Homily for the Twenty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B

Whose Job Is It To Take Care Of The Poor?

Rev. Marcel Divine Emeka Okwara, CSsR

Homily for the Twenty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B

Church of St. Bridget of Minneapolis, MN

Sunday, September 8, 2024

A few years ago, a Catholic priest in Nigeria did something totally startling and downrightly dramatic. He wanted to see how his parishioners would respond to an impoverished man begging for charity. One Sunday morning, this priest dressed up in torn and worn-out clothing he collected during the week, put some dirt on his head and face as a way of disguising himself and then sat in front of his church begging. Aside from a sign in his hands that reads, “Help the poor” he also adopted a sorrowful tone of voice as he pleads, “Please, help me. I am hungry and homeless.” The priest made sure he sat outside of the main entrance to the church before people started to come to Mass. As he sat there begging, a few people who entered the church gave him money, while the rest, the vast majority of the people, wondered why a beggar was allowed to sit there and beg. Eventually, the priest who disguised as a destitute was harshly ordered to leave. When he hesitated and continued to beg for help, some men came, picked him up and threw him out of the church compound. And they made sure he didn’t come back. To make the long story short, the priest eventually made his way back to the rectory and dressed up for Mass. By the way, this whole drama was captured on video by a young man who was hired by the priest. During his homily, the priest stood before his parishioners and said something like “Brothers and sisters, I am that poor beggar at the door that was thrown out of the church premises.” And that was his entire homily. The silence that followed was deafening. 

In today’s second reading (James 2:1-5), St. James sharply criticizes Christians who discriminate against the poor just as the disguised priest in the story was treated by his parishioners. In Catholic social teaching, there is something called “preferential option for the poor.” It is a principle which is littered throughout the Bible that encourages all people and particularly Christians to prioritize the needs of the most vulnerable in society. It says that priority should be given to the well-being of the poor and the powerless in our society. Now, before you frown, “option for the poor” is not a slogan that pits one group against another. Instead it is a way to recognize and always remember that the deprivation of the poor affects not only the poor but the whole community and the whole society. What does this entail? Here in our country, hundreds of billions of dollars are yearly budgeted for military purposes. While this is necessary, the Catholic Church urges our leaders to also prioritize production that meets social needs. The Church also encourages everyone to help the poor, to think about the poor and to follow Jesus’ example and teaching. Jesus taught that feeding the hungry, welcoming strangers, and caring for the sick are ways to look after him. The Church has always seen almsgiving, which means all kinds of charity to the poor, as an essential part of the Gospel, not an extra or a specialization for a few. 

How are the poor discriminated against? One of the ways we discriminate against the poor is not always very obvious. It is rather subtle and subdued. We do this not so much by commission as St. James says in our second reading for today, but by omission. We do this by ignoring the poor, deliberately avoiding the poor, not paying attention to their existence and their needs and by convincing ourselves that there is nothing we can do to help them. We give reasons why they are poor, which is always their fault. Another way we discriminate against the poor is giving undue and disproportionate attention to the well-off. In some Christian churches, some individuals are assigned to particularly attend to the rich who come to church. The pastor caters to them, pays particular attention to them and regularly recognizes them individually in the assembly. Meanwhile the not so rich members who ensure that the church is tidy are hardly recognized. Finally, another way we discriminate against the poor is by ignoring the spiritually poor and their spiritual needs. We forget that some of the poorest people in our society are actually people with good and comfortable houses, good jobs, and fat bank accounts. But by our very calculations, they are truly rich, materially rich. But by God’s calculations, they are the poorest among us. 

Now, what is the Catholic Church’s position on this matter? Everybody, from the leadership of the Church to the man and woman in the pews, should care for the needs of everybody. If the spiritually alert among us are materially poor, the Church must preach and promote causes that lift them up. And if the materially wealthy among us are spiritually poor, the Church must speak the truth to them. From the lips of Jesus we hear, “If you remain in my word, you will truly be my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (John 8:31-32). The materially poor and spiritually poor need our charity, and the foremost and greatest act of charity we can give, the great St. Thomas Aquinas writes, is to lead our neighbor to the truth. In reality, everyone is poor, either materially poor or spiritually poor. As such, everyone needs to be led to Christ Jesus who is the Way, the Truth and the Life.

Speak the truth in love and practice charity with clarity!

And may God give you peace!