Embracing poverty

Dorothy Day, the famed Catholic social activist who embraced a lifestyle of voluntary poverty (and who is one of my role models), said: “We need always to be thinking and writing about poverty, for if we are not among its victims its reality fades from us. We must talk about poverty, because people insulated by their own comfort lose sight of it.”  I’ve been giving a lot of thought lately to what it means to embrace poverty.  What is poverty, and what does it look like?  Is it the image of unkempt street people standing in a line at a soup kitchen?  Or perhaps a hungry, malnourished child yearning for a crust of bread? Or the muddy squalor of tents pitched as shelter in the midst of a cholera outbreak in the aftermath of an earthquake? 

What does poverty look like?

When it's these images of utter despair and destitution that come to mind, it is odd to think of poverty as a desirable attribute, as something to be embraced.  And to be sure, abject poverty that leaves one in desperate need of the most basic necessities--like health care, food or clean water-- should be absolutely abhorred.  Yet, the paradox of the Gospel is that it announces blessings on the poor.  One of the most fascinating motifs throughout the Gospels is the depiction of a kingdom—not where the rich and powerful rule—but an upside down kingdom where the last are first and the poor are blessed.   This is a stark contrast to our society, which treats poverty of any kind as if it is a contagious disease, something that needs to be sequestered, ridiculed, and feared.

Dorothy Day

The more I contemplate what poverty means for my own life, the more complex and slippery the notion becomes in my mind.  To what extent should one pursue poverty?  Just enough so as not to draw attention to oneself?  Enough so that you’re still living comfortably or enough that it’s a constant sacrifice? Does Gospel poverty entail foregoing all material possessions with the exception of those needed to survive?  If so, does that mean giving up technology or small luxuries likes movies, computers, and television? Or does it just mean giving up having the newer iPhone in favor of your older but still-functioning cell phone?  If poverty is a central Christian concern, then why are not all professed Christians concerned with it?

In his book Happy Are You Poor author Thomas Dubay raises these and other complex questions about poverty.  Questions that don’t have simplistic answers.  Is poverty only expected of a certain few, like religious persons, he asks?  If not, and poverty should truly be embraced by all, does poverty look different for a single person (like me) than it does for parents raising small children and different from that of a priest or religious sister or a retired couple?    The book doesn’t leave you with neat or pat answers, but it serves as an examination of conscience of sorts.  It’s an invitation to look more closely at the choices and decisions you make in your day to day life, because those decisions impact others’ quality of life—be it directly or indirectly. 

I think poverty in one’s life can look different at one life stage than it does at another, but the guiding concept throughout one’s life remains the same.  We should always be striving to give as the Giver does, selflessly and with love, emptying ourselves of our attachments to those things that obstruct our relationships with others and with God.  Ridding ourselves of greed and possessiveness.   Few of us are able to do this alone or all at once.  It is a process that is undertaken throughout one’s life, and we can do it with the support of others, a little at a time.  We can embrace poverty in small ways and watch as it transforms the ways we think and relate to the world and those around us.  

How do you embrace poverty?