Joy in Poverty and Darkness
A couple of months ago, on the feast of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist, my parish hosted a visiting priest from Colombia. I do not recall his name, but I recall quite well the stories he told during his homily.
Monsignor so-and-so was an aged man, perhaps in his 60s or 70s, and you could tell he had been around the block many times. He strikes you as a man of wisdom and experience, of compassion and love, and his stories captures his audience with his deep, yet soft voice.
He did not come with any particular need or agenda, as seems the case with many visiting priests. Rather, it seemed as if he came to share his experience back in Colombia in the small village where he resides. He spoke of several things, but focused primarily on two stories.
The first story was about a pair of sisters who were both under 10: one was maybe three or four and the other was a little older, perhaps eight or nine. These girls lost their parents to brutal attackers. If my memory serves me, one of the parents was shot in the head while the other was quartered in front of the little girls. I believe the murderes then stole whatever they could leaving the girls behind, physically unharmed.
The girls tried to get the attention of the community, but the people didn't pay any attention to them at first. A couple of days passed by and then at last, an adult came by to witness and confirm the horror. These girls ended up living with some of the religious in the community, along with other abandoned children.
To witness that sort of insanity as a child is enough torture to last a lifetime. Here's the beauty of that awful story. Many years have gone by, perhaps 10, and the girls are doing great. The younger sister wants to be a nun. To witness your parents brutally murderd and then decide as a young, pure child that you want to give your entire self to our blessed Lord in the religious life is a grace beyond what many of us are capable of understanding. The light to come from that darkness is none other than our Blessed Lord. Beautiful.
The second story is what really captivated me. Monsignor told the story of an elderly woman named Tereista who I believe was abandoned by her family because of her intense sickness and physical state. She had grown to be too much for her family to care for and she was dumped at the local 'health' facility (I use that term lightly) where Father was.
This woman had nothing. She was the poorest of the poor and was in terrible physical condition. She suffered from very advanced gangrene up through her legs and mid-section. To shed light on her severity, parts of her body needed to be removed in order to slow some of the growth of the bacteria as death seemed to be inevitable.
Given these circumstances, one could assume that any person in this condition wouldn't be very spirited or joyful. On the contrary, though, Teresita was indeed a highly spirited woman who was joy-filled. What? Monsignor said that this woman was radiating and there was one reason for it: Jesus Christ.
Monsignor gave the woman last rites due to the worsening of her condition, and he proceeded to distribute Holy Communion to Teresita, who gladly accepted. After this, Teresita grabbed the priest and said to him, "I am not a poor woman. I know I may not have anything but these clothes, or anything else, but I am not a poor woman."
Father was curious where this had come from but he then affirmed the woman in that she wasn't poor. She grabbed him again and said, "I am not poor, because I have Jesus Christ. I am a rich, rich woman and have all that I need." Shortly after uttering these words, she died.
At the conclusion of that story, the congregation was silent, and I'm sure I wasn't the only one with goosebumps sent throughout their body. This woman was certainly much further along in her Faith in Christ than I am, and than many of the rest of us, I'm sure. It should be a wakeup call.
Teresita serves as a reminder to us that truly, the only thing we need is our Blessed Lord, Jesus Christ. I ask myself, am I anywhere near that level of faith that she so effortlessly lived? What made it so easy for her to live so freely and joyfully amongst her severe condition and circumstances? It's obvious, and the answer is that she didn't want anything else besides the crucified Lord.
We experience trials of darkness, desolation, physical detriments, and other seemingly impossible trials to overcome. But truly, through Christ, anything can be overcome.
How many different things are in our lives that prevent us from entereing into that level of poverty in spirit? In my life, there are many. They might be material things or difficulties I've endured in the past that I have yet to get over. These are roadblocks to complete abandonment to Christ because we might cling to said things instead of Him without ever realizing it.
We must facilitate ways that bring us to complete and total surrender to our Blessed Lord. He is true joy and embraces the fullness of our Heavenly Father. Let us ask in humble prayer that God show us what obstalces stand in our way to finding that utter joy in Him. As St. Augustine said, "Our hearts are restless, O Lord, until they rest in Thee."
