It is an unhealthy tendency we sometimes have here in the States to claim that we have everything. We speak of poverty in other parts of the world, and how we can go about eradicating it, though we fail to recognize the poverty that we ourselves possess. Upon arriving to El Salvador I was half-prepared for a mob of overzealous people to overtake us and take from us what they needed. This may happen in certain cases, but under the care of Padre Rafa we encountered no problems and instead people whose material needs were great, though often went unacknowledged especially by them. Instead, friendship, family, and overall joy outshine the lack of these material things. In one week I drew closer to some of the Salvadorans than I am with people here in the States with whom I have worked for several months. They certainly know how to develop friendships...
Which need is more acute then? The needs that stem from material poverty or from relational poverty? For blessed are the poor, and from those in El Salvador, I learned even more deeply the value of things immaterial; the matters of the soul.
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