FROM
THE SERVANT GENERAL
NO ONE IN NEED
(Part 18)
HOLISTIC WORK WITH THE POOR
November 11, 2015
Today’s psalm: Psalm 82:3-7
“Defend the lowly and fatherless;
render justice to the afflicted and needy.
Rescue the lowly and poor;
deliver them from the hand of the wicked.”
(Ps 82:3-4)
The above is not just
about work to provide the poor with material help, but it
also touches on our two other thrusts--evangelization and
family renewal. Indeed, all three go together to make up a
holistic approach to bringing the peace of Christ into society
and to the world.
Evangelization engages
us in spiritual warfare, as we seek to bring people from out
of the dominion of darkness into the Lord’s marvelous
light. The evil one has engaged many humans and human institutions
to do its wicked work, such as the US government under Obama,
the European Union, the United Nations and billionaire depopulationists.
All are promoting the culture of death, which mainly targets
the poor. Only Christ, using his disciples as his instruments,
can “rescue the lowly and poor; deliver them from the
hand of the wicked.” (v.4).
The culture of death
has also devastated marriages and families. Many children
grow up without both their parents, often the father. Either
they are born outside marriage or are abandoned by their fathers.
Studies have shown that those children who do not have fathers
raising them in their home are more prone to crime and/or
to living dissolute lives, thus perpetuating the cycle of
poverty. Our work of family renewal engages us to “defend
the lowly and fatherless” (v.3a).
And so we do work with
the poor. This is a work of justice, that is, rendering to
the poor what is due to them--an equitable share of the world’s
goods, a life of dignity, and a life lived in the Spirit.
We are to “render justice to the afflicted and needy.”
(v.3b).
Thus our work with
the poor in CFC-FFL cannot just be about no one being in need
of material well-being. Aside from this, they need Christ,
and they need to belong to united and supportive families.
Such is the totality of our work.
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