St. Francis Novena | Day 7: Giving up wealth and privilege for the Gospel's sake
Br. Al Mascia, OFM
Please pray for the poor, forgotten, desperate and lonely around the world and in our neighborhoods.
Jesus says in the Gospels that the poor will always be with us. Some have understood this out-of-context statement to mean that addressing human poverty is an exercise in futility; that poverty is somehow part of God's plan. Of course, nothing could be further from the truth! There are over 2,000 references to the poor in the Bible and the vast majority make it abundantly clear that God's plan, if you will, is for us to take care of one another! Some scripture scholars suggest that Jesus might have been quoting from the Book of Deuteronomy at that time, where it says: There will always be poor people in the land. Therefore, I command you to be openhanded toward those who are poor and needy.
Sadly, these past eighteen months have only made matters worse for those already poor, while also adding to their ranks. So many people have lost their jobs, fallen behind on their rent, and fallen into despair. Where I live in Michigan, I've noticed an increased number of individuals holding signs on street corners asking for assistance. One of the friars I live with always keeps a stash of dollar bills in his glove box to give to these brothers and sisters in need, while some of us keep CarePax in our cars, filled with seasonal necessities, to give to them. My mother would never drive past someone asking for help without offering them a CarePax, never!
One of the reasons why I became a Franciscan was because of the example of St. Francis, whose love of Jesus filled him with compassion and mercy of biblical proportions! He never lost sight of the poverty experienced by the infant Jesus and—as an outgrowth of that—came to choose the virtue of voluntary poverty himself, even personifying it as a fair lady!
While all of us have surely suffered in one way or another this past year and a half, the unfortunate reality is that overall suffering has been and remains gravely disproportionate. St. Francis addressed the disproportionate suffering of his time by giving up his life of wealth and privilege to live a Gospel-centered life of caring for the poor and the abandoned. As we approach his feast day, may our desire to live Gospel-centered lives deepen while growing ever stronger.
Br. Al
(Br. Al Mascia, OFM, lives in the Detroit area. Follow his music ministry at: brotheral.org).
Br. Al Mascia, OFM
Please pray for the poor, forgotten, desperate and lonely around the world and in our neighborhoods.
Jesus says in the Gospels that the poor will always be with us. Some have understood this out-of-context statement to mean that addressing human poverty is an exercise in futility; that poverty is somehow part of God's plan. Of course, nothing could be further from the truth! There are over 2,000 references to the poor in the Bible and the vast majority make it abundantly clear that God's plan, if you will, is for us to take care of one another! Some scripture scholars suggest that Jesus might have been quoting from the Book of Deuteronomy at that time, where it says: There will always be poor people in the land. Therefore, I command you to be openhanded toward those who are poor and needy.
Sadly, these past eighteen months have only made matters worse for those already poor, while also adding to their ranks. So many people have lost their jobs, fallen behind on their rent, and fallen into despair. Where I live in Michigan, I've noticed an increased number of individuals holding signs on street corners asking for assistance. One of the friars I live with always keeps a stash of dollar bills in his glove box to give to these brothers and sisters in need, while some of us keep CarePax in our cars, filled with seasonal necessities, to give to them. My mother would never drive past someone asking for help without offering them a CarePax, never!
One of the reasons why I became a Franciscan was because of the example of St. Francis, whose love of Jesus filled him with compassion and mercy of biblical proportions! He never lost sight of the poverty experienced by the infant Jesus and—as an outgrowth of that—came to choose the virtue of voluntary poverty himself, even personifying it as a fair lady!
While all of us have surely suffered in one way or another this past year and a half, the unfortunate reality is that overall suffering has been and remains gravely disproportionate. St. Francis addressed the disproportionate suffering of his time by giving up his life of wealth and privilege to live a Gospel-centered life of caring for the poor and the abandoned. As we approach his feast day, may our desire to live Gospel-centered lives deepen while growing ever stronger.
Br. Al
(Br. Al Mascia, OFM, lives in the Detroit area. Follow his music ministry at: brotheral.org).
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