What is the Meaning of “Preferential Option for the Poor”?

 

Editor: This is the seventeenth in this series of articles based on the eight Dossiers (from February 1978 to November 1981) totaling 718 pages in this study. In 1982, Fr. Eugene Barrette, M.S., the prime mover in this historic study, was elected the thirteenth La Salette Superior General (1982-1988). Other articles on Religious Life are available in our La Salette Online Library .

What is the meaning of “preferential option for the poor”?

“It is important to keep in mind that giving preference to the poor or those most looked down upon does not mean working exclusively with this level of society. Some Congregations from their foundation have established exclusiveness as their particular goal. We are not such a Congregation, and although we want this preference to be very influential in our lives, we must always keep in mind that we have been sent ‘to all my people.'

“We must maintain a balance. This was indicated by Pope John Paul II at Puebla and also in the documents themselves:

‘You are servants of the People of God, servants of faith, administrators and witnesses of Christ's love for [people] – a love that is not partisan, that excludes no one, although it is addressed preferably to the poorest... and each of the victims of human selfishness... Service to the poor is privileged, though not the exclusive, gauge of our following Christ . . . Jesus Christ, the Savior of human beings, pours out his Spirit on all, without regard to persons. Those who exclude a single person from their love in the process of evangelization do not possess the Spirit of Christ. Hence [ministerial] activity must embrace all human beings who are destined to be children of God (Pope John Paul II to priests and men religious of Mexico, January 27, 1979; Puebla, #1145, #205).” (1)

Reflection Questions:

• What ministry to the poor for which are you incredibly grateful or impressed?
• Other comments…

Who are the poor?

“Who are the poor? [Are they just] those looked down upon by society? They are also those caught in concrete, identifiable conditions which:

• demoralize them, strip them of basic human dignity;
• force them to be at the mercy of those who have the power to control their lives
• close the doors of opportunities to them because of racial, sexual, ideological, religious prejudices;
• cause them to have little or no prospects for an eventual substantive change in their challenging conditions.” (2)

Who are the faces of the poor?

“Puebla gave a list of the faces of poverty. These faces are perhaps more recognizable in Latin America and Third World Countries, but it takes little imagination to be able to find correspondents in affluent European countries and the United States. They include:

• the face of young children, struck down by poverty before they are born, their chance for self-development blocked by irreparable mental and physical deficiencies; and of the vagrant children in our cities who are so often exploited, products of poverty and the moral disorganization of the family;
• the faces of young people who are disorientated because they cannot find their place in society and who are frustrated, particularly in marginal rural and urban areas, by the lack of opportunities to obtain training and work;
• the faces of the indigenous peoples, living marginalized lives in inhumane situations, who can be considered the poorest of the poor;
• in the faces of the peasants; as a social group, they live in exile almost everywhere on our continent, deprived of land, caught in a situation of internal and external dependence, and subjected to systems of commercialization that exploit them;
• the faces of laborers, who frequently are ill-paid and who have difficulty in organizing themselves and defending their rights;
• the faces of the underemployed and the unemployed, who are dismissed because of the harsh challenges of economic crisis, and often because of development models that subject workers and their families to cold financial calculations;
• the faces of marginalized and overcrowded urban dwellers, whose lack of material goods is matched by the ostentatious display of wealth by other segments of society;
• the faces of older adults, who are growing more and more numerous every day and are frequently marginalized in a progress-oriented society that disregards people not engaged in production. (Puebla, #31-39)” (3)

Reflection Questions:

• Whom have you helped in their need?
• Other comments…

How are some ways that we can give preference to the poor?

At a Council of the Congregation meeting (May 1980), a Provincial Superior presented a schema of the different levels of involvement or solidarity with the poor that is possible for all of us.

1) Affective solidarity—our feelings and attitude:

• to keep current on the problems of the poor and to show them our sympathy and caring.
• to strive to understand the root causes of poverty – the institutional and systematic or structural causes, especially.
• to adopt a stance of genuinely trying to listen to the national and international cries of the poor and the oppressed.
• to be informed.

2) Effective solidarity:

• First Degree:
  
  • to live personal and community rules of poverty;
  • to be satisfied with a simple, frugal way of life.
  • to effectively live the goals and ideals of our vow of poverty.
• Second Degree:
  
  • to work for the poor, but without entering into a direct relationship with them;
  • to try to influence social structures, to educate others.
• Third Degree:
  
  • to work for and with the poor. Both in this third degree and to a certain extent in the second degree, it is very much a question of examining and evaluating how we use the resources within our control. We should set specific goals for them in favor of the poor. All our resources – talents, abilities, institutions, finances, time, influence – should contribute to increasing opportunities for self-actualizing and self-liberating.
• Fourth Degree:
  
  • to seek as complete an identification with the poor as possible, either for a determined period to know their situation better or as a permanent way of life. This would mean a divesting of all material possessions and monetary resources – a joining of the poor in an actual state of powerlessness. This call may be to only a limited number, but it is an essential witness if the Church's work remains credible.

Note: The mistake is when people think that all work for the poor must be on this fourth degree. Service to the poor demands the ability and the resources to provide assistance and opportunities. The second and third degrees of solidarity would seem to be the way for the majority.

Angolan rendition of Our Lady of La SaletteEffects of This Effort For and With the Poor: Authentic commitment to working with the poor will have real repercussions that cannot be ignored. Such work will often call for us to spend our energies and resources without ensuring their being replenished. [Ministries] primarily involved with the poor will not produce a financial return, nor even at times, be viable in earning enough to support themselves.

What is Our Measure of Authenticity? Another effect could be the alienation of some of our strongest supporters. Many of them readily accept a neutral ministry limited to their idea of preaching the Gospel. Still, they will at times reject a community moving to a position of advocacy on behalf of those who are victimized and oppressed. The measure of the authenticity of our community will often be the cost we are willing to pay, always considered realistically within the possibilities we have.

AND FINALLY: We must be careful not to misuse our powers of leadership in this area to create divisions between the powerful and the powerless, between the haves and the have-nots, between the abused and the abusers.

• Our greatest challenge is to bring healing salve to both factions with equal love, concern, and appreciation.
• Mere social reform will create divisions and utilize the energy generated by the ‘us and them mentality’ to stoke the fires of the struggle.

But, as stated earlier, our preference and struggle for the poor and social justice are grounded in the Lord Jesus. Our real challenge is more than social reform alone; it is Universal Reconciliation.” (4)

Endnotes:

(1) Fifth La Salette Dossier by Fr. Eugene Barrette, M.S., pgs. 45-46; (2) Ibidem, pg. 47; (3) Ibidem; (4) Ibidem, pg. 47-49.