Poverty is one of the most important themes that people fought over in the course of the history of the church. This is based on the life of the poor Jesus and his Sermon on the Mount. This became the foundation for the early Christian practice of holding property in common (cf. Acts 2 and 4), of the desert fathers, monasticism, the poverty movements, the mendicant Orders in the 12th and 13th centuries and the religious Orders devoted to charitable works founded in the 19th century. Concern about poverty led to the development of the Catholic social doctrine under Pope Leo XIII and finally the Bible-justified option for the poor since the Second Vatican Council. At all times we encounter Christians, who wish to follow Jesus literally, and, as always, this was synonymous with more or less radical forms of voluntary poverty.
Of course we have to realize that poverty is understood in different ways. Poverty is, first of all, a forced situation, a suffering that must be overcome. Poverty is also a freely chosen ideal, a virtue, an aid to a greater personal freedom, which is a part of the striving for perfection.
The understanding of this ideal changes with the corresponding changes in economic and social situations. Today we are aware that the discussions on this ideal were done to a great extent without considering the people who had to suffer poverty day in and day out. Jesus however turns directly to the poor.
CCFMC, Lesson Unit 19,A
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