“You are lacking in one thing.
Go, sell what you have, and give to the poor
and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.”
At that statement, his face fell,
and he went away sad, for he had many possessions.
via USCCB | NAB – February 28, 2011.
Those of us who have been around this mountain a time or too are VERY familiar with this passage and have contemplated its deeper meaning. We have embraced the ‘spirit of poverty’ well…but what if the Lord is speaking here in Spirit AND in Truth. What if we aren’t only to embrace the ‘spirit’ of poverty…but poverty itself. Maybe the riches that go through our hands aren’t meant to stay there so that we can clutter our homes with lots of unnecessary stuff, and instead are meant for others that have next to nothing or who are going through a tough situation.
We have a government with a Robin Hood mentality…it loves to take from the rich and give to the poor. But they are stealing more then their money, they are stealing the blessings that come from their freely giving to others. When we start relying on the government to take our place in helping our neighbors and even our family members…we lose sight of our own mission.