FIRE GROUND PLAN

Audience: Junior College Students, heterogeneous (co-ed), urban, middle class

Topic: PREFERENTIAL OPTION FOR THE POOR

Number of Sessions: 1 session (1 hour)

Christian Message / Sources/Means / Objectives
For the semester:
To be in solidarity with those who are unjustly suffering from marginalization and exclusion due to age, gender, and other reasons (preferential option for the poor) is a central tenet in Church teaching that aims to follow in Christ’s footsteps by bringing the Kingdom of God—where the unconditional love of God is reflected in how we relate to each other and in our relationship with God—through alleviating the suffering of people which is brought about by unjust social systems and structures. It is an integral part of the history of salvation in the Scripture from the OT to the NT as well as reflecting Church teachings where theological reflection is rooted in the human experience of poverty and injustice. Thus, it is something all Christians are called to do as a way of responding to Jesus’ call to bring about the Kingdom of God
For this session:
Morals
As Catholics, we are called to live out the preferential option for the poor, which is to be in solidarity with those who are unjustly suffering from marginalization and exclusion due to financial incapacities, age, gender, infirmities, appearance etc. as a way of freeing people andbringing them into a deeper relationship with God and with each other as part of God’s family in order to bring about the Kingdom of God.
Doctrine
The preferential option for the poor is grounded in our belief that God is a God of love who is for liberation and freedomand who is also against injustice; this is rooted in the Exodus story and Jesus’ story of the Final Judgement.
Worship
It is not enough that we gather to celebrate as a community or that we pray privately; we are called to be followers of Christ by allowing everyone to gather and have “a place at the table” where everyone is invited, even after the celebration. / Sources:
  • Scripture:
Matthew 25:31-36 (Final Judgement)
Isaiah 11:6
1 John 4:10, 19
Acts 2:44
  • Church Teaching:
PCP II 241-245
  • Resources
Bible
Acts and Decrees of PCP II 241-245
Reading on Preferential Option (Haight)
Means
  • Prayer (A Poor Man’s Prayer)
  • Lecture on powerpoint
A Poor Man’s Prayer
I was hungry, and you formed a humanities club and discussed my hunger.
I was imprisoned, and you crept off quietly to the chapel in your cellar and thanked God for your freedom
I was naked, and in your mind you debated the morality of my appearance.
I was sick, and you knelt and thanked God for your health.
I was homeless, and you preached to me of the spiritual shelter of the love of God. Thank You.
I was lonely, and you left me alone to pray.
You seem so holy, so close to God. Thank you
BUT I'm still very sick, hungry, lonely, and cold. Amen. / At the end of the session and semester, the student must be able to:
Morals:
  • Situate themselves as members of our society where there may be unjust social structures and systems and understand that being poor goes beyond just material poverty;
Doctrine:
  • Explain through the use of the sources of the faith that God is a God who has loved us first as sons and daughters, and that from this love for us stems the option which will help bring about the Kingdom of God (reflected in oral exams at the end of the semester or recitation in class);
Worship:
  • RelateLiturgical Worship and private prayer in connection withtheir daily moral life.

