Poverty takes many forms

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reen12 said:
quote: ncjohn
The question that does occurs to me, is -
What is it - that we will not set down?
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This is a key question Reen, and one I constantly ask. I remember well that when I did my Cursillo weekend many years ago, I came very close to not going up at the “commissioning” at the end, knowing that I had my “special” sins–ones I had when I came in and that I knew I was going to indulge again when I left, however good my intentions might be.

I know in my head that anything I “give up”, God will plant something much better to replace. But getting that into my heart, and into practice, has been a never-ending struggle as I’m sure it is for all of us.
Acutely aware of the many, many times, when I have judged another, in my heart, I ask Him for mercy, too. I have enough “beams, in my own eye,” to build several log cabins. http://bestsmileys.com/sad/4.gif
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Do you mind if I walk beside you here? I’ll help you with your cross if you’ll help me with mine.
 
quote: reen12
Acutely aware of the many, many times, when I have judged another, in my heart, I ask Him for mercy, too.
I have enough “beams, in my own eye,” to build several log cabins. http://bestsmileys.com/sad/4.gif
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quote: ncjohn
Do you mind if I walk beside you here? I’ll help you with your cross if you’ll help me with mine.
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The awful thing about this cross, is that I constructed it, myself.
It is made from the "beams’ in my own eye.

But the weight of this cross will one day be replaced, by the Carpenter of Nazareth -
so they tell me.
He knows all about wood and crosses. They tell me this, too.

In a moment, in the presence of God, we will exchange our crosses, for a “weight of glory” -
never to have to pick up and carry a cross, again.

As - never again, will He know the pain of the cross.

quote: ncjohn
Do you mind if I walk beside you here? I’ll help you with your cross if you’ll help me with mine.
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As long as you are willing to sit by the side of the road,
of the via delorosa, sometimes. I can’t keep up with the
others, anymore. But don’t be surprised if you look up and
see the Shepherd - coming to lift us up and carry us all the way home.
Like Bob Cratchit carried Tiny Tim.

reens
 
Dear Reen and John,
I would consider it an honor if I could acompany you on your way. Being more aware of my poverty gives glory to Him, because I can no longer supplant Him in my estimation of my accomplishments. whether I like it or not His cross is a burden that I now recognize. Learning to love it and embrace it is part of the Way. He never asks anything to great for me. He is always rooting for me to well. I know that I disapoint Him many times but He never gives up on me.

I know about wood and making stuff with it. I know what it’s like to try to lift a heavy wooden object and move it. I often wonder about Our Lord’s reaction to holding and carrying and suffering from an object made of wood. I wonder if He experienced a sadness in seeing such a good tree used so evily. I am sure that His being a carpenter made carrying and dying upon a cross that much more weird. I guess He may have thought it ironic. I wonder if He appraised the workmanship of the cross? I’m sure the Romans had a specification for making one.I wonder if they contracted out the cross production? I bet they did. Jesus may even have known the Jewish carpenter who built His cross.

I cry for His suffering. He who was so innocent, who deserved only our admiration and esteem, was abused and wounded so evily.

Blessed be Your Holy Name, Oh most High!
for Your love endures for ever!
Blessed is He who suffered and died that we might live!
Blessed is He!
 
reen12 said:
quote: reen12

As long as you are willing to sit by the side of the road,
of the via delorosa, sometimes. I can’t keep up with the
others, anymore. But don’t be surprised if you look up and
see the Shepherd - coming to lift us up and carry us all the way home.
Like Bob Cratchit carried Tiny Tim.

reens
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Abolutely Reen. It was what I was offering.

A very wise woman once told me that we can sit on that curb and wait because the Shepherd promised that He will come, and He always keeps His promises… 🙂
 
Today’s Word Among Us has a wonderful little section about this poverty of judgmentalism that we are so prone to as humans.

As baptized believers, each of us is capable of bearing Christ to others. If our eyes were opened to the glory of this truth, we too would rejoice and be humbled in the presence of so holy a vessel as a sister or brother in Christ. Even nonbelievers would move us to great reverence because they too are created in God’s image and have just as much potential of being filled with the Holy Spirit. If God has so highly honored human beings this way, how could we fail to show them equal honor?

That we fail to find this honor in each other is indeed sad. Jesus allowed himself to be nailed to that cross without uttering an objection. We in turn won’t even allow ourselves to stub our toes without complaining, and usually without trying to crucify the one who dropped the stone there.

I guess I should be happy that at least on my better days I try to find the good in all I meet. I just wish I had a few more of those “better days”.
 
