MODULE 1Looking through… the Loving,

Merciful and Compassionate Heart

AnawimWho are they?

• “Anaw” = Hebrew for poor, humble,

afflicted

• Those who could not trust in their own

strength but had to rely in utter

confidence upon God

Victims of man’s injustice

They are the poor who remained faithful

to Yahweh and who continued to hope for

salvation in spite of everything

They were not only materially poor, they

were also poor in spirit – they were totally

dependent on God

Their poverty was leavened

by Piety = reverence for God or devout

fulfilment of religious obligations like prayer,

going to church, receiving the sacraments,

etc.

Opposite of Anawim = the proud and self-

sufficient who showed no need of God

Yahweh promises justice to the oppressed

They waited in hope for the coming of

Messiah – a suffering servant, one who will

be humiliated, one who is poor and just

The “anawim” are the heirs of the Kingdom

of God that is to come at the end of time

AnawimWho are they

today?

They are strangers to people who have

“made it” in this world

They are outcasts, they are paid no

attention because they have nothing the

world wants

They are attached to

nothing and no one,

except God, their

family, and a few

people

They are not weighed down by

anxiety and hurry

They know what is

important – things

that last – the soul

and relationships

JesusOption for the

Poor

‘

• Jesus was born poor and grew up in the

midst of the poor

• By embracing poverty, he shared the

condition of the majority

• He belonged to the lower class and

made no attempt to disguise or escape it

• He had absolute dependence on the

Father

• Many of the miracles favored the poor –

the widow, the sick, the possessed, the

hungry

The identification of Jesus with the poor and

his demand that those who follow him have

to embrace evangelical poverty implies

that the Church has to be a Church of the

Poor

The ChallengeChurch of the Poor

1. The Gospel calls Christians to put the needs of the poor first. A common moral test of a society is how

it treats its most vulnerable people.

2. Precisely because we wish to be at the service of

all of society, our primary concern will always be

those who live on its margin, excluded from the

essential services. Wherever there is structural

injustice, Christians are called to oppose it. Those

with the greatest need require the greatest

response.

3. God is Father of all, without exception, and we

firmly believe in the equal dignity of all. It is this

belief which commits us in faith to promote respect

for the inalienable rights of all and their integration

in society.