The Poor

The liturgy of the Catholic Church runs on a three year cycle. Readings and gospels are designed to follow a grand plan. Of course, no one explains this to a young boy sitting there with his mother and his brothers. It just happens to you. At one point, however, I do recall it becoming clear to me that I’d already heard a story but I’m not sure I thought much of the discovery. It was just a thing I understood.

So, as the stories came around, I picked up on themes. Every year, for example, on the 22nd week I’d get the gospel of Luke and the parable of the wedding feast (Luke 14:1, 7-14) where I’d learn two lessons. First, everyone that exalts himself shall be humbled; and he that humbles himself shall be exalted (that’s related to the story of the Publican and the Pharisee), and secondly, when you make a feast, feed the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed; because they don’t have the ability to repay you. Payment will come in the afterlife.

It seemed to me that the poor came up a lot in the gospels for anyone striving to make the kingdom of heaven. And it wasn’t enough just to think about them, you actually had to do something. And I guess that’s why I supported Lyndon Johnson’s War on Poverty because if anyone had the resources to help the poor and the unfortunate if was the good old USA. Of course, that was when I came to understand that the gospels meant different things to different people. 

Part 12, Living in America, An Old Man’s Journey into His Past