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sawman:
Dear Reen and John,
I would consider it an honor if I could acompany you on your way.
Being more aware of my poverty gives glory to Him, because
I can no longer supplant Him in my estimation of my accomplishments.
whether I like it or not His cross is a burden that I now recognize.
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sawman, it would be an honor to walk with you along the way.

Sometimes, I miss the most obvious realties -
that are right in front of my nose. Of course. ‘sawman.’ Wood.
I had never thought that Jesus, being a carpenter,
might have had some ironic thoughts, about the wood of the cross.

What a beautiful post you wrote, sawman.

A few years ago, I spent 18 months making
small shrines of the Blessed Mother, and
crucifixes, too. **
and a minature circular saw.]
But I never thought of the connection, between
carpentry and the wood of the cross.

He who healed others, Who - along with Joseph,
quite likely made benches and tables.
Innocence Himself, was now carrying wood,
and falling under the weight - so that we
might, one day, carry a “weight of glory.”

Thank you for your beautiful post, sawman.

Please ever keep in mind that I am very ill.
There are so many days when I can’t even
think of Jesus as God. But He understands
why this is so, and He has the patience to wait -
until His ill of mind lamb comes home -
even if He has to carry me the last miles, one day -
with me, all the while, telling Him that He couldn’t possibly be God. http://bestsmileys.com/nono/9.gif

reen
 
C.S. Lewis once wrote that the only thing that
that scriptures do not convey, is God’s sense of humor.
Blessedly, God does has a sense of humor, and a
sense of proportion - because He is the “ruler” -
by which all things are measured.
And a ruler is a carpenter’s tool, and He has made ‘rules,’ for us.

He is ruler of all that He has measured out to us, in life,
including our own existence.

He, too, sees the absurd, in life.

And He needs this sense of humor, when dealing with
His human creatures, on occassion.

Man is the measure of all things! cries the world of ‘scientism.’
We’re on Mars!
And does God think:
“Aren’t they darling. Look how much excitement
they have, landing on the moon and hopping about.”

The moon is one of His loveliest creations, keeping us company at night. Shining in the night sky, speaking of our Creator.
He has strewn the stars across His heavens, for our delight,
so that we could play ‘Connect the dots.’ …http://bestsmileys.com/nono/9.gif

Orion, the Big Dipper, Leo the lion…

(Please Note: This uploaded content is no longer available.)

Speaking of lions,* “Didn’t My Lord Deliver Daniel?”*
[Exquisite, at 1:49 into this work.]

video.aol.com/video-detail/didnt-my-lord-deliver-daniel/1838276486

reen
 
quote: ncjohn
I guess I should be happy that at least on my better days I try to find the good in all I meet. I just wish I had a few more of those “better days”.
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I don’t know why, John, but the spiritual* “Didn’t My Lord Deliver Daniel” *is much on my mind, this past week. It lifts my heart.

It states, indirectly, that each human soul is of infinite value to Him. That 5, of every 7 people on the planet, may know not of Him, yet they swim in a sea of His grace.

Didn’t my Lord deliver Daniel?
…then why not everyman?

It was during this past week, that it came so clearly to me:
God forsakes no one, least of all one who knows not of His grace.

It is of far more moment, that He knows us, than that each knows of Him.

That is why He is God. His ways are, definetly, not our ways. And thank God for that.

reen
 
Dear sawman,

I included, at the end a quote box - [in post #25] -
the first sentence of my post, in reply to your own.

I have requested that my sentence be removed, from this quote box,
and placed as the first line of my post.

When I realized this, it was beyond the time-frame permitted,
for editing this post, myself.

It read:
“sawman, it would be an honor to walk with you along the way.”

🙂

reens
 
Got thinking about the “lions” in our own lives.
How could I name them? Loneliness,
feeling discouraged, feeling exhausted
by all the demands in our life, feeling
unappreciated, heartaches of all kinds.
Sometimes, feeling abandoned and all alone.
Feeling rejected.
Life can be excruciatingly difficult, at times.

Yet God will deliver us, and as we wait for His deliverance,
He gives us His grace - so that we can bear each reality that is
so difficult, at some points in life.
It may seem that it is always the reality,
and, if it is, He will bear us up, like Daniel.



“Under His wings, your refuge,
His faithfulness your shield…”

youtube.com/watch?v=4rRea9qnjK4&feature=related

reen12
 
Dear Reen and John,
I had a busy weekend. helping my folks settle into their new place. I am sorry Reen if my posts are like scratching a scab when I bring Jesus into them. I am not trying to cause you any pain ! I would never intentionaly do something to harm or cause pain or even aggravate. O.K., maybe agravate, but not on purpose. The idea of lions is alittle close to home for me right now. It seems that I do not have the same luck as Daniel. They are snarling and taking swipes at me and have got me backed into a corner.

