Today’s reflection centers around the stories of two young men. One is the young man in the Gospel. He must have been a fine young man! He has an honest, forthright approach to life. He comes up to Jesus with confidence and asks, “Teacher, what good must I do to inherit eternal life?” A simple, yet profound question. Jesus’ answer is a bit abrupt: “Why do you ask me about the good? There is only One who is good. If you wish to enter into Eternal Life, keep the commandments.”
The young man is undaunted! “Which ones?” he asks. Jesus names them. The young man responds, “All these I have done from my youth.” Good answer!
But then the story takes a different turn. Jesus says, “Go, sell what you have and give it to the poor, then come and follow me.”
That was something the young man was not willing to do, “for he had many possessions.” He turned and went away sad.
St. Francis of Assisi
Frances Bernadone, a rich young man in the late 12th century, made a different choice. When Jesus confronted him with this request, he stripped himself naked in front of his father, the bishop, and the people of Assisi, and began a pursuit of what he called “Lady Poverty.” To him, absolute-own-nothing-beg-in-the-streets-for-food poverty was a beautiful, wonderful spirituality that left him free to spread the Gospel of Christ by simply being who he was. He became one of our most beloved saints, St. Francis of Assisi—canonized just two years after his death in 1226.
The Issue of the Dance
The rich young man in the Gospel chose not to dance with Lady Poverty. St. Francis made that dance the love and center of his life. A Franciscan website describes St. Francis’ valuing of poverty this way:
“For Francis, Lady Poverty was symbolic of the poor Christ. She was the symbol of the paradoxes of the Gospel, such as richness in poverty, life in death, strength in weakness, peace in temptation, fullness in emptiness and love in detachment and deprivation. Lady Poverty made everything hard soft, and everything difficult easy.
For Francis, Lady Poverty also was a means to the indwelling of God and a way of life that makes present the kingdom of God here and now. (“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of God.”) God takes up his dwelling among us only when we are poor in spirit, emptied and detached from all that prevents Him from filling us with himself. Lady Poverty involves simple living, an attitude of love, thankfulness and giving and using our gifts as they were intended. It brings freedom and true joy and, above all, requires humility. It involves cleaning out the clutter of our hearts and surroundings to make room for God and surrendering to His holy will.” https://ourladyofthepearl.com/franciscan-spirituality/lady-poverty/
Today
Today we have a pope who took the name of Francis and who calls the church to dance with Lady Poverty. His words in Evangelii Gaudium (The Joy of the Gospel) are well known,
“This is why I want a Church which is poor and for the poor. They have much to teach us. Not only do they share in the sensus fidei, but in their difficulties they know the suffering Christ. We need to let ourselves be evangelized by them. The new evangelization is an invitation to acknowledge the saving power at work in their lives and to put them at the center of the Church’s pilgrim way. We are called to find Christ in them, to lend our voice to their causes, but also to be their friends, to listen to them, to speak for them and to embrace the mysterious wisdom which God wishes to share with us through them.” (Evangelii Gaudium, paragraph 198)
Some of the paragraphs before this one and many other statements of Pope Francis make it clear: he sees Lady Poverty as St. Francis did—as a way to enter into the life and love and Presence of Christ in a deep, transformative way, not only helping the poor, but letting ourselves be transformed by them.
St. Pope John Paul II
St. Pope John Paul II called us to a similar poverty—though he spoke about it in a different way. In both Evangelium Vitae (The Gospel of Life) and Salvifici Doloris (On the Christian Meaning of Human Suffering) St. Pope John Paul II urges us to enter, empty handed, into the world of the vulnerable–the poor. He speaks of Christ, commissioned to “bring good news to the poor” and stripped on the cross, as leading us to a place where we can be separated from all that holds us secure–and hostage to the ways and the evils of “the world.” Like Pope Francis, he sees entering into the vulnerability of the fragile and joining them as a way to spread the Gospel and change our crazy modern world.
In Evangelium Vitae he says,
“In a word, we can say that the cultural change which we are calling for demands from everyone the courage to adopt a new life-style, consisting in making practical choices—at the personal, family, social and international level—on the basis of a correct scale of values: the primacy of being over having, of the person over things. This renewed life-style involves a passing from indifference to concern for others, from rejection to acceptance of them. Other people are not rivals from whom we must defend ourselves, but brothers and sisters to be supported. They are to be loved for their own sakes, and they enrich us by their very presence.” (Evangelium Vitae, paragraph 98)
How Shall I Dance with Lady Poverty?
Even though my living and lifestyle is modest, I have everything I need. Even though I would call myself “retired working poor,” by standards across the world, I am rich in possessions. I am not a rich young man. I am a rich enough, aging woman-widow-grandmother. Is today’s Gospel calling me to sell what I have, give it to the poor, and follow Jesus?
Or is that only if I want to be “perfect”? Is today’s Gospel for a chosen few or for you and me?
I think this Gospel is for me. I don’t think I am supposed to do what St. Francis did. To be honest, I’m not sure how simple and sharing a lifestyle God wants me to have. I pray about it. Beyond practicing simplicity, living on less, and sharing what I have, God has not given me clear direction.
But God is giving me clarity that I need to strip myself and let go of anything and everything that prevents me from entering into a solidarity with the Carebound I serve. I especially need to let go of beliefs that I am giving to them. Experience after experience tells me we are giving to each other. I am changed each week by what I learn from them. As I am changed, I become more like them. And then we bring Christ to each other.
I can’t explain it. I don’t understand it. But I know Jesus, St. Francis, Pope Francis, and St. Pope John Paul II are ALL correct: “Let go. Come follow Jesus empty handed, vulnerable, and willing to share—and life will be gained.”
That is where God calls me today. But where does God call you? What needs to be let go of? What needs to be embraced? How does God, through life, invite you to dance with Lady Poverty?
Prayer:
Yes, Lord, I choose to dance with Lady Poverty. Thy Kingdom come. Thy will be done. On earth, in me, as it is in heaven. Amen.
