It’s
actually a very beautiful virtue, very positive and constructive. It enhances
our humanity, in both our personal and social dimensions, helping us to clean our
heart and vision so that we can only get engaged with what is proper to us, and that is, God.
It puts
our attitude toward material and earthly things—from money to power and fame—in
its proper bearing. With it, we are reminded that we are not absolute owners of
what we have and what we use, but are stewards who have to use them fruitfully in the name of God for God’s glory and for the
good of all.
In other words, we have the responsibility to use things properly. Christian poverty is not a matter of not having things, though we also have to be ready when things that we need or we want are not available.
Christian
poverty is more a matter of detachment, of seeing to it that our heart is not
held hostage by the things of this world, that its intention is only to love God and
to serve others. We need to tickle, arouse and spring to action this kind of attitude.
Christian
poverty is not averse to having things as long as we are aware of our condition
as stewards towards those things. Thus, it is not averse to the idea of one
becoming a millionaire or a billionaire or a trillionaire, though obviously when one has more things, he also has the
greater responsibility to rectify and purify his intention.
Out of
this spirit of Christian poverty, we have to learn how to account before God
and before everybody else all the earthly goods—money, power and fame, etc.—that we use
or enjoy. We need to attain that Christian goal of not having more nor less than we need, and that those who have a lot
would not have anything in excess, nor those who have little would have anything less than what they need.
This
practice of accounting will help us avoid getting swallowed up by the many
deceiving and tricky allurements of this world. The world is full of irresistible gimmicks,
attractive snares and fantasy bubbles. So we really have to live out as best as we could what Christ said about being
shrewd as serpents while being simple as doves.
Yes, we
need to be really discerning without falling into skepticism and cynicism.
There’s always hope in spite of the very ugly cases of abuses in the handling of money
and the use of other earthly goods.
We need
to see to it that our use of money and earthly goods does not undermine our
love for God and for souls. The ideal situation should be that the more money and things
we have, the more love we ought to have toward God and others. The more gifts, blessings and privileges we have, the more responsibility
we also have.
Let’s
always remember what St. Paul once said: “The love of money is the root of all
evils.” (1 Tim 6,10) Our use of money should not be a result of mere love for it. Our
use of money has to come from love of God and others in order to generate more love around. We need to have mechanisms to
check if indeed we observe this law.
We need
to make this ideal into a living, breathing reality. We have to overcome a
common bias that this business of Christian poverty is only a religious concern that has
nothing to do with the practical realities of life.
We need
to explode that myth for it simply does not correspond to the truth about
ourselves. Even without inputting yet the pertinent doctrine of our faith, our common sense
alone, our sense of being decent human beings alone will tell us that we have to live poverty, understood as detachment
from things to be able to serve the common good.
Christian
poverty allows us to grow in love and goodness in each one of us and in our
relation with others through the use of money and earthly things. Love and goodness
are our ticket to heaven. Money and the others, we will leave behind.
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