Poverty December
Discrimination cannot be tolerated in any form (Const. 13.4).
The poor become my brothers and sisters only when I see myself as one of them. It’s not a question of condescension, motivated by a religious spirit. Am I really different from them? Is there no poverty in me? Do my body and my soul not fail me? Don’t the seeds of death sleep in me? Does my heart never lack tenderness, pardon, generosity? Am I free from every temptation against what is good? Don’t I know the “downs” of life, the limits of intelligence, the devastation of failure, the betrayal of the ideal? How can I distance myself from others, treating them as less valuable than myself? No, my solidarity with them is founded on my participation in the universal human condition, as it was with Christ. If I seem different from the poor, it is more an accident of circumstances than of nature. It’s an illusion. A person can pretend for a time: I can eat and drink well, be well dressed, present myself under the cover of beauty products. But in the end, the truth of my humanity and my solidarity with the poor will be evident. It’s better to recognize that and walk with them sooner than later. It’s better to be who I really am.
The belly of a pig in the forest is the same as the belly of a pig in the village. (Yaka)
O Key of David, O royal Power of Israel controlling at your will the gate of heaven: come, break down the prison walls of death for those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death; and lead your captive people into freedom.
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