Rich is Better
A wealthy actress once famously said: “I’ve been rich, and I’ve been poor. Believe me, rich is better.” Rich is better, that is, if you can handle it. Most of us can’t. Our tendency to excess needs a healthy spirit of poverty. Especially in our country, whose economy is driven by acquiring more than we need, and more than is good for us, it is essential to practice poverty of spirit. “Blessed are the Poor in Spirit,” says Jesus, “for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven.”
I can remember being a poor student, living on $20 a week for food (possible, but tricky, in 1982. Dinner five times a week was half a can of tuna on toast). I was never healthier, never happier…. One experience of personal poverty stands out in my mind. I was in the Mexico City airport after a summer studying Spanish. I didn’t own a credit card and had three dollars left. At the check-in, the gal said I needed to pay an $18 airport tax. I said I only had three dollars. She replied that I had 45 minutes to come up with the money, and I had better start begging. I had to beg, to ask, for help. The first lady I asked was American. She turned away, saying she couldn’t help me. But an obviously poorer Mexican lady next to her gave me $20 with a big smile. She had a warmth of understanding that the lady with more money didn’t have. Less money had made her more charitable, more human. Financial security has this effect on us, that it tends to build a wall of proud independence around our hearts. It is a wall that others sometimes cannot penetrate. It is a wall that can shut out even God’s love. Wealth can terribly isolate us.
A wealthy actress once famously said: “I’ve been rich, and I’ve been poor. Believe me, rich is better.” Rich is better, that is, if you can handle it. Most of us can’t. Our tendency to excess needs a healthy spirit of poverty. Especially in our country, whose economy is driven by acquiring more than we need, and more than is good for us, it is essential to practice poverty of spirit. “Blessed are the Poor in Spirit,” says Jesus, “for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven.”
I can remember being a poor student, living on $20 a week for food (possible, but tricky, in 1982. Dinner five times a week was half a can of tuna on toast). I was never healthier, never happier…. One experience of personal poverty stands out in my mind. I was in the Mexico City airport after a summer studying Spanish. I didn’t own a credit card and had three dollars left. At the check-in, the gal said I needed to pay an $18 airport tax. I said I only had three dollars. She replied that I had 45 minutes to come up with the money, and I had better start begging. I had to beg, to ask, for help. The first lady I asked was American. She turned away, saying she couldn’t help me. But an obviously poorer Mexican lady next to her gave me $20 with a big smile. She had a warmth of understanding that the lady with more money didn’t have. Less money had made her more charitable, more human. Financial security has this effect on us, that it tends to build a wall of proud independence around our hearts. It is a wall that others sometimes cannot penetrate. It is a wall that can shut out even God’s love. Wealth can terribly isolate us.
The Nativite' by Jean Michelin (1659)
Holy Poverty is the beginning
Blessed are the Poor in Spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven. I think Jesus is not so much speaking of the future (if you practice poverty on earth, you will get to heaven after you die) but simply making an observation about our present lives (the poor in spirit are happy here and now, on earth. They already possess the Kingdom).
Poverty of spirit, holy poverty, is the starting point for happiness. God began his life on earth in simple poverty, born in a stable and warmed by the breath of the cow and the donkey. He who is infinitely rich shows us the way of simplicity. Spiritual poverty simply means managing our wealth as if we did not own it, as if we didn’t depend on it. For one thing, the wealth we enjoy—our homes and cars, our job security and our health, even our national security—can diminish quickly. For another thing, security doesn’t make us really happy. Only love makes us really happy. We were created for greater things—to love and be loved. We find that love in the simple things of life, while the anxieties of managing wealth and insuring our security can drain love away from us.
Seeking poverty and humility
We in the Developed World must work very hard to be spiritually poor. “Seek the Lord, you humble of the earth,” says the prophet Zephaniah. “Seek humility…I will leave a people humble and lowly, who shall take refuge in the name of the Lord.” This does not sound like what has become the American Dream, at least as seen on TV. But St. Paul reminds us in the Second Reading: “consider your own calling, brethren: not many of you are wise, powerful, or of noble birth. Rather, God chose the weak of the world to shame the strong.” Happiness is knowing where we came from (nothing) and where we are going (to God).
Blessed are the Poor in Spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven. I think Jesus is not so much speaking of the future (if you practice poverty on earth, you will get to heaven after you die) but simply making an observation about our present lives (the poor in spirit are happy here and now, on earth. They already possess the Kingdom).
Poverty of spirit, holy poverty, is the starting point for happiness. God began his life on earth in simple poverty, born in a stable and warmed by the breath of the cow and the donkey. He who is infinitely rich shows us the way of simplicity. Spiritual poverty simply means managing our wealth as if we did not own it, as if we didn’t depend on it. For one thing, the wealth we enjoy—our homes and cars, our job security and our health, even our national security—can diminish quickly. For another thing, security doesn’t make us really happy. Only love makes us really happy. We were created for greater things—to love and be loved. We find that love in the simple things of life, while the anxieties of managing wealth and insuring our security can drain love away from us.
Seeking poverty and humility
We in the Developed World must work very hard to be spiritually poor. “Seek the Lord, you humble of the earth,” says the prophet Zephaniah. “Seek humility…I will leave a people humble and lowly, who shall take refuge in the name of the Lord.” This does not sound like what has become the American Dream, at least as seen on TV. But St. Paul reminds us in the Second Reading: “consider your own calling, brethren: not many of you are wise, powerful, or of noble birth. Rather, God chose the weak of the world to shame the strong.” Happiness is knowing where we came from (nothing) and where we are going (to God).
Three Recommendations
I’ve got three suggestions. First, practice daily self denial. When you could buy two sweaters, buy one. When you could order a 32 ounce coke, order a 16 ounce one. Water would be even better. Second, live in some way with the poor. Practice the joy of serving others. Certainly we need to give a portion of our wealth away to be free, but we also need to touch the poor. I have found so much joy in working with St. Vincent de Paul, talking with people who at the moment must depend entirely on God. Third, study the lives of those who have practiced extraordinary poverty of spirit. Mother Teresa, for example, is a treasure of our time. There are several books in the bookstore, including the one I will quote from now: Where There is Love, There is God, p. 159.
I’ve got three suggestions. First, practice daily self denial. When you could buy two sweaters, buy one. When you could order a 32 ounce coke, order a 16 ounce one. Water would be even better. Second, live in some way with the poor. Practice the joy of serving others. Certainly we need to give a portion of our wealth away to be free, but we also need to touch the poor. I have found so much joy in working with St. Vincent de Paul, talking with people who at the moment must depend entirely on God. Third, study the lives of those who have practiced extraordinary poverty of spirit. Mother Teresa, for example, is a treasure of our time. There are several books in the bookstore, including the one I will quote from now: Where There is Love, There is God, p. 159.
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