Day 7 - Attachment to Passivity towards the Poor
Begin with prayer -
Meditation -
Most everyone who has daily access to the internet and enough free time to be online regularly is likely going to be wealthy in the eyes of the world's poor. Not only do the poor lack basic necessities but their situations are frequently rife with exploitation and violence. With our own problems, many of which are grave, it is too easy to develop an attachment to ignoring the cry of the poor. We are busy with our own lives, struggles, and worries, and the terrible situations that many are mired in because of extreme poverty can feel like a distant reality. This passivity closes our hearts to charity and keeps us from being generous stewards of the many gifts God has given us. Instead of passing over our responsibility to help those in need, we must bring their reality before our eyes. Educate yourself on the millions of men, women, and children who are exploited in trafficking and slavery. Learn about the millions who live without clean water, without a safe place to live, or without enough food. Open your heart generously to the poor and you will find you have welcomed Jesus Himself into your heart.
Today, pray with this scripture:
What shall it profit, my brethren, if a man say he hath faith, but hath not works? Shall faith be able to save him? And if a brother or sister be naked, and want daily food: And one of you say to them: Go in peace, be ye warmed and filled; yet give them not those things that are necessary for the body, what shall it profit? So faith also, if it have not works, is dead in itself.
But some man will say: Thou hast faith, and I have works: show me thy faith without works; and I will show thee, by works, my faith. Thou believest that there is one God. Thou dost well: the devils also believe and tremble. But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead? (James 2:14-20)
Gratitude -