At Santo Domingo Church, we have a lot of poor people.
The poor go to Santo Domingo bcause there they can find someone who can help
them in their needs; who can provide them a badly needed medicine of their sick
father, a kilo of rice that can fill the stomach of their children that had
been empty for days, That poor people go to Santo Domingo because they have
nowhere to go; other secular “charitable” institutions have rejected them,
another filthy rich guy shun them away from their “informal settlements; a
strong typhoon had blown away or flooded their make shift houses, no one would
dare hold their dirty and sun-burned body.. The poor go to Santo Domingo
because they have nowhere to go, and no else to welcome them. Thus, we in Santo
Domingo are expected to welcome them; to feed them, to shelter them; to embrace
their cold bodies.
But how do we treat the poor in our midst?
We abhor them. If we know that there are beggars and
indigent along the route we frequent, we immediately make a detour and prefer a
route free from the poor people asking our help. We do not like their foul
smell. We do not like the site of people clothed in tattered and soiled
clothes. We are done with their usual stories of a sick family member, death
grandparent, starving for days, etc. The poor approaches us, but often we shun
them away.
But there is a woman who dedicated her life for the poor.
Mother Teresa of Calcutta loved the poor so much, that
she practical spent her life caring for the sick, dying, and those in miserable
life. To the poor, she became a provider. To the sick, she became a healer. To
the dying, she became a comforting companion. She loved them so much that she
did not wait for them to come to their communities. She reach out for, searched
the streets of Calcutta, Rome, New York for those poor people who may need
something, more so someone to accompany them out of their misery.
If we look into the life of Mother Teresa, one would
wonder how this little lady was able to accomplish so much; how was she able to
love so much?!? One can readily say, it is God’s grace. Yes. But grace builds
on nature. Thus, one can imagine how much Mother Teresa opened herself to God’s
grace in order to love the poor so much. Mother Teresa, in her writings and
counsels to her fellow sisters, often utter an anecdote about the poor: The
poor is Jesus Christ in a distressing disguise. She saw Jesus in the sick
person asking for a bottle of medicine. She felt Jesus longing for a companion
in the last moments of a dying person. She held Jesus through the thin bodies
she fed. Truly, it is written; Whatever you do to the least of my brothers and
sisters you do it unto me.
Mother Teresa was able to love the poor for she saw Jesus
Christ in them. But I would like to believe that she was able to love because
she knew the feeling of being unloved. She loved the poor because she too was
once poor; was rather poor throughout her life. She was poor throughout her
life because she kept herself always in the presence of God, in disguise among
the poor. Who can be rich in front of God, who created heaven and earth and all
they contain?!? Who can brag about the properties he owns, in front of the
Creator of all? Who can boast of his awards and achievement in this life in
front of Him whom no human praise can add to his greatness and glory? Truth be
told, we are all poor in the face of God. We go to the Church for the same
reason that beggars and squatters go to the Church; we too are poor, in many
respect. But despite of our poverty, God loves us, simply yet mysteriously. We
are poor yet a generous God loves us.
Until we realize that we are loved despite of our poverty, we will not
be able to love the poor the way God love us. Until we begin to see God in the
poor, we will not be able to love them, the way Mother Teresa did; the way
Jesus did unto us.
The poor comes to the Church; to us begging for help;
what do you think of yourself? Rich?
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