Jesus has a message of love for all people whom ‘Godly’ rulers make poor, “You are the light of the world. A city set on a mountain cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and then put it under a bushel basket; it is set on a lampstand, where it gives light to all in the house. Just so, your light must shine before others.”
Rich rulers believe poor people deserve their dimmed and difficult life. But it is rich rulers who have devised that life. Knowing this truth and in the Spirit of Jesus loving poor people as “the light of the world,” Pope Leo XIV wrote his recent encyclical, On Love for the Poor. Enlightened by Jesus’ Way, “we come to know the dignity of each person” “in the smallness of a child laid in a manger” who “shared our radical poverty.” Jesus is a vulnerable person for whom “there was no place in the inn… who fled to Egypt… was driven out of towns… (lived among) the sick, the poor… and who, because of their condition, were marginalized by society and even by people of faith. Jesus opens the eyes of the blind, heals lepers, raises the dead and proclaims the good news to the poor,… (that) yours is the kingdom of God… and he dies as an outcast… crucified.” “We have to state, without mincing words, that there is an inseparable bond between our faith and the poor.” Pope Leo goes on to detail the history of disciples who “Care for the sick,” “Free prisoners,” “Witness monastic poverty,” “Educate the poor,” “Accompany migrants,” “Stand at the side of the least among us.” That “history continues in the Church’s Social Doctrine… Its analysis of Christian revelation in the context of modern social, labor, economic and cultural issues would not have been possible without the contribution of… men and women… who grappled with the great issues of their time.” These disciples helped open our eyes to Jesus’ life witness. He didn’t judge people who were poor as being sinful. He revealed as sinful “structures of sin that create poverty and extreme inequality.” “The poor are not here by chance or by blind and cruel fate… Nor can it be said that most of the poor are such because they do not “deserve” otherwise,” supported by a false “view of meritocracy that sees only the successful as “deserving.” Blaming the victim is the narrative of those who victimize them. Structures of sin produce a “dominant mindset that considers normal or reasonable what is merely selfishness and indifference.” “A culture persists — sometimes well disguised — that discards others… and tolerates with indifference that millions of people die of hunger or survive in conditions unfit for human beings.” “It becomes normal to ignore the poor and… to organize the economy in such a way that sacrifices are demanded of the masses in order to serve the (wants) of the richest.” “We must continue, then, to denounce the “dictatorship of an economy that kills.” It is a “tyranny… invisible and often virtual… (which) unilaterally and relentlessly imposes its own laws and rules.” “The condition of the poor is a cry that… constantly challenges our lives, societies, political and economic systems.” “The dignity of every human person must be respected today, not tomorrow.” “Either we regain our moral and spiritual dignity or we fall into a cesspool.”
“As the Body of Christ, (we) experience the lives of the poor as (our) very “flesh.” The “poor are not a sociological category, but the very “flesh” of Christ.” We are seeking God’s Kingdom,” here and now in “the intensity of the love of God and neighbor,… required of everyone.” (They are in error) who say: “Our task is to pray and teach sound doctrine.” “Our love and our deepest convictions need to be continually cultivated… through our concrete actions. “Love works miracles and knows no limits.” “Love is our way of looking at life and our way of living it.”
Prayer: Beautiful Spirit, we are empowered for love of all, especially those made poor.
Question: How do I experience people who are poor as my own flesh?
February 08, 2026 Gospel Matthew 13-16 Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time