What it is that we do lives beyond us in our influence on others, perhaps a greater immortality than any other. This week, Gustavo Gutierrez, a man who helped to shape how many of us think about the Gospel, did at the age of 96.
Often called the father of liberation theology, it was his work as a parish priest in Lima, Peru, that brought him to the theological conclusion that God has a preferential option for the poor resulting in a challenge to unjust social structures. His theology resonated with such thinkers as Jon Sobrino and Ignacio Ellacuria of El Salvador.
What is the preferential option for the poor? The belief that we are to care for the poor, hungry, and homeless over our drive for material goods, that the needs of the poor should always be taken into account, and that the deprivation of the poor harms the entire community. Sounds like what Jesus said.
Prayer for the Day
Shelter of the poor, too often we ignore your call,
Living as we do, in excess and material wealth;
Guardian of the despairing, often we turn aside,
Dispensing charity instead of justice.
Shake us with a new wind of your Spirit
So we establish your realm of righteousness.
In the name of the One who calls us to action,
Even Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.
Thoughts for the Day
The denunciation of injustice implies the rejection of the use of Christianity to legitimize the established order.
Gustavo Gutierrez, from A Theology of Liberation
Here the church, like every human being, is faced with the choice that is most fundamental for its faith: to be on the side of life or on the side of death. We see very clearly that on this point no neutrality is possible.
Gustavo Gutierrez, from address at Louvain 1980
Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.
Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you will be filled
Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh.
But woe to you who are rich for you have received your consolation.
Woe to you who are full now, for you will be hungry.
Woe to you who are laughing now, for you will mourn and weep
Jesus in Luke 6: 20-21, 24-25