Poverty -- what does it mean to be poor?
I mean, truly it just means to be lacking something, usually in reference to monetary goods.
Yet, there is more than just monetary poverty, which is why I named my blog Beati Pauperes Spiritu (Blessed are the poor in Spirit). In an older post I believe I discussed what that meant. Being poor in Spirit, as the beatitudes ask us to be, means that we
humble ourselves, even if life is grand, to accept that we are NOT in
control. We are able to say, "Lord, thank you for giving me everything I
need. I know it is only out of pure grace; now I must give my excess to
those without and be your hands and feet." That type of poverty is chosen.
I want to touch upon today two other types of poverty that are not chosen: physical poverty and spiritual poverty.
Since spending a year in a third-world country where physical poverty is more than real, I feel compassion towards people for totally different reasons than I once did. In America and most first-world countries, we are used to seeing a lot of spiritual poverty... no, I don't mean a chosen poverty of Spirit (note the capital S); we are not blessed for this poverty. Like I said - you are blessed when you choose to be poor out of humility. Americans are spiritually poor because they aren't spiritual at all. That is mostly because when you have everything you think that you need and are comfortable, you no longer feel a need for God. We think we are safe, or even better yet, in control.
Ha. God is laughing, and I am, too.
But when people struggle for the essentials in life, they often turn to God, hoping that since they do not perceive themselves to be in control of their situation that perhaps a higher being will give them what they need. Honestly, we can learn a lot from them.
Now we are getting to my point. But don't think my objective is to say that we should be physically poor so that we need God. He wants us to want Him, but don't you think He is even more proud of those who have everything they need and still trust in Him? No, my point is that I have never been physically poor, and my heart has never been exposed to people who are physically poor, only emotionally and spiritually poor.
Seeing this physical poverty has stolen a lot of my peace. Why? Because my peace came in the fact that I knew how to put my faith into action. I could act out of compassion, helping people who have similar problems, lifestyles, etc. to my own -- i.e. "I could say I have been there, I know what you are going through" to them. I had faith in God because I could help my brothers and sisters and I had some bit of reward from it, even if very minimal. Well, when you are a volunteer with no money, yet have all the essentials (including food, a bed, electricity, even internet), and you see the people you are here to help struggling so deeply in the physical needs department, what can you do? I pity them, but I show no compassion. How I can I be compassionate without acting on it? Compassion implies helping the other; yet, how can I help them?
Here is my dilemma.
Here is where my faith is tested. Here is where peace has evaded me, because I have not discovered how to serve these people with or without a means to provide for their most simple but essential needs.
I am trying my best to figure out how to show compassion. Until then, I can only prepare myself for the day when I am capable of showing compassion. I can set my mind to serving the poor when I return and have a means to provide for the physically poor. Right now, it looks like prayer is my only option -- but one day, I want to really help those around me in all aspects of life: those spiritually poor and those physically poor.
This song I found recently really touched me and I think is very relevant to this post, so I'll share it with you:
May God place compassion in your heart for the poverty of your neighbor, so that you may become poor in your own way, in a chosen way. May God grant you the grace to become poor in Spirit.
