Poor Beggars

Seeing both overt and covert poverty in the world

9/27/2022

Mt 9:35-38 Jesus went around to all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the Gospel of the Kingdom, and curing every disease and illness. At the sight of the crowds, his heart was moved with pity for them because they were troubled and abandoned, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, "The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few; so ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest."

One of the great blessings but also burdens of being a downtown parish is you never know who is going to walk through the church doors. We get all kinds of visitors: some local, some from far away, and some even spend the night in the church. One morning we found a man curled up and sleeping inside one of the confessionals. I am not sure if we charged him rent for one night, but I hope he at least got a good night’s sleep. We are constantly facing the poor, and trying to find the best way to help them without making their plight worse, by simply giving them money.

But the poor also help us in a rather surprising way, by reminding us that we, too, are poor beggars before God. No matter how much money we have in our bank account, or how big and beautiful our home, or our fancy and fast our car, we have nothing when we stand before God. In other words, the poor remind us that everyone who walks through these church doors is poor, not only those who curl up in the confessional. The only difference is that the poverty of those begging on the street corners is obvious and in the open, while our poverty – including the poverty of the priest talking to you – is hidden and often ignored.

Let me say a word about these two types of poverty, overt poverty and covert poverty. Today, September 27, is the feast of St. Vincent de Paul, a French priest who worked with the poor in Paris, France, and all over the world. His special love was for galley slaves because for two years, from 1605-1607, he was sold into slavery as well.

But besides ministering to the poor, he also provided education for priests through seminary formation, and giving clergy retreats. One of the many lessons St. Vincent taught priests was this distinction between overt and covert poverty. That is, even as we open our church doors to the poor, we are ourselves poor beggars before God. In God’s sight we are all poor, and He alone is rich.

Many years ago, Immaculate Conception Church, together with St. Joseph’s Church in Fayetteville, conducted an annual mission trip to Honduras to help the poor people there. We have not been able to return for several years because of the lack of security there as well as the COVID pandemic. We went there in the spirit of St. Vincent de Paul. But do you know what we discovered when we got to Honduras?

Yes, we saw some abject poverty, materially-speaking, but we also discovered our own poverty, spiritually-speaking. The faith of the Honduran people was vibrant and deep, while we Americans sometimes questioned and doubted our own faith. Do you know any Catholic Americans who are struggling in their faith, which is feeble and fickle? Their poverty was overt, but our poverty was covert. Nonetheless, we are all poor beggars when we come before God.

In the gospel today, Jesus sees our poverty, both material and spiritual, both overt and covert. That is why we read in Mt 9:35: “At the sight of the crowd, [Jesus] was moved with pity for them because they were troubled and abandoned, like sheep without a shepherd.” The reason Jesus looks with pity upon the crowds – which includes everyone – is because he can see their poverty. That is, he sees that everyone is poor, and God alone is rich.

And that, by the way, is why when we pray the Our Father, we put our hands out like beggars on the street corners. We are all poor beggars before God, who alone is rich. It is just that some people’s poverty is overt and obvious, and everyone can see it, while other people’s poverty is covert and concealed, and we think no one can see it. Maybe that is why God allows some people to be poor: as a reminder that we are all really poor and he alone is rich. In other words, everyone who walks through these church doors is just a poor beggar.

Praised be Jesus Christ!