What significance do the poor have for Christians?
Love for the poor must be in every age the distinguishing mark of Christians. The poor deserve not just a few alms; they have a claim to justice. For Christians there is a special obligation to share their goods. Our example in love for the poor is Christ. "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven" (Mt 5:3)that is the first sentence in Jesus' Sermon on the Mount. There is material, emotional, intellectual, and spiritual poverty. Christians must look after the needy of this earth with great consideration, love, and perseverance. After all, on no other point will they be evaluated by Christ so decisively as on their way of treating the poor: "As you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me" (Mt 25:40).
What are the "corporal works of mercy"?
To feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, clothe the naked, shelter the homeless, visit the sick and the imprisoned, and bury the dead.
What are the "spiritual works of mercy"?
The spiritual works of mercy are: to instruct the ignorant, to counsel the doubtful, comfort the sorrowful, admonish the sinner, bear wrongs patiently, forgive all injuries, and pray for the living and the dead. (YOUCAT questions 449-451)
Dig Deeper: CCC section (2443-2446) and other references here.
Part 3: Life in Christ (1691 - 2557)
Section 2: The Ten Commandments (2052 - 2557)
Chapter 2: You Shall Love Your Neighbor as Yourself (2196 - 2557)
Article 7: The Seventh Commandment (2401 - 2463)
Jesus said to his disciples: "Love one another even as I have loved you."1 ⇡
VI. LOVE FOR THE POOR ⇡
God blesses those who come to the aid of the poor and rebukes those who turn away from them: "Give to him who begs from you, do not refuse him who would borrow from you"; "you received without pay, give without pay."232 It is by what they have done for the poor that Jesus Christ will recognize his chosen ones.233 When "the poor have the good news preached to them," it is the sign of Christ's presence.234
1.
186.
Ex 20:15; Deut 5:19; Mt 19:18.
232.
233.
Cf. Mt 25:31-36.
234.
"The Church's love for the poor ... is a part of her constant tradition." This love is inspired by the Gospel of the Beatitudes, of the poverty of Jesus, and of his concern for the poor.235 Love for the poor is even one of the motives for the duty of working so as to "be able to give to those in need."236 It extends not only to material poverty but also to the many forms of cultural and religious poverty.237
235.
CA 57; cf. Lk 6:20-22, Mt 8:20; Mk 12:41-44.
236.
237.
Cf. CA 57.
Love for the poor is incompatible with immoderate love of riches or their selfish use: Come now, you rich, weep and howl for the miseries that are coming upon you. Your riches have rotted and your garments are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver have rusted, and their rust will be evidence against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have laid up treasure for the last days. Behold, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, cry out; and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts. You have lived on the earth in luxury and in pleasure; you have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter. You have condemned, you have killed the righteous man; he does not resist you.238
238.
St. John Chrysostom vigorously recalls this: "Not to enable the poor to share in our goods is to steal from them and deprive them of life. The goods we possess are not ours, but theirs."239 "The demands of justice must be satisfied first of all; that which is already due in justice is not to be offered as a gift of charity":240 When we attend to the needs of those in want, we give them what is theirs, not ours. More than performing works of mercy, we are paying a debt of justice.241
239.
St. John Chrysostom, Hom. in Lazaro 2,5:PG 48,992.
240.
AA 8 § 5.
241.
St. Gregory the Great, Regula Pastoralis. 3,21:PL 77,87.