Can Poor People Still Be Happy?

Giving to the poor — Image from Canva Pro

Have you ever seen poor people who are happy?

I see them every day in the poor streets where I walk. I see them in children who are laughing despite their tattered clothes and dirty faces. I see them in old ones bent from work but who could still spare their time to talk. I see them in those who labor all day but who could still sing all night, eating and having a good time with their friends.

Didn’t Mother Teresa tell us about them? Those poor people who could probably give us more than what we could possibly give them.

I also remember a story told by our local priest.

Being a visitor in a poor household who had but six fish to share for a family of seven, he was still given two. Only four fish remained for seven people, yet they did not consider themselves too poor not to give something to their guest of honor. What touched the priest the most was that before eating, the head of the family led his household with a prayer of thanksgiving.

Blessed indeed are the poor who can be grateful for every little blessing they receive from God!

In my mind, these people were not poor at all. Those who are truly poor are those who refuse to give from what they have. They are poor who cannot see anything beyond the material things they could possess.

Happy are the poor whose only hope is God

Blessed are they who can be poor in spirit and open to God’s providence.

It is the rich who are often sad. They are the ones who cannot sleep at night because they fear losing all the money they have.

Yes, the rich are sad. They cannot trust others who seek their wealth, and so they can only trust their riches.

But their riches are harsh masters who can never be satisfied. The more you have, the more you fear. And the more you fear, the more you become a slave to your riches.

What does it profit a man if he gains the world yet loses his own soul?

Better the poor who are happy than the rich who can never be filled.

So when someone asks, “Can the poor still be happy?”

Yes, they can be happy. If only the poor ones could have faith in God.

“Blessed are you who are poor,
for the kingdom of God is yours.”
– Luke 6:20 (NABRE)

“Sometime ago a man to our house and he said, ‘Mother, there is a family, a Hindu family, that has eight children. They have not eaten for a long time. Do something for them.’ So I took some rice and I went. When I arrived at their house I could see the hunger in the children’s eyes. Their eyes were shining with hunger. I gave the rice to the mother, and she took the rice. She divided it into two, and then she went out. When she came back, I asked her, ‘Where did you go?’ She said, ‘They are hungry also.’ Next door neighbor, they were also hungry. What struck me most, not that she gave the rice but she knew they were hungry. And because she knew, she shared. And this is what we have to come to know…. Love, to be true, has to hurt and this woman who was hungry – she knew that her neighbor was also hungry, and that family happened to be a Muslim family. So it was touching, so real.” (Mother Teresa, Where there is Love, there is God)

Do you have a question for God? You may want to read the book Questions to God.