December 1, 2005
“No money, no neurosis.” This was the succinct commentary I offered to one of the friars on my return from a recent trip to Honduras. Last week, I was privileged to conduct a five-day retreat near the border of Nicaragua for our brothers who are living in Comayagua, Honduras. Those who are interested in experiencing a bit of our Central American mission can go to our Honduras website: www.cfrhonduras.com.
As a child, I often heard the expression “dirt poor,” yet it wasn’t until I became a friar and visited our mission that I fully knew what it meant. Many of the people with whom our friars live and serve have homes which at best can be called a “shack” or “hut”—sometimes “hovel” may be more exact. Flat pieces of hewn timber serve as walls, sheets of corrugated metal or even plastic tarp serve as the roof, and the floor—dirt. In the corner of these very humble dwellings is the “kitchen,” really just a smoky earthen fireplace. The bathroom is outside. A bucket, or even stream, serves as the bathtub. The daily fare is often the same for breakfast, lunch, and dinner—rice and beans, and at times, eggs or chicken, but rarely beef.
To our readers who have visited a “ Third World” country like Honduras or Haiti, you have been shocked to find the level of poverty, yet also the level of hospitality which is often equal. In our mission, a simple home visit is always an event for both the friars and our hosts. You first have to negotiate an obstacle course mostly made up of scrawny chickens and an even scrawnier dog. Grandma is often the first to emerge through the rickety wooden door—all smiles, few teeth. Then the children pour out, laughing, hiding behind one another, and running about shamelessly wearing next to nothing. When invited inside you have to be careful and bend low or you get clocked on the head! It takes time for your eyes to readjust to the dark, but not to the cooler temperature. As there are only two or so chairs, you sit while grandma goes to the corner to make coffee. Meanwhile, the children laugh and laugh.
It would be wrong to somehow romanticize poverty and make it something it’s not—like happy or quaint. However, there is another wrong, that is, to make it a monster. Certainly to be destitute, to lack the basic necessities of life—water, food, and shelter—is a frightful reality that many people suffer. However, to possess few earthly possessions does not automatically rob people of the opportunity to experience happiness and indeed, peace of mind. No doubt, all of us know someone who lives “high on the hog,” yet poor people who have a pig right outside their house may be happier. Big houses can often mean big problems. Perhaps if we had less things, we just might appreciate what we have, and better appreciate one another.
Many of our friends and neighbors in Honduras do not have the money to exchange gifts for Christmas. They do, however, celebrate the holy day with the right spirit. For example, the friars assist a family in which both husband and wife suffer from mental illness. Each year they proudly display their family Christmas crèche—an old Christmas card with a nativity scene which is surrounded by a hodgepodge of colorful objects including an old yellow rubber ducky, a clump of bright red yarn, and a headless Barbie doll!
Yes, the life of the poor is often difficult, but let us not consider it with disgust. Those who have much less than we may in some cases have much more. “Loneliness,” Mother Teresa would say, “is the most tragic form of poverty.” Some who mail out elegant gold trimmed Christmas cards this year may be lonelier than that poor family who displays only one.
I’m not sure if this whole “Christmas shopping thing” is a mortal sin or not—but it may be approaching it. Nevertheless, this year do yourself a favor, think about what kind of Christmas it would be if the only thing you had was a simple hut, a plate of rice and beans, and a grateful family in unity and peace. This is often the difference between the filthy rich and the dirt poor.
Fr. Glenn Sudano, CFR
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