Dependence is our Independence

Jesus summoned the Twelve and began to send them out two by two  

and gave them authority over unclean spirits. He instructed them to take nothing for the journey but a walking stick –no food, no sack, no money in their belts. They were, however, to wear sandals but not a second tunic. He said to them, "Wherever you enter a house, stay there until you leave from here. Whatever place does not welcome you or listen  to you, leave there and shake the dust off your feet
in testimony against them." So they went off and preached repentance. The Twelve drove out many demons, and they anointed with oil many who were sick and cured them.
Mark 6: 7-13

Old Clancy in Killarney passed away.  It was a custom at that time to deposit money in the coffin and bury it with the guest of honor so that he would have money for a pint or two in heaven.  John saw all of these people throwing in money and he stood up and shouted, "I loved Clancy like me own brother.  So, whatever goes into the coffin, I will double it!"  Now, John was known to be a blowhard so all of Clancy's friends got together and decided to put John on the spot.  They gathered all the money that the could find and it totaled one thousand pounds!  They laughed and told John and dared him to make good on his promise.  John said, "Ah, boys, you got me on this one."  He went up to the coffin and with a tear in his eye, said "Clancy, have a pint on old John and all your friends here.  He reached in and took the thousand pounds out of the coffin and put in his check for two thousand pounds. 

This passage of scripture is very famous in the Franciscan world.  This is the very page that Francis opened the Bible to when He decided to ask God what He wanted Francis to do.  It is this passage that Francis used to choose poverty as his spouse.  He spent the rest of his life loving poverty and eschewing ownership of anything himself.  But why is poverty so important?  If poverty equaled holiness then the vast majority of people in this world would already be holy and we know that this is not true.  Even in our country in the inner cities where poverty does not bring holiness, it brings desperation, crime, and violence. So, in and of itself, poverty remains an evil condition, an affliction, which if left untreated kills the spirit of a person and can lead them to measures that are less than Christlike to alleviate their poverty.  The type of poverty that exists in our cities is not the same as the poverty that Francis loved so much. 

The evangelical counsel of poverty consists first of all in sharing, everything that one owns belongs to another and is seen as being something that can and should be given away to those that are in more need than you are.  It is also a positive response to what God provides for you in life.  You accept what you have and you expect nothing more.  What you have is on loan to you and can be recalled at any time.  While the poverty of the inner city is imposed on people, evangelical poverty is sought after and accepted and is completely voluntary,  Evangelical poverty frees a person to depend on God alone for the things that are needed to sustain one's life both the temporal and spiritual aspects.  One of the pillars of Franciscan spirituality is that it is in giving that we receive. It is this giving of what we have, our very selves sometimes, that produces the perfect joy of God in one's life. 

So this is why Jesus told his disciples to take nothing with them, no money, no food, just shoes and a walking stick and they would depend on God to sustain them.  The funny thing is, we do that anyway our whole life.  Nothing that comes to us is ours, it is only on loan to us. Look around your house, look at your favorite possessions, on the day you return to the Lord, none of these things will come with you.  Some other person will take them and use them as if they were his own. Nothing on this world is ours to keep, not even the land that we pay our mortgage on each month, someday, a stranger will be sitting where your table was, looking out the window and admiring the same beautiful view you had.  

What we should be looking for in life is not so much security, for we can never be totally secure as our life is very fragile and we are but one breath away from eternity.  We should be willing to share what we have because we know that this will please God our Father the most.  I am glad I am not a millionaire or billionaire.  While some of these can be generous people and they strive to help their fellow creatures, some of them help only themselves and strive to amass even larger fortunes.  Sometimes it happens, those of us with the most possessions are the really the poorest of the poor. 

Our true home is heaven, our perfect joy will be to be with God forever in His kingdom.  I wish it was true that when we died we went straight ot heaven. Some of us do, but most of us stop off in Purgatory so that attachment to sin is removed and we become the perfect saints that God wants us to be.  So many people in the world do not believe in Purgatory - so many relatives are therefore never prayed for and they depend on the charity of strangers to help them out of Purgatory.  Please pray for the poor souls.  If you a friend or relative has died, pray for them by name.  Do not let your love for them stop this side of the grave.