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The Southern Cross, Page 8
Faith AMvd
Thursday, March 25, 1999
Connecting the virtue
of charity to the common good
By Father Dale Launderville, OSB
Catholic News Service
In the Final Judgment scene re-
counted in Matthew 25:31-46, Jesus
teaches that the Son of Man will come
to separate the sheep from the goats.
The sheep, who will enter into the
heavenly kingdom, are those who
cared for others during their lifetime.
In this scene, the glorified, en
throned Jesus says, “For I was hun
gry and you gave me food, I was
thirsty and you gave me drink, a
stranger and you welcomed me, na
ked and you clothed me, ill and you
cared for me, in prison and you vis
ited me.”
Notice, however, a startling point
of this teaching: The sheep did not
know that they were caring for
Jesus when they were serving oth
ers in need. Jesus identifies himself
with the weak, the poor and the
powerless.
If we want to encounter Jesus, we
are instructed to reverse our
all-too-human tendency to pay atten
tion to the powerful rather than to the
powerless. Furthermore, our worries
about our own survival, achievement
and comfort can consume our time
and energy, and blind us to the invi
tation to life offered by Jesus through
the poor and the powerless.
As responsible members of families
and communities, we naturally try to
do our part to support our lives to
gether. Too often we may feel that we
remain faithful to our responsibilities
simply from a sense of duty.
Of course, it is no small thing to be
dutiful. But in the midst of daily tasks,
God calls us to move to a deeper level of
reality and to live in ways that show we
are creatures made in God’s image.
And we manifest our identity as
children of God in a particularly clear
way when we care for the needy and
poor among us.
Why does Jesus teach that the
deeds that qualify us for entry into the
kingdom of heaven are the corporal
works of mercy? When we examine
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our consciences, how often do we chal
lenge ourselves about our care for the
poor and the powerless?
■ ■ ■
Sometimes I wonder if the busy
ness and the noise of our lives has the
effect of keeping Jesus’ call to love our
neighbor at arms length. The poor can
make us uncomfortable and disturb
our routines. And Jesus often shows
up in our lives in ways that we would
avoid.
So many of us at the end of this
century — from teen-agers to senior
citizens — characterize our lives as
“very busy.” Time is a precious com
modity. But how much of our busy
ness is the result of our own choices?
Would we feel uncomfortable if we had
time on our hands?
In Luke’s Gospel, a scholar of the
law asked Jesus, “Teacher, what
must I do to inherit eternal life?” Then
Jesus elicited a response from the
scholar showing that what must be
done is to love God wholeheartedly and
FOOD FOR THOUGHT
At the start of Lent this year, Pope John Paul II called this pre-Easter season “a unique time of charity.” He also
recalled that charity is the theological virtue he “urged people to explore more deeply during 1999”
Today, the pope said, the world’s need for the charity of God remains “immense.” For example, new forms of
poverty await a “concrete and appropriate response” from Christians.
“In the church’s loving care,” he wrote, people must experience God’s love. What people? The pope cited:
—Lonely people.
—Those on society’s margins.
—The hungry.
—Victims of violence.
—People without hope.
Brave plans are needed to ensure that the world’s goods are shared more justly within and between nations, Pope
John Paul said. Action is called for by international institutions, national governments and centers controlling the
world economy, he added.
Among those who need love, the pope said, are people “excluded from the banquet of everyday consumerism.”
Here he recalled the Gospel’s poor man, Lazarus.
Many, like Lazarus, knock on society’s door — all those who don’t share in the material benefits of progress, said
the pope. He added:
“There are situations of persistent misery which cannot but impinge upon the conscience of Christians,” who have
a “duty to address these situations both as individuals and as a community.”
to love one’s neighbor as oneself
(10:25-28).
The scholar wanted to make sure
that he was carrying out this impor
tant commandment, and so he asked
Jesus to define the term “neighbor.”
Jesus then told him the story of the
Good Samaritan (Luke 10:29-37). The
injured man in this story desperately
needed assistance, but several passed
him by.
It is possible for us to shield our
selves from caring for others. We can
shape our “world” and our thinking
ometimes I wonder if the
busyness and the noise of
our lives has the effect of
keeping Jesus’ call to love
our neighbor at arms length.
The poor can make us
uncomfortable and disturb
our routines.”
about ourselves in such a way that we
excuse ourselves from reaching out to
others.
This can be countered, however, by
doing ordinary, undramatic acts of
kindness for others. Through the
smaller deeds within our reach, we
can encounter Christ in the lives of
others and make a difference in our
common life.
The call to love our neighbor is
serious. In Luke’s Gospel, Jesus re
lates the parable of Lazarus and the
rich man (16:19-31). The poor and
desperate Lazarus lies at the rich
man’s door day after day, but is over
looked. Such indifference results in a
reversal of fortunes in the next life:
Lazarus, the poor man, is comforted
while the indifferent rich man is in
torment.
Do we humans almost instinctively
find ways to remove the poor from our
sight? Jesus teaches us that such in
difference carries a high price.
Accepting Jesus’ call to embrace
our status as children of God and to
receive a share in the divine life
means that we regard all humans as
made in the image of God. That, in
turn, means treating the poor and the
needy as people with whom Jesus has
told us he identifies.
To be attentive to those in need is to
be near Jesus.
(Benedictine Father Launderville
is a Semitics scholar at St. John’s
University, Collegeville, Minn.)
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