Fr. Don's Daily Reflection - May 20, 2024
Psalm 62: “In you alone is my soul at rest. My help comes from you.”
None of us well-off Christians would feel comfortable in telling the poor and Global South people: trust in a better world after death, forget agitating for adequate food, shelter and clothing here and now. But Christian language still sounds sometimes as if God was not really concerned about the living conditions of human beings.
The central event of the Old Testament, of the history of the Jews, is the Exodus story about their deliverance from slavery. Jesus similarly shows a concern for immediate needs when he allows his disciples to pick corn on the Sabbath, when he multiplies bread for the weary crowds following him. He doesn't accept excuses from his disciples or suggest that their need for food can be satisfied another day.
Salvation or deliverance is not a purely spiritual matter to be realized only in another world. God doesn't make that convenient distinction between body and soul. God saves the whole person as the resurrection tells us. Consequently, starvation and oppression, poverty and homelessness are legitimate causes for Christian concern.
Children working long hours for a pittance show that slavery still exists; those whose day must be spent literally scratching subsistence out of the earth tell us what poverty is. Not only our prayers but our voting and our support are crucial in forwarding God's desires for the good of all peoples, an Exodus from any captivity.
Psalm 27: “I believe I shall see the Lord’s goodness / in the land of the living.
Wait for the Lord; be strong; / be stouthearted, and wait for the Lord!”
