How poor are you?

Did not God choose those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom? (James 2:5)

Many years ago, a husband and wife felt called by the Lord to adopt needy children into their family. They wanted to care for children who had no other recourse, children who were facing a grim future. They decided against the first child offered to them: a healthy baby from a good home. “He’s not needy enough,” the mother said. “Plenty of other couples will take him.” Instead, they chose a daughter from a very poor country and a son with physical handicaps. 

By making such a generous decision, this couple showed that they were uniting their hearts with the heart of God, who has a “preferential option” for the poor.

We can easily identify with the behavior James describes in today’s first reading: warmly greeting the rich while dismissing or ignoring the poor. We all know what it’s like to shy away from the needy, whether their need manifests itself in physical handicaps, tattered clothing, or uncouth speech. We are tempted to be suspicious of strangers and outsiders. We find ourselves drawn to people who resemble us or who look like the kind of people we want to be. 

And yet the truth is, we are all needy before God. We are all poor and dependent on God’s mercy. We have nothing we have not received at his hand. Every one of our talents and gifts comes from his storehouse of grace and blessing.

James tells us that those who are poor are “rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom” (James 2:5). The point is not that God wants us to suffer grinding poverty and go without our basic needs. It’s that he wants us to see how much we depend on him and on each other, so that we can begin to build a kingdom of justice and kindness on this earth. Only the needy, only the “poor” in this sense, have room in their hearts for the Lord and his people. Only they will band together to build the kingdom.

So how poor do you feel today?

“Jesus, you chose to come among us as a poor man. Open my eyes to my poverty so that I can receive the riches of your love and share them with others.”

taken from wau.org