It appears that Pope Francis's pontificate and those loyal to his message concerning the poor and the Church is one that will be divisive, like the Last Judgment will be divisive. For Heavens sake, let us not attempt to distinguish between the 'undeserving' and 'deserving' poor. As if any of us 'deserved' Christ's saving Act of Love on the Cross! As if any of us 'deserve' the Body and Blood of Our Blessed Saviour in the Most Holy Eucharist! As if any of us are 'worthy'.
this will make you choke on your coffee....
ReplyDeletehttp://ncronline.org/news/vatican/vatican-religious-prefect-gender-inequality-exists-church
Indeed. As the old woman said to Napoleon when she pleaded for mercy for her son, "if he deserved it, it would not be mercy".
ReplyDeleteWhy shouldn't I discriminate between the deserving and undeserving poor? We are supposed to use our possessions and gifts wisely. None of us deserves what our Lord does for us, the poor not excepted.
ReplyDeleteI do not think the discussion on Father Blake's blog is so much about the deserving and undeserving poor but rather about how you actually spend the money. I think one has to think about how you do this so as to be most effective rather than being indiscriminate. I.e. how does one best help someone regardless of whether they are deserving or undeserving.
ReplyDeleteNora: I think you would be wasting your time trying to discriminate between who is deserving and who is not. The requirement is to apply whatever resources you may have - and by resources I do not just mean money but your time - in an intelligent manner so as to serve the particular needs of each one of the poor. Of course it will vary from one person to another!
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