Fourth Day of Christmas: Sanctity Through Poverty

Let's look further at the role of the poor in the heart of God.

What's that old quote? "He must love them, because he made so many of them"? The wag who tossed off that silly line was looking down his nose… did it not occur to him (I'm saying "he" because I assume most women aren't that stupid and egotistical) that perhaps God loves them, yes, because their needs – individually and collectively – are so great? And because He truly knows them?

At some other point, I'd love to delve deeply here into the whole theological concept of sanctification: i.e., making something holy through connection/continuity, or/and through prayer, or/and divine touch/presence (this is my own rough, horseback definition). But for now, I just want to take a few moments and tie together poverty and sanctity.

There is, of course, the obvious spiritual truism that the more goodies and toys one has, the less likely he is to turn his heart and mind and soul back toward his creator. (Witness, for example, how religious orders of quite a range of faith traditions (e.g., Buddhist and Christian) deliberately live lives of poverty.) Followed through, this leads one to a reasonable conclusion that the poor and needy will average out more spiritually deep, since their souls and focuses – focī, for those folks who've taken Latin – have far fewer distractions.

What makes something holy? Let me toss out a few suggestions:

1)      "natural" holiness, or intrinsic beauty: e.g., the Himalayas, Victoria Falls, Uluru, and so on;

2)      focus of reverence; here some holiness seems to seep into the thing due to the high regard it's given: e.g., the big brass Buddha of Kamakura, the Potala, St. Peter's and other cathedrals, and particular works of artistic depth; et cetera;

3)      inner spirituality: e.g., holy people; your list would likely differ from mine, but I'll offer at least Blessed Theresa of Calcutta, St. Thérèse of Lisieux, the Dalai Lama, Chief Joseph, Mohandas Gandhi… and many, many more who have been so holy, we don't even notice them;

4)      "touched by God"; i.e., the miraculous and inexplicable, such as the tilma of Cuauhtlatoatzin and the shroud of Torino; and

5)      God Himself, and His presence.

In other words, (aside from being God Himself) something's holy through how it affects our inner selves; or through its "absorbing", one might say, a kind of holiness through our own regard of it; or because it's been imbued with an actual divine holiness through act of God. Sanctified.

Now, some more heavy theology. God sanctified humanity by becoming human – i.e., Jesus. God, who exists by nature outside of our universe (even while permeating it) of space and time… sanctified time by confining Himself (as Jesus), within time to live as a human being, even while remaining God beyond (and yet permeating) time. Life he sanctified through having an actual, physical life and death… thus sanctifying even death itself.

This is extremely deep, and my head's spinning just trying to lay out for you some things I grasp somewhat. Let me go on, rather than try to illustrate these mysteries further. And, yes, the Catholic Church does indeed recognize that much of God's nature and function remains totally mysterious to us.

This particular principle of sanctification has a mundane and shallow parallel among us mortal humans. Just look on eBay, and note the pricing of objects once owned by celebrities. It may be just a tissue, or a book, or an old car – but it's become kind of "special" to some people through who has touched it, see?

All the more so for things that God touches – as Father, Son, or Holy Spirit, in fact.

The King of the Universe, Creator of everything imaginable – including imagination itself – became human and lived among us for just a few years. He could have been born into luxury and comfort, so as not to be distracted by scrabbling for food and shelter. Yet… He was born to the unemployed wife of a poor construction worker (not only carpenter), and at the time of this birth they were staying in a cave/barn out of desperation, and under orders of an occupying power. He was surrounded by rotting hay, dung, stink… poverty.

And thus sanctified poverty. Do you see this? While it may not arguably be holy to be poor because one is poor, it does mean that the poor and destitute are particularly close to God's (metaphorical) heart.

Of course they own Heaven. During their ministries, both John the Baptist and Jesus were utterly homeless – John particularly so, living in the desert, and even eating bugs to survive; Jesus slept outside much of the time, and other times stayed with friends and strangers. Jesus himself said, quite simply, "Foxes have dens and birds of the sky have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to rest his head."

And He underscores further the spiritual poverty of the well-to-do, time and time again. Here's just one blunt example: "It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for one who is rich to enter the kingdom of God."

Everything we have that is in excess of what we must have to meet our needs… belongs to the poor. For the Kingdom of God is theirs.