John, what is up with seeing the Lord in everyone? it seems that everyone has been talking about that very thing lately around me. My wife uses the Word among us booklet and shared the articles about St. Philip Neri and St. Cassius. Those guys deserved canonization.I definatly do not have the gift of helping sick people like a nurse or something. My wife does but I’ll pray for them or fast for their intentions but cleaning scabs and pus and wounds, no way. Not unless God makes a miracle. It is much easier for me to see God in children rather than adults. I love the small ones so much, I just want to group hug with them.

Something from Job today,
" He splits channels in the rocks;
His eyes behold all that is precious.
He probes the wellsprings of the streams,
and brings hidden things to light."

I marvel at the beautiful insights and wisdom the two of you share here. I can’t wait to see what new sight you guys bring withyou . You both probe the wellsprings of the streams, and bring hidden things to light.This is God -in-you being present to me. Thank you for your posts. thank you for showing me God’s hidden things. I recieve from you, God-in-me sees things that are precious.

Tom
 
sawman said:
John, what is up with seeing the Lord in everyone? it seems that everyone has been talking about that very thing lately around me. My wife uses the Word among us booklet and shared the articles about St. Philip Neri and St. Cassius. Those guys deserved canonization.I definatly do not have the gift of helping sick people like a nurse or something. My wife does but I’ll pray for them or fast for their intentions but cleaning scabs and pus and wounds, no way. Not unless God makes a miracle. It is much easier for me to see God in children rather than adults. I love the small ones so much, I just want to group hug with them.
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Hi Tom,

I think that being able to find God in everyone is a prime goal. When we don’t we are essentially saying that there are those who are unloved by God, and/or we are putting ourselves above those in whom we don’t find Him. Possibly becoming like the Pharisee who thanked God for not making him like those “others.” In the end, there can be no “others”; there can be no “us and them”. There can only be poor sinners standing before God needing His mercy.

It can certainly be easier finding God in children than adults, especially if they are what we would term “good” children. I have met plenty of children though that I have just as much of a hard time seeing God in as I do many adults. At least for me the easy part is if I find someone who sees things as I do, so I can consider them “good” since I want to consider myself good. 😊 It is much harder to find God in our “enemies”, whom we define as anyone who doesn’t agree with us in most cases. We all have our “lepers” whom we refuse to kiss, yet as St. Francis found, when we learn to embrace our lepers we find true freedom and true love of God.

And don’t think for a moment that you don’t have a gift for dealing with “sick” people. Sick people are most assuredly not only those with physical manifestations, and it is difficult for a great number of us to minister in that particular situation–though even there you find out how much you are capable of when it is someone you care deeply about. But in the much bigger picture, we all minister to “sick” people with oozing psychological and spiritual wounds, for we all fall into that category.

And concurrently, we also push away our share with those wounds because we don’t like their wounds. Reen commented earlier, as I have heard her comment before, how she often looks upon one who is clearly angry and injured and is taking that out on someone else, and can look upon them thinking “what is it that happened to you that has brought you to this point?” That insight that I gained from her a couple years ago has been of great help in being able to find God in some who seem intent on bringing me down, and may have been the greatest reminder that we are all wounded and in need of love and understanding.

We do indeed all have our poverties, whether we recongize them or not. I fear that we have a huge problem in those who feel they aren’t wounded and needy, for I fear that they become rigid and lacking in compassion, not only driving people from the church but distorting the face of God for those with whom they come in contact. They drove me from the church many years ago, and I still encounter them today, after being blessed to find healing in some with deep compassion and coming back to the church. At least now though I can sometimes recognize their wounding for what it is and try to sit with them in it.

Peace to you. It is in this wrestling with God, and humbly sitting before Him in our imperfection, that we can finally start to be the instruments that He seeks.
 
Thank you for the reminder…

I heard this once:

“You know what God thinks about money when you see whom He gives it to…”

😃
 
As so often happens when I run across something I’m trying to honestly struggle with, God sends an answer. Sometimes it’s in the thoughts that one of you may put out; other times it may be in a homily or some article I read. In this case, my struggles in dealing with “difficult” people–read: people who don’t see things as I do–is addressed in another meditation from Word Among Us, here wau.org/meditations/meditations.asp.

No matter how sincere we may be, however, we may still find it challenging to deal with some people. That’s where prayer comes in. Instead of complaining and gossiping—as Jesus’ opponents would have done—we can take our frustration to the Lord. If we count on him for help with so many other things, we can surely trust him with our difficult relationships! He wants to shine his light into every situation we face.

