Poverty vs destitution

[jmj777]

Found in a Lifesitenews article, as per Cardinal Robert Sarah in his book God or Nothing: A Conversation on Faith, Sarah states,

The Gospel is not a slogan. The same goes for our activity to relieve people’s suffering … [it is a matter] of working humbly and having a deep respect for the poor. For example, I remember being disgusted when I heard the advertising slogan of a Catholic charitable organization, which was almost insulting to the poor: “Let us fight for zero poverty” … Not one saint … ever dared to speak that way about poverty and poor people.

Jesus himself had no pretention of this sort. This slogan respects neither the Gospel nor Christ. Ever since the Old Testament, God has been with the poor; and Sacred Scripture unceasingly acclaims “the poor of Yahweh.” …

Poverty is a biblical value confirmed by Christ, who emphatically exclaims, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven” (Mt 5:3). … The poor person is someone who knows that, by himself, he cannot live. He needs God and other people in order to be, flourish and grow. On the contrary, rich people expect nothing of anyone. They can provide for their needs without calling either on their neighbors or on God. In this sense wealth can lead to great sadness and true human loneliness or to terrible spiritual poverty. If in order to eat and care for himself, a man must turn to someone else, this necessarily results in a great enlargement of his heart. This is why the poor are closest to God and live in great solidarity with one another; they draw from this divine source the ability to be attentive to others.

The Church must not fight against poverty but, rather, wage a battle against destitution, especially material and spiritual destitution. … [so that all] might have the minimum they require in order to live. …

But we do not have the right to confuse destitution and poverty, because in so doing we would seriously be going against the Gospel. Recall what Christ told us: “The poor you will have always with you …” (Jn 12:8). Those who want to eradicate poverty make the Son of God a liar. …

lifesitenews.com/opinion/african-cardinal-explains-why-the-war-on-poverty-is-contrary-to-the-gospel

Are we called to a life of poverty, despite its social stigma and our strong aversion to it?

Peace.

+JMJ+

 

[Jared2914]

Yes, we are called to poverty, but not everyone is called to the same poverty. We need the materials and resources to meet our basic needs. Anything extra should be given away. Basic needs will be different for every family though. I think the holier a person is, the more accepting they will be of giving away everything they don’t need. Those just starting their spiritual journey may still feel like they need all their “things” while twenty years later they can easily give them away. We are called to live a life of sacrifice, which involves poverty. God doesn’t expect perfection, but he does want us working on it all our lives.

 

[jmj777]

How is one to feel blessed to have less than they need when there are others around them who have more than they need?

How does one reconcile such disparity and choose to feel thankful for what they do have when it is such a struggle?

Peace.

+JMJ+

 

[Robert_Sock]

Yes, we are called to poverty, but not everyone is called to the same poverty. We need the materials and resources to meet our basic needs. Anything extra should be given away. Basic needs will be different for every family though. I think the holier a person is, the more accepting they will be of giving away everything they don’t need. Those just starting their spiritual journey may still feel like they need all their “things” while twenty years later they can easily give them away. We are called to live a life of sacrifice, which involves poverty. God doesn’t expect perfection, but he does want us working on it all our lives.

I often feel the need to lighten my load of unnecessary baggage that I sometimes find myself carrying. When the going get tough, as is does me, I use introspecting and get rid of alot of it.

 

[Jared2914]

How is one to feel blessed to have less than they need when there are others around them who have more than they need?

How does one reconcile such disparity and choose to feel thankful for what they do have when it is such a struggle?

Peace.

+JMJ+

I can’t speak for everyone, but I believe in everything God taught in the Bible and everything Jesus teaches through the Church. When I came to believe, I suddenly saw what was important. This was the wisdom of God enlightening me. I saw that when I died, I would leave all my earthly belongings behind. That gave me the ability to not care so much about those things. I do need to survive, so I need some things but can go without many others. I feel blessed because I feel like I have made progress on my journey to heaven.

Being thankful despite not having much again comes from God’s wisdom. I realized that even just my life is something to be thankful for because I will one day be in paradise in heaven. If God did not create me, I wouldn’t have to suffer, but I also wouldn’t be able to experience the pleasure of heaven. No matter how hard life can be, some day I will be rewarded for all my suffering. It won’t be a material reward but exactly the reward my soul needs: being with God for all eternity.

Learning God’s wisdom, accepting it, and then taking action is a long process. I have been a Catholic all my life from birth until now, and I am still not finished. I still learn new things every day. I think the first step is obedience. Just doing what God and the Church says even if you don’t know why. Combined with much prayer and study of the faith, you will be enlightened by God and understand the “why.” Then it is a matter of making sure all your decisions are informed by this new wisdom, far from the easiest thing to do.

 

[mikekle]

I believe we are probably called to live as close to poverty as possible, in Gods view anyway.

The problem is, especially here in the US, being ‘rich’ is extremely relative, and nowadays, being rich or even well off is somewhat justified in the church, at least thats what Ive seen, I know alot of people at my parish that make great money at their jobs, have very nice homes, cars, clothes, send their kids to the best schools, etc, and Im not saying they are terrible people, but I have a feeling if Jesus was to return tomorrow, he would likely prefer them to give most of that away and live more modestly…but thats a tough sell to people in the modern world…

Then again, the bible does say we do not wrestle against flesh and blood problems, so I think all this ‘wealthy justification’ is satans attempt to draw us further away from God without us even recognizing whats going on.

 

[Sarcelle]

A roof over one’s head, indoor plumbing, access to clean drinkable water and nutritious food, the freedom to go as one pleases and to be able to live in relative safety are to me, luxuries.

Too many people in this world do not have access to any of the things listed above.

 

[jmj777]

A roof over one’s head, indoor plumbing, access to clean drinkable water and nutritious food, the freedom to go as one pleases and to be able to live in relative safety are to me, luxuries.

Too many people in this world do not have access to any of the things listed above.

Are we called to live in cramped spaces, not have an idea what our future holds if we bring in more children into this world, live paycheck to paycheck?

Peace.

+JMJ+

 

[mikekle]

Are we called to live in cramped spaces, not have an idea what our future holds if we bring in more children into this world, live paycheck to paycheck?

Peace.

+JMJ+

The thing is though, Jesus never said living in this world as a christian was going to be an easy or comfortable thing, in fact, I think he said it was going to be the opposite of that.

So, if we are finding our earthly lives are a bit easy, maybe we are not as right with God as we think?

 

[jmj777]

Good point. I hadn’t thought of it that way.

Peace.

+JMJ+