Poverty
I will skip a definition of poverty and only say I know material poverty when I see it e.g. living with indigenous people in Chiapas, Mexico and coffee farmers in Nicaragua and travels in China and South East Asia. Kids with no shoes on stony ground, a family in one room basically a shed with one bed that all could not fit into,(we slept on the floor), no drawers or wadrobe, instead a rope on the wall with clothes slung over it etc, etc, etc.
But they had their dignity and the Chiapas kids were such fun to play with even though we could not speak Tsotsil and they did not know much (Spanish neither did I!)
One thing I will never forget is that they gave us guests (three Canadians, two Japanese and one Mexican) export grade coffee but I saw the coffee beans that they used themselves. They were the rejected defective beans that they could not sell. I still get emotional when I think of them especially on 22 Dec, the anniversary of the massacre of 45 of them in 1997 by paramilitaries during the Zapatista troubles.
And in Nicaragua having rats in my room at night and lifting my mattress and seeing a million (ok only a couple of hundred!) cockroaches underneath. But as a Franciscan I told myself to tolerate Brother Rat and Brother Cockroaches (or maybe it was Sister Rat and there definitely were Sister Cockroaches in that million!)
Francis
He cared for the poor and marginalised - the lesser ones (minores). So should we.
Holy Poverty
is voluntary and embraced as faith and trust that God will provide. I doubt that many Franciscans today practice the extreme self-denial that Francis did.
For me simplicity is the answer and thus to be able to give to others in need.
Pax et bonum,
Andrew
Hi Andrew,
I think the personal descriptions of an example of work better than academic definitions because they are real and help us to encounter actual people living in poverty. In meeting them first as 'other' we next realize that we are in fact the same. We realize that through the simple fact that we were born elsewhere we are lucky enough to live in a country of peace which abounds with more opportunity and less (just less), poverty. Had I been born in Nicaragua I possess no extraordinary skill that would have allowed me to escape poverty when most do not. Just because I live in Canada God did not ordain me to be wealthy and those in Nicaragua poor. I think God would want me to share my good fortune and help all those others so that we could be equal, and then everyone would be free to share there own gifts with others. Pat
I think the personal descriptions of an example of work better than academic definitions because they are real and help us to encounter actual people living in poverty. In meeting them first as 'other' we next realize that we are in fact the same. We realize that through the simple fact that we were born elsewhere we are lucky enough to live in a country of peace which abounds with more opportunity and less (just less), poverty. Had I been born in Nicaragua I possess no extraordinary skill that would have allowed me to escape poverty when most do not. Just because I live in Canada God did not ordain me to be wealthy and those in Nicaragua poor. I think God would want me to share my good fortune and help all those others so that we could be equal, and then everyone would be free to share there own gifts with others. Pat
Hi Patrick,
Yes, we won the lottery! The lottery of where we were born and who our parents were. Most people who win lotteries share their winnings.
Pax et bonum,
Andrew
Yes, we won the lottery! The lottery of where we were born and who our parents were. Most people who win lotteries share their winnings.
Pax et bonum,
Andrew
There is a lot of Extreme Poverty in the world today, most of the planets inhabitants live in poverty, Europe, North America and a few other smaller countries are the exceptions.
I was born and lived the first 40 years of my life in South Africa, part of the privileged 5million white people. The 35million blacks were restricted by the Apartheid Laws to get the same privileges. Now that they all have equal rights the poverty situation has not improved, in fact it has got worse.
What then is the answer to world poverty?
I believe that the answer is Evangelisation, we need to evangelise, first ourselves, then we will be able to evangelise others, to quote Scripture; “The harvest is great but the labourers are few”. When we get enough Christians who really Know Jesus, especially amoung our politicians and business people we will start to make a difference, we will respect the dignity and rights of all people. Meanwhile we should continue to help Peace & Development and other charitable organisations to the best of our ability.
Walter Harris
(Edited by Patrick Mayo - original submission Friday, 16 January 2009, 12:45 PM)
Hi Walter,
You have hit on an important ingredient in human societies - leadership. (Just think of Gaza and Hamas or Zimbabwe and Mugabe.) And it has huge implications for solidarity and social, political and economic progress and development. And also peace.
Let me try to outline the problem. Do we believe we are our brothers keeper as the bible tells us and do we believe in the doctrine of the responsibility to protect, by which if governments do not protect their people then some others have the right or duty to intervene to do it? The Canadian Government and the United Nations endorse this doctrine. Where should the line be drawn? In Iraq? Afghanistan? Zimbabwe? Sudan/Darfur?
The Vatican was opposed to intervention in Iraq. The UN accepts the NATO intervention in Afghanistan. The word genocide has been used in relation to Darfur yet the African Union and UN remain impotent to make a real effective difference.
Unfortunately countries only act in their own interests all the while pretending to act for other reasons.
That is why charity is not enough to bring about change - only justice can do that but it must be rooted in love/charity/caritas/agape which comes from God.
Pax et bonum,
Andrew
You have hit on an important ingredient in human societies - leadership. (Just think of Gaza and Hamas or Zimbabwe and Mugabe.) And it has huge implications for solidarity and social, political and economic progress and development. And also peace.
Let me try to outline the problem. Do we believe we are our brothers keeper as the bible tells us and do we believe in the doctrine of the responsibility to protect, by which if governments do not protect their people then some others have the right or duty to intervene to do it? The Canadian Government and the United Nations endorse this doctrine. Where should the line be drawn? In Iraq? Afghanistan? Zimbabwe? Sudan/Darfur?
The Vatican was opposed to intervention in Iraq. The UN accepts the NATO intervention in Afghanistan. The word genocide has been used in relation to Darfur yet the African Union and UN remain impotent to make a real effective difference.
Unfortunately countries only act in their own interests all the while pretending to act for other reasons.
That is why charity is not enough to bring about change - only justice can do that but it must be rooted in love/charity/caritas/agape which comes from God.
Pax et bonum,
Andrew
Better late than never.
As Jesus said before going to the Cross the "Poor you will always have with you" when Judas complained about an expensive oil being used to anoint him instead of being sold and used for the poor. On the one hand that statement is about the uniqueness of the time and person of Jesus but on the other, it points to the need for the cross .Every generation lives out the battle between the have and the have-nots even on the streets of slums because of our self-centered nature.
I believe St. Francis calls us to recover our first born spirit of generosity . Poverty is not just an absence of material goods. I have been in the most opulent of homes in Vancouver and Montreal talking to young people who have given up all hope of meaningful life. We move towards the FI definition of extreme poverty when it speaks of many leveled poverty that has numerous and soul destroying consequences to our quality of life.
The fI recommendation to focus on relationship is the load stone that leads to A recovery of dignity. Jesus came and set up tent amongst us not setting himself apart as overLord but as humble servant.(Jn 1:14)
As Jesus said before going to the Cross the "Poor you will always have with you" when Judas complained about an expensive oil being used to anoint him instead of being sold and used for the poor. On the one hand that statement is about the uniqueness of the time and person of Jesus but on the other, it points to the need for the cross .Every generation lives out the battle between the have and the have-nots even on the streets of slums because of our self-centered nature.
I believe St. Francis calls us to recover our first born spirit of generosity . Poverty is not just an absence of material goods. I have been in the most opulent of homes in Vancouver and Montreal talking to young people who have given up all hope of meaningful life. We move towards the FI definition of extreme poverty when it speaks of many leveled poverty that has numerous and soul destroying consequences to our quality of life.
The fI recommendation to focus on relationship is the load stone that leads to A recovery of dignity. Jesus came and set up tent amongst us not setting himself apart as overLord but as humble servant.(Jn 1:14)