This week we begin a series of articles which deal with economic life which encompasses discussions on how we view wealth, how does morality and the economy exist side by side, the role of profit, entrepreneurship, globalization, free market economy, financial systems and much more.  Today we focus on two different perspectives of poverty.

Many persons sincerely believe that the material things many of them possess are gifts from God, and represent their reward for living a good and productive life.  Material wealth is a blessing from God.  If you work hard you will reap the rewards.  If you are lazy, and do not care to work, you will be poor. 

Material goods in fact are necessary for an enjoyable life.  Therefore having material wealth is a gift from God.  The compendium explains that “in the Old Testament a twofold attitude towards economic goods and riches is found.  On one hand, an attitude of appreciation sees the availability of material goods as necessary for life. 

Abundance – not wealth or luxury – is sometimes seen as a blessing from God.  In Wisdom Literature, poverty is described as a negative consequence of idleness and of lack industriousness (cf. Prov 10:4), but also a natural fact.”

What is looked upon with respect to material wealth is their abuse and misuse, not their existence. “[E]economic goods and riches are not in themselves condemned so much as their misuse. The prophetic tradition condemns fraud, usury, exploitation and gross injustice, especially when directed against the poor (cf Is 58:3-11; Jer 7:4-7; Hos 4:1-2; Am 2:6-7; Mic 2:1-2).”

Despite the above, is it possible for poverty to be a good thing? The tradition, however, although looking upon the poverty of the oppressed, the weak and the indigent as an evil, also sees in the condition of poverty a symbol of the human situation before God, from whom comes every good as a gift to be administered and shared.

What this statement tells us is that we must recognise the order of things. The gift of wealth comes from God, not from us – God blesses us with this wealth, without his blessing us with the ability to work and create things we would not be “wealthy”.

The Compendium reminds us, that “Those who recognise their own poverty before God, regardless of their situation in life, receive particular attention from him: when the poor man seeks, the Lord answers; when he cries out, the Lord listens. The divine promises are addressed to the poor: they will be heirs to the covenant between God and his people. God’s saving intervention will come about through a new David (cf Ezek 34:22-31), who like King David – only more so – will be defender of the poor and promoter of justice; he will establish a new covenant and will write a new law in the hearts of believers (cf Jer 31:31-34)”.

Many persons who have the gift of material wealth, rely on this wealth to protect them, give them peace of mind and view it as their security for the future. They many times forget that there is a higher being that afforded them this wealth.

 In this scenario the Church’s teaching demands that we seek poverty, i.e. accepting that the wealth is not our own, but given to us to share and further God’s purpose for us.

The Compendium explains:  “When sought or accepted with a religious attitude, poverty opens one to recognising and accepting the order of creation. In this perspective, the ‘rich man’ is the one who places his trust in his possessions rather than in God, he is the man who makes himself strong by the works of his own hands and trusts only in his own strength. Poverty takes on the status of a moral value when it becomes an attitude of humble availability and openness to God, of trust in him. This attitude makes it possible for people to recognise the relativity of economic goods and to treat them as divine gifts to be administered and shared, because God is the first owner of all goods.”

Interested in purchasing the Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church? Please contact the Catholic Commission for Social Justice, Archbishop’s House – 622-6680.