The Hierarchy of Charity
I found the words I heard a few days ago from a young priest from Ceuta both surprising and deeply sad.
Jesús Francisco Molina said: “The Church is not an NGO.” “The Church’s main function is not to care for those in need; it is certainly one of its main functions, but the Church is there to attend to the supernatural needs of its people, which it is called upon to administer: the sacraments, preaching, and the sustenance of the people of God.” And furthermore: “We must help our neighbour first, the one who is closest to us, the people of Ceuta before those who are not from Ceuta.” “It is charity that demands this hierarchy.”
I cannot imagine Jesus of Nazareth saying such things today in Ceuta, in Gaza, in Madrid, or in France and the United States of America. For his message was: “The last will be first” (Mt 20:16). And in his own time he said: “It is not enough to say, ‘Lord, Lord,’ to enter the kingdom of God; it is necessary to do the will of my Father in heaven” (Mt 7:21). And what does the “will of the Father in heaven” consist of (and therefore, what is the Church’s principal task)? It consists in “feeding the hungry, giving drink to the thirsty, welcoming the stranger into one’s home, clothing the naked, coming to the aid of the sick and those in prison” (Mt 25:31–46).
I therefore believe that today, in Ceuta, in Gaza, in Madrid, or in France and the United States of America, Jesus would cry out:
“Do you not have eyes to see that the poverty of all poor people is one and the same, whether they are from here or from elsewhere?
And that all the maps of Africa have been drawn by Europe, and that the countries known as ‘Western’ have been the ones that, more than anyone else, have impoverished, exploited and stripped what is called the ‘Third World’, to the point of making life there impossible?
And that we are all made of the same flesh and blood, that we are sisters and brothers of the same family, citizens of the same universal city, human beings belonging to the same humanity?
And that priority belongs to those who have neither bread nor a home nor a people, to minors without a family, and to women, whether minors or adults, who have been raped, whether they are European, Asian, American or African?
That, in short, priority belongs to suffering and compassion, regardless of all borders, if it is true that you have a heart in your chest?”
José Arregi, Aizarna, 7 September 2006
www.josearregi.com