Once you know, you’ve lost your excuse
And who doesn’t know about extreme poverty? Some reminders…
I was going through a box of books Andrew (my seminarian son) left at home which is a risky undertaking for me because each and every one could capture my attention for hours. But I had a purpose and looked for something in particular, when I found this: “radical compassion.” The cover was a snapshot of homeless men huddling over a warming barrel in an underpass, surrounded by the carts and bags holding their few things, trying to make a meal. I had to read this book, or at least start it, and carried it off to an appointment that would provide plenty of wait (reading) time.
It’s written by a Jesuit who has spent his life and ministry among men like these.
For more than twenty-five years, Gary Smith, S.J., has lived among and ministered to the poor. Through a series of compelling vignettes that read like personal journal entries, Smith chronicles his life and work in the poverty-stricken Old Town section of Portland, Oregon. In his touching and often heart-breaking stories, Smith reveals the gritty reality of life on the streets…
As a passionate and dedicated advocate for the poor, Smith addresses the major problems and important issues facing this growing population. From the ravages of mental illness and addiction to struggles for affordable housing and quality health care, Smith brings attention to problems that many choose to ignore.
Listen to Smith’s insight into people usually passed by and ignored.
His speech reflects longings and deprivations in his life…Stewart has an unaffected candor. As a matter of fact, he has no idea what it means to be pretentious…
That is often the way for people with no power, no money, no exterior beauty. They have nothing to prove. And so Stewart is non-threatening. He crashes through my defenses. He brings out what is good, whole, and deep down in me: the ability to love tenderly, speak truthfully, receive openly, and fact gently my own weaknesses.
The Church has been in the news a lot this past week for big and weighty matters. But today, Vatican Information Service’s daily press release has this little item about a reminder of the work that remains at its heart. Archbishop Silvano Tomasi told the United Nations Economic and Social Council that….
“the continued effort to address the plight of people trapped in poverty and to search for new ways and means to free them from its destructive consequences remains essential if the international community wants to achieve truly integral human development.”
“Poverty elimination demands an integration between the mechanisms that produce wealth and the mechanisms for the distribution of its benefits at the international, regional and national levels.”
“The projects of multilateral institutions and developed countries aimed at reducing poverty and improving growth in poor regions, like the Millennium Development Goals, the Highly Indebted Poor Countries Initiative and the Poverty Reduction Strategy, have made some limited progress,” said the permanent observer.
Sounds restrained. For all these projects and initiatives and strategies with big sounding names, they don’t seem to be doing much.
After highlighting the fact that “eradication of poverty is a moral engagement,” Archbishop Tomasi concluded by saying that “the various religions and cultures see the achievement of this end as a most important task that frees people from much suffering and marginalization, that helps them to live peacefully together, and that provides individuals and communities the freedom to protect their dignity and actively contribute to the common good.”
At the end of chapter one in “radical compassion,” Smith makes the point…
that the church, when it becomes poor and internalizes the suffering of the poor, understands compassion and the demands of justice. The just and compassionate church becomes the incarnation of the heart and song of Christ.
Let’s see some news coverage of that.