by Claudia Windal

Created on: December 17, 2009

Poverty is much more complex than most of us realize. We recognize those who struggle day to day for food and shelter. We meet many of them in parking lots and as we walk to the office and nod slightly in recognition of their presence. Their clothing is often inadequate for sub-zero winter weather and even the bonfires of many of their "encampments" are only slightly warming as they try to relax and sleep.

As a perpetually professed member of a religious order, I have taken a vow of poverty. This is not the poverty that I have described, but a vow to live simply, keeping possessions few, and recognizing the involuntary poverty that surrounds us. It's 14 degrees in St. Paul, MN as I write this. Our apartment is warm at 70 degrees. I am using a computer that has too many bells and whistles to be called "simple." As I write, I can smell supper cooking, and partially listen to the news on the television. Is this simple living as St. Francis demanded of his followers? Is it possible that I can identify with the poor?

Poverty in our present economic crisis, has risen beyond imagination. The educated and uneducated, home owner and homeless, physically well and the sick who cannot afford health care, women with children and those without, all appear together at food shelves, financial assistance offices, and other social service locations as they attempt to relieve their difficult living situations.

Several months ago, I became a member of a group of Sisters, studying the poor and our response to and with them. We were asked to read THE WORKING POOR, that raises up those who don't make enough money for adequate housing, food, insurance, and other perks of higher salaries. Of course, we must remember these women and men, but we cannot allow them to be the beginning and end of poverty.

My understanding of poverty embraces those who do not know or feel the Divine in their lives. Many of the families with whom I minister in death care have had not one or two deaths in a couple of years, but have often had three or four funerals within a few months. They will be impoverished for most of their lives as they attempt to pay the debts they have incurred. Many of the invisible poor are those who suffer from depression, anxiety, acute loneliness and other conditions, but are able to function at their jobs and who do not share any of their most painful concerns with anyone.

Aging women and men may have decent enough retirement earnings to live without want.

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