaps the more challenging thing to do. Anthony Eslon put it this way, “Even the poor need to give of themselves, and deserve to have their gifts received and honored” (pg. 146). So, as we reflect upon this fourth principle of Catholic Social Teaching, let’s also prayerfully reflect on ways to cultivate hearts of loving receptivity so that we might live up to our identity as Christians for the world will know who we are and Who He Is by our love.
Your sister in Christ,
A previous version of this article first appeared on Catholic Women in Business on 7-19-23
Vanessa Crescio is an accountant with Lipic’s Engagement in Saint Louis, MO. She holds an MBA from the University of Notre Dame and an MTS from Newman University. She is interested in thinking through co-responsibility in the Church and developing leadership programs to form Catholics to serve the Church with not only their knowledge, skills, and abilities but with the servant heart of Christ.