Blessed are the poor....

"God must love the poor. Why else would he have made so many of them? — Abraham Lincoln

"Poverty is the worst form of violence" - Mahatma Gandhi

"If a person lives on less than $1 per day, he/she is living on extreme poverty" - World Bank

"If the misery of the poor be caused not by the laws of nature, but by our institutions, great is our sin. ~ Charles Darwin

"Blessed are you who are poor, for the Kingdom of God is yours" - Jesus Christ based on Luke 6:20

"Do not say that it is God's will that you remain in a condition of poverty, disease, unhealthy housing, that is contrary in many ways to your dignity as human persons. Do not say 'It is God who wills it'" - Pope John Paul II

"Following the way of the Lord, we opt to be the Church of the poor" - Second Plenary Council of the Philippines

Last week, Mariannet Amper committed suicide in Davao City. She is 12 years old and according to the news, she did it out of desperation. Her family is so poor that she can't afford to go to school because of lack of fare money. The Philippine government has taken responsibility for her death when Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said “We take responsibility for everything. Because we are leaders of the government, we need to ensure that services are there,"

Aside from Mariannet, there are a lot of children who die daily because of poverty. We don't see or hear them on the news because they are not news-worthy material.

Even if the Philippine government continues to harp on the economic development, the reality is that millions of Filipinos are experiencing hunger. We don't need to cite statistics to prove that the so called economic growth does not benefit the majority of the Filipinos. We just have to look around and we can see the "poor and the hungry".

But what does the so-called Church of the poor do about the situation of the poor and hungry people? We have heard about the feeding program of the Pondo ng Pinoy. There is another "feeding program" to be undertaken by the members of a big group of Catholic lay organizations. There are some parishes which have regular feeding programs initiated by some individuals and lay organizations in the parish.

How about the leadership of LAIKO? Are there initiatives to help the poor? Are there social action programs which directly counter the hungry stomach of the faithful? Are we really the 'Church of the poor'?

"The 'Church of the poor' is one whose members and leaders have a special love for the poor."
"The 'Church of the poor' will mean that the pastors and other Church leaders will give preferential attention and time to those who are poor, and will generously share of their own resources in order to alleviate their poverty and make them recognize the love of the Lord for them despite their poverty".
"The Church of the poor' is one that will be in solidarity with the poor. It will collaborate with the poor themselves and with others to lift us the poor form their poverty." (Acts and decrees of the Second Plenary Council of the Philippines, 125-136)

Pope John Paul II also said "Before today's forms of exploitation of the poor, the Church cannot remain silent. She also reminds the rich of their precise duties. Strong with the Word of God, she condemns the many injustices which unfortunately, even today are committed to the detriment of the poor. Pastors and members of the Church will courageously defend and vindicate the rights of the poor and the oppressed, even when doing so will mean alienation or persecution from the rich and powerful." (L'Ossevatore Romano, January 21, 1985, p 8)

The Church is not the bishops, the priests and the religious. The Church is the people, all who are incorporated into Christ through baptism. Thus, as a people we need to act in order to be called the "Church of the poor". This is actually our challenge and our mission.