February 20, 2004

holy poverty

You know, Christianity's relationship with poverty is a mess. It just is.

Blessed are the poor.
Blessed are the poor in spirit.
Woe to the rich...
The poor will always be with you.

I think of St. Francis and his holy poverty...il poverello. I am staring at this little Taize ostinato. It refers to 2 Corinthians 8:9: "Remember how generous the Lord Jesus was; he was rich, be he became poor for your sake, to make you rich out of his poverty." Typical of Taize tunes, it is a simple phrase to be repeated again and again. "O poverty, source of riches: Jesus, Son of God, born in Bethlehem."

I love the idea of holy poverty. I love the idea of spiritual simplicity. I do. I read Kierkegaard's The Gospel of Suffering:

To be dependent on our own wealth, that is dependence and heavy bondage; to be dependent on God, absolutely dependent, that is independence...Dependence upon God is the only independence, for God has no heaviness; only the earthly and especially the earthly treasure has that.

I spoke with my homeless friend today. He is so angry and frustrated. He does not trust that the people who are actually working to help him are actually working toward that purpose. He perceives their wealth and his poverty. He screams injustice and pain. He is unable to see how they have helped. He is unable to control his rage at the system. "George Bush is a rich man and he's killing people. He's the President! George Ryan is a crook and lives in a mansion. What about me? I've done nothing wrong. Doesn't anyone want to help me? No. No one cares about me."

Holy poverty...prophetic poverty...painful poverty...it is simply never as simple as I would like.

Posted by tripp at February 20, 2004 12:29 PM
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