By Moe Wosepka, Executive Director
Montana Catholic Conference

Our Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI has presented his Lenten message for 2008.

The title of his message is “Christ Made Himself Poor for You” (2 Cor 8,9). He writes on the practice of almsgiving, “which represents a specific way to assist those in need and, at the same time, an exercise in self-denial to free us from attachment to worldly goods.”

When I read the title I was taken instantly by the imagery of the scripture quote. I can picture him moving cautiously down the snow-covered street, dressed in tattered clothing, layered for warmth.

Before I started working with the poor, I had no idea who they were. I had seen them standing on the roadways with a sign, and downtown at the homeless shelter, but I didn’t know who they were.

I read and was haunted by the scripture of James: 3:14-17“What good is it my brothers if someone says he has faith but does not have works? ... If a brother or sister has nothing to wear and no food for the day, and one of you says to them, Go in peace, keep warm and eat well, but you do not give them the necessities of the body, what good is it? So also faith of itself if it does not have works, is dead.”

I thought I had faith, but I didn’t want to be around the poor even though I felt that’s where my call was taking me. I first tried to be a teacher so I could maintain my distance, but those with whom I met had no resources, limited education, no family support and a multitude of mental and physical health problems. I soon realized that teaching them how to pull themselves out of poverty was a nearly impossible task. What I was doing wasn’t working, so looking up to the sky I said, “Lord, if You want this to work, it’s time for You to get involved.”

It was at that point that I began to understand what I had been called to do. He didn’t ask me to fix them. He merely asked me to love them and treat them with dignity and respect. I began to understand I hadn’t been sent to teach the poor. I had been sent for the poor to teach me.

They taught me a lot over the next several years. They taught me about poverty, the system, how it works and how they work it. They taught me what was important in life. I was constantly amazed by their faith.

One man that I had known for years, but had not seen in a while, came to see me, and he had lost a leg. We visited for a while and he told me about the diabetes and losing his leg. When he left I said “God Bless you, James.” He turned slightly and said “Thanks, Moe, He blesses me every day.” It was from those who have nothing that I learned faith.

Perhaps the challenge for our Lenten journey is to find the Christ who became poor for us. Matthew 25:35-36,40 tells us how. “I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me to drink, a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me, ill and you cared for me, in prison and you visited me. … What so ever you did for one of those the least among us you did for me.”

God bless you on your journey.


Moe Wosepka is the executive director of the Montana Catholic Conference. You can reach him by phone at 442-5761, e-mail director@montanacc.org or check out the website www.montanacc.org.


Published in The Montana Catholic Online, Volume 24, No. 2, February 15, 2008.