Blessed are the Rich!

Sir, We would like to see Jesus!

But I would rather turn the woes around. Blessed are the rich, rich in money or power, in talent or time, because you can do so much for the poor, can lift the yoke of the oppressed. But blessed only if you have the mind of the poor, the mind of Christ. Only if you recognize that you may not do what you will with what you have. Only if you realize that you are stewards, that whatever you have you hold in trust - from God for man. Only if you are not enslaved to your riches, do not place your trust in them. Only if you experience in some way the poverty of the poor, the oppression of the oppressed. Only if you are ready to lose all you have for the sake of Christ, for your brothers and sisters. Blessed are you rich, if you are ready to follow the naked Christ naked. ~ W.J. Burghardt, S.J. Sir, We would like to see Jesus, (Paulist Press, 1982)

This is a writing about the beatitudes that was given to me today. Burghardt turned the beatitudes upside down. At first, looking at the blessed are the rich, I thought wait a minute here...Then came the part about having a responsibility to your brothers, sisters and Christ. 

We think we are owed a good and prosperous life because we have worked hard and saved correctly. What's mine is mine and don't you be askin for none of it! Yet, we fail to see that it was all a gift in the first place. Just like everything in life is. It's all about the choices we make with the gift's we've been given. 

Now, I know some of you may want to argue with me about this gift stuff. Let me cut to the chase by saying that I use to be in your camp. I no longer am, mainly because of the truth in the statement, "you can't take it with you!" If it were truly your, you could take it with you. But it's a gift that's been given and I'm sorry to be the one to break it to you, it's staying here!

So the question then becomes, how can I do the most good with what I've been given? (You may be one of the strange ones that wants to do as much bad with what you've been given, but know that Batman has his eye on you!) Think about it for a while. Do you have a skill, a gift, that you've been given that could help someone else? Can you change someones oil, read them a book, buy them a meal, pay their rent, change their life? Are you ready to follow the naked Christ naked?