What do we owe to the poor?

That question underlies much of our current political and social discourse. We ask it — perhaps subconsciously — when we encounter someone on a street corner asking for money, when we drive through struggling neighborhoods, or when we read about the human impact of government shutdowns or freezes on benefit payments. How we answer the question of what we owe our poor reveals something profound about our understanding of charity and justice.

Recently I re-read “Dear and Glorious Physician,” Taylor Caldwell’s masterful historical fiction about St. Luke. One of the biblical occurrences cited is “from the sixth hour there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour” (Mt 27:45; cf. Mk 15:33; Lk 23:44).  Caldwell depicts the celestial events experienced by the Passover throng gathered in Jerusalem as being witnessed by Luke hundreds of miles away.

COLORADO SPRINGS. Sister Frances Sedlacek, OSF, died Feb. 20 at St. Francis Nursing Center following a five-year cancer diagnosis. Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated March 2 at St. Francis of Assisi Church in Colorado Springs, followed by burial in Mount St. Francis Cemetery. 

COLORADO SPRINGS. After a long journey with Alzheimer’s disease, Sister Clarice (Agnes Anna) Gentrup, OSF, died March 5 at Mount St. Francis Nursing Center. Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated March 16 at St. Francis of Assisi Church in Colorado Springs, followed by burial in Mount St. Francis Cemetery. 

NOTRE DAME, IND. Holy Cross Father Ken Molinaro died Feb. 9 at age 77 at Holy Cross House in Notre Dame, Indiana.  Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated Feb. 16 at the Basilica of the Sacred Heart, followed by burial in the community cemetery.