Is there someone who’s causing you a lot of tension? Try interceding, and see what happens. As your heart becomes united with Jesus in prayer, you may find just the words you need to say the next time you encounter that person. Or you may find the wisdom to keep silent. Ask Jesus to let you see him or her through his eyes, and he will help you to love them. Release this person to God’s care, and let his peace fill your heart. He has won the victory for us, not just over death but over all the broken places in our lives.

I found it especially interesting that they commented that sometimes we find the wisdom to remain silent. That is a hard thing for me, especially if I am being attacked or I see something obviously wrong. However I have found it to be true that sometimes someone is not ready to hear something, or we may not be the person with the credibility for them to hear it from, either of which can actually make things harder for them. And hard as it is to surrender my ego at those times and admit that I don’t have the ability to help, it is indeed great wisdom to step aside and pray for the right one to come along.

Peace,
 
What was Jonah’s poverty?
Why did he end up in the belly of a whale? [literally, a big ‘fish’]

Why did Jonah run away from God? Why did he not go to
Nineveh, as God told him to do?

Because the Ninevites were Assyrians - who had once taken the
Israelites captive?
Because Jonah became angry, that God was giving them an opportunity to repent,
and to turn to Him?

What poverty was Jonah’s?



“It is a fearful thing - to fall into the hands of the living God.” Hebrews 10

reen12
 
reen12 said:
What was Jonah’s poverty?
Why did he end up in the belly of a whale? [literally, a big ‘fish’]

Why did Jonah run away from God? Why did he not go to
Nineveh, as God told him to do?

Because the Ninevites were Assyrians - who had once taken the
Israelites captive?
Because Jonah became angry, that God was giving them an opportunity to repent,
and to turn to Him?

What poverty was Jonah’s?

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a106/reen12/JonahOK2.jpg

“It is a fearful thing - to fall into the hands of the living God.” Hebrews 10

reen12
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I’d say that Jonah’s poverty was his lack of compassion for fellow human beings. His poverty in this area was so great, that it over rode his trust in God, and as a result, he disobeyed God.

Jim
 
What’s a thread on poverty without a few saintly quotes from the woman who dedicated her live to serving the poorest of the poor; blessed Mother Theresa?..

“Being unwanted, unloved, uncared for, forgotten by everybody, I think that is a much greater hunger, a much greater poverty than the person who has nothing to eat.”

“Our life of poverty is as necessary as the work itself. Only in heaven will we see how much we owe to the poor for helping us to love God better because of them.”

“We think sometimes that poverty is only being hungry, naked and homeless. The poverty of being unwanted, unloved and uncared for is the greatest poverty. We must start in our own homes to remedy this kind of poverty.”

And my favorite…
“It is a poverty to decide that a child must die so that you may live as you wish.”
 
quote: CatholicAuthor
What’s a thread on poverty without a few saintly quotes from the woman who dedicated her live to serving the poorest of the poor; blessed Mother Theresa?
…“It is a poverty to decide that a child must die so that you may live as you wish.”
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Beautiful quotes, CatholicAuthor, thank you for posting them,
particularly the last.

I do not understand how a nation that permitted partial birth abortion
can possibly expect that God will continue His lavish blessings.
It was for good reason that Dr. Nathanson titled his work The Silent Scream.
How can so many not hear “the cry of the poor” - when the poor,
in this instance, are little human beings, the least amongst us -
for they cannot protect themselves, and their cries are not heard.

The temple, of the Culture of Death, is constructed on the bodies of the aborted.
The least amongst us.

“The Lord hears the cry of the poor.” Psalm 9

The wealthiest nation, in history - a great wealth-producing machine -
is poverty stricken in heart, I think, that, particularly, parital-birth abortion
was permitted to exist.
Our moral compass has failed, when the tiniest and the most helpless among us
receive not our protection.and we hear not their cries.

“Let him who has ears, listen.” Matthew 12.

God, have mercy. Please Lord, forgive.

reen
 
" We have sinned, been wicked and done evil; we have rebelled and departed from your commandments and your laws. We have not obeyed your servants the prophets, who spoke in your name to our kings, our princes, our fathers, and all the people of the land. Justice, O Lord, is on your side; we are shamefaced even to this day:" Dan.9:5-7

" so the Lord kept watch over the calamity and brought it upon us. You, O Lord our God, are just in all that You have done, for we did not listen to Your voice. Dan. 9:14

Has God visited calamity upon us by allowing us to do as we please? What poverty, what darkness of soul, what unadulterated wickedness, that has become our culture. May God have mercy!
 
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