A ‘Poor’ Disguise

This article was first published in the Winter issue of Marian Helper magazine. Order a free copy.

Catholic social teaching is one of the great treasures of the Church, and yet all too often, it’s neglected or overlooked entirely. We continue our exploration of the Church’s social teaching, this time focusing on the preferential option for the poor.

By Chris Sparks

For a while, St. Faustina Kowalska was the gatekeeper at one of her congregation’s convents. There, she experienced one of the most profound miracles of her life.

Her account begins matter-of-factly: “Jesus came to the main entrance today, under the guise of a poor young man” (Diary of Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska, 1312).

Initially, like Mary Magdalene seeing the resurrected Jesus at the empty tomb, St. Faustina didn’t recognize Him. “This young man, emaciated, barefoot and bareheaded, and with his clothes in tatters, was frozen because the day was cold and rainy. He asked for something hot to eat.”

Saint Faustina had been serving the poor from the main entrance there for some time, distributing food and friendliness to all who came. “So I went to the kitchen, but found nothing there for the poor. But, after searching around for some time, I succeeded in finding some soup, which I reheated and into which I crumbled some bread, and I gave it to the poor young man, who ate it.”

Meditate on that for a moment. Saint Faustina, taking some of the many good things given to her congregation by Divine Providence, was unknowingly feeding the Divine Mercy some of those same gifts.

Then comes her epiphany. “As I was taking the bowl from him, he gave me to know that He was the Lord of heaven and earth. When I saw Him as He was, He vanished from my sight.” Like the disciples on the road to Emmaus, St. Faustina shared food with Jesus, then saw Him truly, and He vanished. 

“When I went back in and reflected on what had happened at the gate, I heard these words in my soul: ‘My daughter, the blessings of the poor who bless Me as they leave this gate have reached My ears. And your compassion, within the bounds of obedience, has pleased Me, and this is why I came down from My throne — to taste the fruits of your mercy.’”

Here, in the life of one of the great saints and mystics of the Church, we see Jesus explicitly demonstrating the truth of the warning given in Matthew 25:31-46, when Christ describes the judgment of the nations at the end of time. “Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me” (Mt 25:40). 

Pope Benedict XVI summed up the consequences of this teaching on Feb. 21, 2008, in his address to the General Congregation of the Jesuits: 

As I was able to reaffirm to the Latin American Bishops gathered at the Shrine of Aparecida, “the preferential option for the poor is implicit in the Christological faith in the God who became poor for us, so as to enrich us with his poverty (cf. II Cor 8: 9).” It is therefore natural that those who truly want to be a companion of Jesus really share in his love for the poor. For us, the option for the poor is not ideological but is born from the Gospel. Situations of injustice and poverty in today’s world are numerous and tragic, and if it is necessary to seek to understand them and fight their structural causes, it is also necessary to penetrate to the very heart of man, to extirpate the deep roots of evil and sin that cut him off from God, without forgetting to meet people’s most urgent needs in the spirit of Christ’s charity.

That preferential option for the poor is indicated in Scripture and Tradition, in the teaching and example of Jesus Himself, who became poor, taking on the form of a slave (see Phil 2:7-8). It’s plainly taught in the social encyclicals, including Pope Leo XIII’s Rerum Novarum (On Capital and Labor, 37) and St. John Paul II’s Centesimus Annus (On the Hundredth Anniversary of Rerum Novarum, 11). 

Love Jesus, and love like Jesus. It will make all the difference in the world.

To read more about the works of mercy to which we are called and their indispensable role in saving our souls, look at ‘You Did It to Me’: A Practical Guide to Mercy in Action by Fr. Michael Gaitley, MIC. Visit ShopMercy.org or call 1-800-462-7426. (Product code: B48-2ME)
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