FREE ESSAY ON CATHOLIC OBLIGATION TO THE POOR

CATHOLIC OBLIGATION TO THE POOR

Christians have an obligation to care for the poor because it is what should come through
as their works from their beliefs and their faith. Christians are to follow the examples
set by God and Jesus. The Lord and Jesus' teachings of helping the poor can be seen
through the scripture in the Gospels.
In the gospels Jesus brings salvation to the poor exemplifying his theme of universalism.
Jesus gave the message of helping those whom ask of one's help to his disciples in order
for them to teach to Christian. This message can be seen through this excerpt from the
Gospel, "Give to everyone who begs from you; and if anyone takes away your goods, do not
ask for them again. Do to others as you would have them do to you."(Luke 6:30-31) 
God's intention of helping the poor can be seen through Mary's Magnificat when the Lord
spoke to her. God fed the poor and just sent those who were not poor away, for they
should have been the ones who had helped the poor. This can be in the following
quotation, "He has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly;
he has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty."(Luke 1:52-53) 
Jesus read from a scroll, which Isaiah had written, "The spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim
release of the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free,
to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." (Luke 4:18-19) After reading the scroll he
rolled it back up and proclaimed the scripture had been fulfilled. This shows how
important helping the poor was to Jesus, he wanted to spread the word to everyone he
could that everyone should help those who need to be helped. 
A final example of a Christian's obligation to help the poor is through the actual work
of Jesus. As Jesus approached Jericho a blind man sat upon the roadside begging for
Jesus' mercy. People told him to be quiet, but Jesus ordered the man come forward. He
asked him what he wanted and the man responded to Jesus saying he wanted his sight back.
Jesus then told him, "Receive your sight; your faith has saved you." (Luke 18:35-43)
Jesus showed how important the poor man was when everyone else told him to be quiet and
then Jesus told him to come forward and healed him.