What Keeps Us From Being Poor?

"In the first three centuries of church history the Gospel spoke primarily (though not exclusively) to those who belonged to the lower classes, not to the middle and upper classes. It was largely the little people who trusted Jesus and the people on top who fought him. But in the year 313 Emperor Constantine declared Christianity the official religion in the Roman Empire. Overnight we changed, so to speak, from underdogs to top dogs.

"We should try to win back our lower place. Jesus says that he has “come to preach the Gospel to the poor” (Luke 4:18) since, in fact, they’re the only ones who can actually hear it! They don’t have to prove or protect anything. The status quo is not on their side.

"Which means we all have to ask: In what sense are we ourselves rich? What do we have to defend? What keeps us from being poor and open? The issue isn’t primarily material goods, but our spiritual and intellectual goods—my ego, my reputation, my self-image, my need to be right, my need to be successful, my need to have everything under control, my need to be loved." - Richard Rohr