Wednesday of Week 21: 2 Thessalonians 3:6-10,16-18; Psalm 127(128):1-2,4-5; Matthew 23:27-32

No work, no cake

It is unfair to demand that even though I can work, others should support me.

The second letter of Saint Paul to the Thessalonians is, along with the first, one of the oldest Scriptures of the New Testament. It was written before the Gospel was written. That’s why its testimony is so important. It is also the one concerning order in the Church, which we hear in the liturgy that day: “do not let anyone have any food if he refuses to do any work”

Not “he does not work”, but “he refuses to do any work”. . . How many times have you lectured by various leaders how much we, Christians, should care for the poor? And it is true: Jesus commanded to feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, and clothe the naked. And to welcome strangers. But the teaching of Paul quoted above makes this command somewhat more realistic. Help, yes, but faithfulness to the Gospel does not consist in allowing oneself to be exploited by the lazy.

We have the poor among us who need to be helped. The old, the sick, sometimes on barely living pensions. . . Or children. They cannot work. But many others. . .

The Lord Jesus says: “the labourer deserves his wages” and “the labourer deserves his food”. Going back to the words of God spoken by Moses: “the wages of a hired servant shall not remain with you all night until the morning” and “You shall give him his wages on the same day, before the sun sets (for he is poor and counts on it), lest he cry against you to the Lord, and you be guilty of sin”.

Being the basis of Catholic Social Teaching, our governments should take note of the justice God demands for us and especially those who govern us.