November 17, 2009

Following Christ means helping the poor

A lot of reminders today about the close connection between being a follower of Christ and helping the poor.

First, today’s saint is St. Elizabeth of Hungary, who gave up her wealthy lifestyle to help the poor.

Second, today’s Gospel reading is about rich Zacchaeus who gave up at least half of his possessions as his way of following Christ. And what was Christ’s response? “Today salvation has come to this house” (Luke 19:9).

Finally, the pope recently stated,

“Opulence and waste are no longer acceptable when the tragedy of hunger is assuming ever greater proportions“

Or, in other words:

“Living like a typical American is no longer acceptable when the tragedy of hunger is assuming ever greater proportions“

Hopefully, American Catholics will not respond to the pope’s words like some of Christ’s disciples did: “This saying is hard; who can accept it?” (John 6:60).

I think Archbishop Chaput best summed up our obligation to the poor when he bluntly stated, “We’ll go to hell if we don’t care for the poor.”

St. Elizabeth of Hungary, pray for us!
St. Zacchaeus, pray for us!