Reflection 273
Based on the Vatican II
document (Comments welcome here) |
This
article is about priests living a simple life of voluntary poverty,
and has the words
Priests and bishops should avoid everything which in any way could turn the poor away. Let priests set aside every appearance of vanity in their possessions. Let them arrange their homes so that they might not appear unapproachable to anyone, lest anyone, even the most humble, fear to visit them
Each
of us priests can ask:
when was the last time I had a poor person for a meal in my home?
With
today's security arrangements, most priests' homes are in fact
unapproachable. But practical security and approachability are not
necessarily exclusive. My home is secure, and approachable. I often have really
poor people as visitors. Like on a recent Saturday night, a street sleeper from
Honduras whom I came across in a subway
Poor like these 3 beggars from China and these ex-inmates and these
Jesus,
please help all priests live simply,
and may our homes be places where the poor can visit