CHAPTER 21

CHAPTER 21:THE CHURCH SERVES THE POOR AND THE OPPRESSED

WORKS OF CHARITY

It is also necessary that Catholics do acts of charity for the Catholic Church, for their fellow man, for those suffering poverty, for the elderly, for the homeless, and for those less fortunate than ourselves.  We must remember that when we do things to help others, we are doing them for Jesus Himself. Matthew 25:40 “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’

The Corporal and Spiritual Works of Mercy are great ways in which we can do acts of mercy and charity toward others.  They are:

Corporal Works of Mercy 1.  Feed the hungry. 2.  Give drink to the thirsty. 3.  Clothe the naked. 4.  Visit and ransom captives. 5.  Shelter the homeless. 6.  Visit the sick. 7.  Bury the dead.

Spiritual Works of Mercy 1.  Correct sinners. 2.  Instruct the ignorant. 3.  Counsel the doubtful. 4.  Comfort the sorrowful. 5.  Bear wrongs patiently. 6.  Forgive all injuries. 7.  Pray for the living and the dead.

HUMAN AND SOCIAL RIGHTS

• "Since all men possess a rational soul and are created in God's likeness, since they have the same nature and origin, have been redeemed by Christ, and enjoy the same divine calling and destiny, the basic equality of all must receive increasingly greater recognition... every type of discrimination, whether social of cultural, whether based on sex, race, colour, social condition, language or religion, is to be overcome and eradicated as contrary to God's intent.

1. Religious Freedom .Tolerance and respect for difference . . . derive from an appreciation of the innate dignity and the inalienable rights of every human person. . .Tolerance and respect for difference, if they are truly to benefit society, need to be built upon the rock of an authentic understanding of the human person, created in the image and likeness of God and called to a share in his divine life.
2. Economic gap between rich and poor nations,In the words of Pope Gregory the Great, “When we attend to the needs of those in want, we give them what is theirs, not ours. More than performing works of mercy, we are paying a debt of justice”
   
   In the era of globalization, it is important that political policies should not be guided mainly or solely by economic considerations or by the search for higher profits or a heedless use of the planet’s resources to the detriment of the people, especially those who are the least privileged, at the risk of jeopardizing the world’s future in the long term. . .
3. Campaign against illiteracy
4. rights (for refugees and stateless persons, for legal action abroad for the exaction of alimony, against drugs, for the treatment of prisoners, for tourism, trade and development, for copyright and the so-called "neighbouring rights", for the importation and circulation of special material, for the protection of cultural goods, against illiteracy  
5. Asylum seekers and refugees — I wish to underline how the tendency is to stop at the question of their arrival while disregarding the reasons for which they left their native land. The Church sees this entire world of suffering and violence through the eyes of Jesus, who was moved with pity at the sight of the crowds wandering as sheep without a shepherd (cf. Matthew 9:36)