It is interesting to know that Jesus is more interested in describing “the saved” as the ones who do what he does rather than as someone who professes something without concern for whether what s/he professes is lived out.
If you have spent any time serving the really poor you know that they can teach you something about how to relate to God. The alleluia from someone who doesn’t know where their next meal comes from seems more vibrant than that of one from someone who has to decide what kind of food s/he will eat next.
I think this is why God loves the poor in a preferential way, they love God more. Their need for God is palpable while the wealthy have options, which don’t necessitate God. The temptation to be masters of our own fate is very hard to overcome. The poor can teach us that.
What can the poor teach me today?
—Fr. James Prehn, S.J., Vocations Director for the Chicago-Detroit Province Jesuits. For more information on Jesuit vocations, click here.