I Want to Be Poor?...

What were your dreams when you were young on what you would be when you grow up?

This little clip taken off from the recent Stephen Chow's hilarious movie CJ7 tells of these class kids aspiration of what they would want to be when they become adults. The replies given are not so surprising given the condition that an average middle-income family lives in the world today. Who doesn't want to be somebody or be rich?

Yet the last reply of this kid, who is the principal character in the movie, struck a chord a little with me because, while on one hand can sound very naive and out of touch with reality with this matter, on the other, it touches on something that may be taken as spiritually inspiring for someone seeking the real treasures of what life can truly mean. Christ, our Lord and Saviour himself was all of what that child was saying (and of course, more!) and Christ has already shown us the way for that radical living. Over the course of the history of spirituality of the Church, many have also followed that radical calling of being poor for the sake of the kingdom, with St Francis of Assisi especially in mind.

We may say being poor or the poor can have several different meanings or connotations to different persons and is therefore opened to many interpretations. But the hard saying of Jesus continue to prod our consciences: When Jesus heard this, he said to him, "You still lack one thing. Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me."

The challenge for us today, is how we ourselves who are Christ's followers would want to seriously make that a more concrete and viable reality and not just mere playing of words, should we be radically called...