By Robert Jalbert, M.M.

God's "option for the poor" is reflected throughout the Hebrew and Christian scriptures, yet the related "preferential option for the poor" as a deliberate choice is relatively recent in Catholic social teaching. The concept initially came from Latin America in the late 1960s and was later adopted by the Holy See in Pope Paul VI's 1971 apostolic letter A Call to Action to motivate the faithful to follow Jesus in reaching out to the poor.

This call is to all of us, not only to be in solidarity with the poor but also to act on their behalf and with them to address the reasons for poverty and bring about radical transformation in society. Jesus tells us, "Whatever you did for the least of these brethren, you did for me" (Matthew 25: 40).

It has been my privilege as a Maryknoll priest to live with, minister among and be transformed by the poor and marginalized in Kenya and Tanzania. Shortly after arriving in Tanzania as a seminarian in 1976, I saw Jesus' teachings about poverty and dependence on God coming alive before my eyes in the local people, living one day at a time and leaving tomorrow to God. But for my first few years in East Africa, I believed I was bringing much of what the materially poor needed and thought they had nothing to give me. As a missioner I sought to "identify" with those I served, yet I lived out that desire at a surface level at best. 

Over the course of my 18 years in East Africa, I've learned that God has drawn me there not only to serve but also to be served and transformed at a deep level. I eventually made my own "preferential option for the poor," and in turn the people made their "option for the North American missionary" by revealing to me the "poverty of spirit" to which Jesus calls us all (Matthew 5:3).

I've learned that relationships in Kenya and Tanzania are reciprocal, where each party both receives and gives and where both are ideally nourished and satisfied. Gradually, what it means to "identify" with those in East Africa has been brought home to me in surprising circumstances. In early 1985, the Soweto "informal settlement" (slum) where I was working in Nairobi, Kenya, was experiencing a severe famine. When all our food reserves had been exhausted and as the lines of those looking for our assistance became longer, "to identify with the poor" came to mean for me accepting my not being able to meet everyone's material needs and embracing my own powerlessness.

The people of Kenya and Tanzania taught me that I too am among the "poor" to whom Jesus addressed many of his teachings. I've learned not only to live my daily life more simply and more fully in the present moment, but also to recognize that "poverty of spirit" means to embrace my ultimate dependence on God. I have chosen a "preferential option for the poor" because it is they, more than anyone else, whom God uses to reveal to me who I am and to show me the way.

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