No Options

Today is Good Friday. For many, it is a day of fasting, abstaining, and sacrifice. This brings to mind one of the best descriptions I have heard of what it means to be poor. Being poor means having no options. What a truly accurate description this is! It encompasses financial and material poverty for sure, but also spiritual poverty, lack of love and nurture, and so many other ways that even the wealthy can be poor.

After spending time with our brothers and sisters who are truly, unavoidably poor in Uganda, I begin to see what it truly means to fast on this Good Friday, and what the purpose of Lenten practices are. Today, for one day, many of us accept a slice of life with no options. While the choices still really exist for us, we choose to ignore them and endure perhaps a growling stomach, or that overwhelming desire for the chocolate bar! It is like opening ourselves up to knowing what it is like to be poor. Perhaps this is why, according to Scripture, "Blessed are the poor, for theirs is the kingdom of God." When we can open ourselves up to the risk of truly letting go and becoming poor - accepting the experience of having no options, even if it is temporary and voluntary - we truly begin to understand what it means to be human.

Today is also a day to reflect on the journey of Jesus to Calvary and the cross. In this incredible, necessary, sad and glorious walk, Jesus shows us the sides of humanity that we all face but would glady avoid. Everyone falls sometimes, in one way or another, just as Jesus fell three times on the way to his crucifixion. We are all poor and struggling in some way.

Simon of Cyrene is the stranger who helps Jesus carry the cross. What an example for us to reflect on and strive for. We are all capagle of reaching out to those in need as Simon did - of taking risks to help alleviate others' suffering. But we are often too wrapped up in our own lives and problems to reach out or give thought, real thought, to others who are suffering. Keep in mind that Simon simply helped Jesus carry something, and through this simple action he contributed to the salvation of humanity. He did something profound by performing a simple task for someone else.

In Uganda, as in many places of the world, a torrent of unending struggles are the cross people bear. Many Ugandans, often children, have actually been crucified by the rebel war and it's aftermath. With all they have faced, it would seem so easy to succumb to despair and defeat. But they seem to rise above rather than giving in to a living death. They are so strong, even in their vulnerability. One thing I notices after spending some time there is that these people replace anger with gratitude, hatred with forgiveness, rejection with love, fear with true and deep faith. It is in this choice, a choice to survive and live, that they are wealthy!

And it is amazing how much better life can be when letting go of that which must be, that which cannot be changed, and living gratefully with the gifts you are given.