Human Experience (Before) / Human Experience (During) / Human Experience After)
  • The students are well off, centred on the family or in organizations.
  • They have an idea already of liberation theology and of helping the poor from grade school and high school classes or outreach activities but may not concretely live it out, may only be helping without caring for or loving the other, or they may onlyapply it only when convenient.
/ Pre-Lectio
The class will pray the Poor Man’s Prayer.
Lectio
Students will then be asked the following (8 minutes):
  • What did they think of the prayer?
  • Do they agree or disagree with the prayer?
  • What do they think is the prayer trying to tell them?
in order to draw out the following insights:
  • Our faith is a balanced spirituality, where both worship and morals have equal importance.
  • The Eucharist and prayer are the culmination how we have lived as Christians and to draw from the Eucharist and prayer new insights and inspiration about Christ and what it means to be like Him. As a community we come together for table fellowship, where everyone has a place at the table and is included.
  • We see this in how we pray for each other during the Prayers of the Faithful as one community regardless of stature or anything, we offer gifts duringthe offertory as a way of sharing with each other gifts that we have received during the week, and the final dismissal, reflects how we are called to continue loving each other even after this community fellowship.
  • This idea of fellowship, solidarity and inclusiveness is what has brought about the “preferential option for the poor”, which is about being in solidarity with the poor and marginalized and including them and treating them with respect and dignity when the rest of society may think of them as non-persons unworthy of notice. This is the concrete action that we complement with our prayer.
The Preferential Option for the Poor (5 minutes)
  • The poor that we talk about are those who are poor, not just because of fate, but because of unjust systems and structures, where they literally struggle to survive and whose “very lives are threatened by poverty” or are marginalized and exploited because of other reasons such as age, race, prejudices, lack of resources or education due to a larger social sin manifested in unjust structures.
Ask students to pair up and cite their own experiences of marginalization in school, home, or neighborhood. After some time, request some students to share their answers.
  • The poor can include those people who are discriminated against in school because of their looks, quirks, infirmities.
  • Church teaches on this option (PCP II), where evangelization and liberation (i.e. spreading the gospel and liberating people from even temporal ills), expanding the notion of what it means to be poor, and is grounded in scripture.
Grounding (8 minutes)
The students will be asked to discuss the scene of the Final Judgement from Matthew through a retelling of the story as well as asking them the following questions:
  • What seems to be classified as “good” in the Final Judgement scene?
  • If you hear someone in distress ‘crying out to you for help’ because he or she was stabbed, raped, or beaten, would you feel okay about it?
in order to draw out the following insights:
  • The option is grounded in Scripture through Final Judgement through the way God has worked in the history of our salvation as a liberator of the oppressed and from all evils. Our human experience also acknowledges our human solidarity and that it is a universal human need to demand justice and fairness—when we feel a negative experience of contrast where we may react to something that we instinctively think shouldn’t be that will invoke a form of protest in us, such as large scale massacres in history, child abuse, or extra judicial killings. We feel this when we see things we believe should not be, as we are all created with dignity to be one family and one society out of love, where we are loved first, hence our ability to love (1 John 4:10, 19-20), and hence the call to concretely live out this option.
Concrete Actions (10 minutes):
Students will then be asked who they think are called to practice the preferential option and why.
  • This option is not just for the financially rich to make but for the whole church to make—even the poor are called to make this option; it is also a call for the poor to regain their voices and be part of the community; it is not against anyone per se, but against injustice, and so may go against those who are benefitting from unjust social structures.
  • Example of sick child and healthy child, where the parents may love both equally but give more care to the sick child due to the sick child’s degree of need.
  • We all learn from each other, where the rich may share material gifts with the poor, the poor give companionship to the rich, not unlike the community of the early Christians as seen in the epistles.
Students will then be asked to discuss how they understand the option and how they would live it out.
  • Concretely, to live out the option and to be in solidarity with poor and marginalized means to support all efforts on their behalf, whether helping directly or indirectly (e.g. directly helping by working with the poor, or indirectly through financial assistance or mobilizing and conscientizing people). This would depend on the context, what is needed, as well as what can be done in a certain community.
  • In Ateneo, efforts have been made to support the APECO and Sumilao farmers, through joining them in their petitions as well as through media.
  • Other churches have many ministries and programs available for them, such as those in Della Strada parish where they have a Balik Alay or Helping Hands program, St. Peter’s parish livelihood and spirituality program and thepublic high school students formation program of “Alay Ni Ignacio”.
  • Giving money or material goods is not just the only way of being in solidarity—it can come in the form of companionship and support for their cause. It is not about simply about being poor, since there is no virtue in being poor alone, but to journey with one another and recognizing that each of us is a dignified human being who should be loved. There are many ways to be in solidarity with them, depending on how we respond. It is not just about giving everything away, but can be the rich who simply fight the fight of the poor and who use their riches wisely for others and not just for themselves.
  • Individually, this can be seen in all aspects of our lives—Do we vote for politicians who support the poor? Do we patronize businesses that are fair and do not discriminate against those who may not look normal or wealthy? Do we automatically make judgement calls based on looks or feelings about a person rather than getting to know them first?
  • It is to acknowledge that we are one big family that we need to take care of each other because we all deserve love, care, and respect, because the option is basically to bring about equality and the universality of God’s love to bring about the Kingdom of God where “the wolf will live with the lamb and the leopard will lie down with the goat” (Isaiah 11:6), where we all live not unlike the early Christian communities which “shared everything they had [with each other]” (Acts 2:44).
  • It is both addressing structural issues as well as having the personal option even in our immediate community.
  • It is a choice one makes every day and integrates into a lifestyle, as it is a choice made out of true love for others and for God, not simply out of feelings.
Synthesis and Assignment (9 minutes):
At the end students will be given the following essay assignment with the following questions as well as to synthesize what they have learned from the session:
  • What compels you to live out the option? What makes living out the option difficult and challenging?
/
  • Have a thorough understanding what the option means and who are the poor in the present
  • Identify concrete examples in the present of people/realities living out the option and how to live out the option using their personal context through their assigned essay.