Beggars before God

Beggars before God

Fr. Jeremiah Myriam Shryock CFR

St. Felix Friary, Yonkers, NY

We are all beggars before God. There is nothing we can truly call our own. Everything is a gift from God and everything comes from him.

However, not all beggars are alike. Some are childish, obsessed with their own needs and anxiously try to prolong their existence and fulfill their desires as much as possible. They demand things from God in a timely fashion and if their prayer is not heard according to their will they do whatever is necessary to make sure their needs are accomplished. Another type of beggar is one who is humble, sincere and has realized his own helplessness and in humility has turned outside of himself for the answers and for the help he needs for his life. His “nothingness” has not led him to despair but to hope in a loving and merciful God.

Which kind of beggar are we?

If our brokenness, sins, mistakes, regrets and fears do not make us humble, then we will remain like the beggar who is never satisfied and who is always anxious and afraid. Yet if in our poverty we can turn to God, honest about ourselves and our lives, we will experience the hand of a loving Father in our life. He will change the rags that we as beggars have acquired and clothe us in the new and beautiful garments of the children of God.

Pax et bonum