By Father Bill Dornbos
Holy Spirit Catholic Community, Butte

We have all experienced poverty or the effects of poverty. Our experience of poverty may have been due to the simple fact of growing up in a large family, or because of loss – a death in our family, or job loss, or owning a small business that failed. Perhaps it is in a vocation of working with the poor and marginalized.

Jesus said in the Gospel of Matthew, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, the kingdom of heaven is theirs, blessed are the peacemakers, they will be called children of God.” Peace and poverty are connected for most conflict and war is over limited resources.

Peace and poverty of spirit are both, not just the lack of something, but the possession of something. Peace is not just the lack of conflict. Peace is the possession of justice. It is the knowledge that we have a right to be here and to be accepted. Poverty of spirit is not just an emptying of self, but possession of knowledge that we are totally dependent on God.

Being poor in spirit is a good thing. It means we have a right perspective on life, where life comes from and where we are going. We see material possessions as being loaned to us by God. We do not have absolute possession of material resources. We see every human being as a son and daughter of God, a brother and sister to us. We see human beings as brought into the world by God, brothers and sisters who have a right to share in the resources of the earth.

Down through the ages we have seen millions of people murdered not just because they were poor. They were “poor in spirit.” They believed they had a God-given right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

St. Paul wrote to the Corinthians: “I may give away all that I have to feed the poor but if I lack charity it goes for nothing.”

The contrast between giving and loving was noted by Bishop Fulton J. Sheen who told us “giving alone does not prove love; rather, love manifests itself in giving.”

He enumerated the eight degrees of giving that were first listed by the great Jewish philosopher Maimonides:

1. To give with reluctance and regret.
2. To give cheerfully, but not in proportion to the needs of the poor.
3. To give proportionately to the needs of the poor, but only when the poor ask.
4. To give unasked, but in front of others, causing the poor to feel shame.
5. To give in a manner that lets the poor know who gave to them, but without the giver knowing who received; e.g. money was sometimes tucked in the corner of a cloak so the poor could take it unnoticed when walking by.
6. To give in a manner where the receiver never knew the giver as when a third person carried the money to the home of the poor.
7. To give both unknowing and unknown, like putting alms into a poor box from which funds are redistributed without show.
8. The most noble of all was to anticipate kindness by preventing poverty. For example, to pay the debts of another, find him or her a job, educate him or her so that the person is able to obtain livelihood without holding out an empty hand in beggary.

Of all the ways in which you can help the poor, the eighth, the highest degree of giving, is championed today by a program of the U.S. Catholic Bishops.

Nearly 40 years ago, they created the Catholic Campaign for Human Development. Its mission is to address the root causes of poverty in America through promotion and support of community-controlled, self-help organizations and through transformative education. While “giving a man a fish” is still needed, “teaching him to fish” is the way of CCHD.

CCHD’s collection in the pews each November and its distribution of grants to organized groups of poverty people allow Catholics to give both unknowing and unknown. But this program goes even farther than the highest form of giving envisioned by Maimonides – for the funds are only used to help people help themselves through development of new skills and jobs. We really have a ninth degree of giving available to us today in the CCHD program. And it has been an important economic factor in western Montana through its grants to the poor.

The height of charity seen by Jesus Christ was to sell everything and “come follow me.” We know that is not possible for most people to do if they are to assure economic safety of their children in future years. But Paul’s admonition that love of God is inseparable from love of neighbor can be taken to heart and to pocketbook. We can all do so by using the CCHD envelopes found in our pews this November.

Justice Voices columns are coordinated by the Catholic Campaign for Human Development committee of the Helena Diocese. For information on its grants and education programs visit www.usccb.org/about/catholic-campaign-for-human-development or contact Deacon Jim Butts at Pope John Paul II Parish, P.O. Box 277, Bigfork MT 59911 or phone 837-4846.


Published in The Montana Catholic, Vol. 24, No. 9, September 19, 2008.