Friend of the Poor

Providing sensible succor to the needy

02/19/2018

Matthew 25:31-46 Jesus said to his disciples: "When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit upon his glorious throne, and all the nations will be assembled before him. And he will separate them one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 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, naked and you clothed me, ill and you cared for me, in prison and you visited me.' Then the righteous will answer him and say, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? When did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you?  When did we see you ill or in prison, and visit you?' And the king will say to them in reply, 'Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me.'

There has been a proliferation of panhandlers in Fort Smith lately, people standing on street corners holding signs asking for help. I do not know about you, but seeing someone in that situation causes real qualms of conscience for me and paralyzing moral confusion about my responsibility and the best response.

Here’s a sample of the thoughts that race through my mind as I drive up to an intersection where a panhandler is waiting. “Oh, look, the lady has a small child with her; surely it is a good thing to help a destitute mother and child. Well, what if it takes too long to roll down my window and reach the person; I don’t want to slow down traffic and have people honking at me. Maybe I will slip off my Roman collar so he will not notice I am a priest who is driving by ignoring him. Oh, I know, I will pretend to be on the phone and absorbed in conversation and I do not have the time to help. You know the only reason people stand there is because someone stops to help them: if no one helped them, this problem would just go away. Why do I even have to worry about all this, I am just going to the store for some deodorant and hair spray! Maybe I will donate the money I would have spent on hairspray – I don’t need as much hair spray as I used to.” In other words, I know I need to help the poor (especially if I call myself a Christian), but what is the most sensible way to succor them?

I really do not know how each person should respond in the face of such apparent and urgent need, but here are a few observations that might help form your conscience to deal with such cases. First of all, Jesus’ description of his final return leaves little doubt that the poor are a priority for our Lord. He says rather bluntly: “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, etc.” Loving the poor is identical with loving Jesus. There are also grave consequences for failing to love the poor, and fortunately, good consequences for caring for them. Our Lord concludes: “And these will go off to eternal punishment and the righteous to eternal life.” Nothing less than our eternal salvation rides on our decision to care and comfort the poor.

Secondly, Pope Francis has clearly made the poor a priority for his pontificate, and he has done so not only by his words, but also by his actions. His papal instinct is always to go first to the poor: he visits the poor countries first, he embraces poor people without hesitation, he even raises our awareness of our poor planet, that is suffering desertification, where fertile land becomes desert due to drought, deforestation or inappropriate agriculture. In many respect the pope is the conscience of the world (something we Catholics can rightly be proud of), and he should help shape our Catholic conscience, too.

Thirdly, maybe it is not possible for you to give money to the panhandlers (or you do not feel it is the right response), but in that case, perhaps you can donate to a local charity that does help the poor more effectively. I am always amazed at the generous outpouring of support for charitable fund raisers in our community. The Hope Campus is an especially powerful instrument helping the homeless because it consolidates various efforts and agencies under one roof (thereby eliminating duplication of services), and tries to move people out of homelessness and put them back on their feet.

Fourthly, sometimes I think the poor wish we would just stop and talk to them and hear their story. We all want someone to listen to our story. Instead of being a problem to be solved, the poor are persons to be loved. That panhandler also had a mother and father, perhaps brothers and sisters. He or she grew up with hopes and dreams and maybe wanted to be an astronaut or a fire fighter. Maybe they suffer mental or emotional disturbances that they had no control over or any opportunity to avert. I am so grateful to Dc. Greg and the St. Anne Society that help alleviate not only the material poverty but the deeper emotional poverty, too, by being a friend to the poor.

I am not sure if any of this helped you in your discernment as you drive around Fort Smith, and see the proliferation of panhandlers. Jesus said, “The poor you will always have with you” (Mt. 26:11). So I guess we better figure out how to love the poor until he returns in glory.

Praised be Jesus Christ!