God and the poor

THE gospel reading for Monday of Holy Week, taken from the gospel of St. John 12,1-11, reminds us that we should not make God and the poor to compete with each other for our attention, care and love. Our attention, care and love for them should always go together. If we love God, we should also love the poor. If we love the poor, it is presumed that we love God first.

This truth of our faith was highlighted when Judas Iscariot complained why a woman wasted precious oil on Christ when it could have been sold and the sale could have been given to the poor.

That’s when Christ told him, “Leave her alone. Let her keep this for the day of my burial. You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me.” (Jn 12,7-8)

It’s interesting to note that the gospel mentioned that Judas was actually not interested in caring for the poor but that he was a thief and held the money bag of the apostles and used to steal the contributions.

That observation is very important and should be taken seriously, especially among the clergy and those involved in financial matters. It cannot be denied that money can easily corrupt anyone. We should exert special effort to be truly guarded against this temptation.

And the only way to do that is be truly with Christ and to have a clear and strong purity of intention every time we handle money. Money should be used to give glory to God and for the common good, giving special preference to the poor. Otherwise, we end up as an easy target to this irresistible temptation.

In this regard, we have to learn how to use money to give glory to God. It cannot be denied that many times we think that money is just a purely personal affair, and that God has nothing to do with it. We have to correct that dangerous misconception about money. We need to realize that money is a very powerful tool to achieve something good or something bad. We need to use it wisely.

Given all these considerations, I imagine that we really need to be prayerful so as to always be in God’s presence, ever mindful of his will and ways with respect to the use of money. We should learn how to be recollected while in the midst of the hustle and bustle of our daily activities and concerns.

This, of course, will require a certain discipline. We have to train our senses and our other faculties to discern God’s presence and providence in everything. In short, we have to become real contemplatives in the middle of the world.

Thus, a certain plan has to be developed and followed, a plan consisting of a number of acts of piety that can help us to be in God’s presence and to decipher his will and ways all throughout the day and in all kinds of situations that we find ourselves in.

This can mean a daily period of prayer and meditation, recourse to the sacraments, thorough study of the doctrine of our faith, and some devotions that will keep our heart aflame all the time.

We have to learn how to relate everything to God, a process that may involve the practice of relating things to the different lawful authorities that we are subject to. These lawful authorities are God’s immediate representatives to us.