Loving the poor

When all of your clothing fits in a drawer and a half, it can be tempting to think that you’ve done enough to be in solidarity with the poor. But then a woman selling candles for 2 pesos outside the cathedral asks for your skirt - she has only one and must wear it every week to Mass - and you realize that you are still among the wealthy.

The home of Lolo and Lola, parishioners at Holy Rosary Church. They live up the mountain just a few blocks from my house.

Waking up after a night of typhoon-like rain, you find soaked floors and a leaking roof in nearly every room of your house and consider how long you will have to wait until the roof can be replaced. Later that morning you visit the home of your good friends and discover that the storm flooded their house, washing their dogs and much of their clothing away down the river. The children’s underwear and school uniforms - which they cannot afford to replace - are all gone. They have had no breakfast because there is no money in the house, so you buy them rice and fish for lunch - only to discover that they have no way of cooking it because their firewood is soaked from the rain. How long has it been since the children have eaten a complete meal? Since the baby has had enough milk? And then you feel wretched and painfully rich because not a day passes that your needs, indeed even many of your unnecessary desires, are not satisfied.

Their house is composed of one room, half for cooking and the other half for living, eating, and sleeping.

Poverty is an uncomfortable topic. We don’t want to face the hard truth -- that our Christian brothers and sisters are living under conditions that we would never allow our own blood relatives to suffer. We want to believe it’s acceptable for us to live in whatever manner we choose, as long as we’re also in some way providing for the needs of others.  Even as a missionary committed to pursuing Gospel poverty, I still face this internal battle; I continually find myself trying to justify the average American lifestyle.

I’m sometimes told that this notion of Gospel poverty -- striving to live in rough equality with the poor -- is too radical.  Certainly Jesus isn’t asking all of us to embrace such an extreme call.......or is He?

Jesus tells the rich young man, “If you would be perfect, go, sell all you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come follow me.” And John the Baptist says, "He who has two coats, let him share with him who has none."

The parish maintenance team is building them a new, more livable house on a nearby plot of land. These men work hard for very little pay, but always with smiles on their faces because they labor for the kingdom of God.

If foreign missions has taught me anything, it’s that there will always be someone in greater need than me. Perhaps it is true that I only own two pairs of shorts, but there is still someone - and in many cases someone passing through my very neighborhood - who has none. My roof may be leaking, but how can I repair it in good conscience and yet do nothing to help the family with a flooded house? How can I claim to be loving my brother if I see his needs but do so little to help him?

With your help, we were able to donate $700 to the building of their new home. Thank you for your generous support!

Two years ago I read a book entitled Happy Are You Poor, which challenged me to reexamine my understanding of Christian charity. The author, Fr. Thomas Dubay, outlines concretely and reasonably the motives and means for living out Gospel poverty, whether your vocation is to the priesthood, marriage, or religious life. God used this book in my life as a motivator ultimately inspiring me to become a missionary to serve the poor and to live among them, as they are truly my brothers and sisters in Christ.