Love the poor and BE poor.

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Many of you know me as someone who doesn't necessarily go on rants. I know this is just my second blog post, but I've been having a lot thoughts on this subject, so get ready.

A heads up:

1.) I haven't mastered the virtue of loving my brothers and sisters in poverty.

2.) If this makes you feel defensive and angry, really ask yourself why. Then go read and contemplate Jesus' sermon on the mount. And other scripture passages about God's judgment on those who overlook the needy.

I want to start off by saying that I think deep down inside all of us, we want to help those who cannot help themselves. This is a great concept, and I think there's few who seriously oppose these acts of charity. Especially for those of us as Christians, we hear many times about loving the poor, and we find ourselves echoing and affirming, "Yes! Feed the hungry! Clothe the naked! Love the poor!"

Great!

Prove it.

A few years ago, as I was walking out of church after Mass with everyone else, I came across a woman who was standing with her son, holding up a cardboard sign. This was not a normal occurrence, because the church was in a fairly affluent suburb. I walked away, but as I was heading the other direction, I felt my stomach sinking. I had a lot of cash in my wallet, and here was this woman who needed it more than I did. I can only explain that feeling as the Holy Spirit convicting me. I turned around and gave her some money, and she expressed her gratitude. (Note, this was before I knew that you don't directly have to give cash to a homeless person.)

As I look back on that experience, I can't help but be angry. I vividly remember these people who just came from Mass walking around this woman and her son and heading on their way. We had just received Jesus Christ in the Eucharist, claiming to have believe all He taught, and when we saw someone in need, we walked right past them.

What good are our words when we don't have the actions to prove them?

We make up excuses like, "well, we don't know if they're going to use that money to buy drugs or alcohol," or "this isn't my responsibility." First, you don't have to give them cash; giving them something to eat or drink is a valid alternative. And there's no avoiding the fact that we are commanded to care for the poor. Imagine if you were in their place, standing for hours at a street corner, wishing someone would even just acknowledge your existence as a human being. They have material needs, but often we overlook their emotional needs, too.

If this isn't convincing you already, read the words of Jesus Himself.

Not only are we called to care for the poor, we are called to BE poor. This doesn't mean that we have to be homeless and begging on the streets, but we should have a healthy sense of detachment from material possessions. I also take this to mean as a detachment from relationships or accomplishments on which we can solely base off our value and worth as people, and distract us from our relationship with God.

I met a man downtown, sitting in the skyway with a cardboard sign. He was constantly looking up at those who were rushing by, but he had the biggest smile on his face. I found him to be incredibly joyful and optimistic despite his situation. I walked away from that conversation thinking, "I wish we could all be poor like him." Not necessarily in the material sense...well, in a way, yes, I wished that we were poor in the material sense.

Because when you barely have anything, you come to truly know that you have the greatest treasure ever: God.

When you realize you have to completely depend on Him and trust that He will provide, that is when you find the greatest joy.

True poverty to which Jesus calls His disciples is not a nice sentiment. And I say this not only to my fellow Christians, but to those who consider themselves religious more or less. Poverty demands a response from every. single. one. of. us. This may sound harsh, but if you call out religious people for not being charitable enough, and you yourselves don't actually practice the virtue you want to see in others, then I'm sorry, your words don't mean anything. You criticize Christians' lack of concern for the needy, but do you even stop to say a quick hello to the man begging on the street corner or offer to buy him a sandwich?

I understand that there are other factors like safety that have to be taken into account, but there's no denying that this is the call of the Gospel. And when we ignore or water it down, what will we have to say when we come face to face with the Judge who tells us that we didn't feed Him when He was hungry, clothe Him when He was naked, and so on?

I hope to write another post about the practicals of encountering the poor we meet. In the meantime, let's stop pretending that they're invisible, because when we finally acknowledge them, we see the One who took on poverty out of love for us.