"We Americans stand for the upper class on this earth. Let us ask for ourselves and for our country the gift of poverty, the freedom to be poor. If we have not hear that, we have not heard Francis. All the rest is sentimentality-"birdbath Franciscanism." (R.Rohr "Radical Grace" p.275)
Probably the most prickly subject in churches is money. Most of the people that I know, including myself are hardly poor. Middle class possibly, but not poor. We sometimes mistake not having as much as the upper classes as being poor.
I do not particularly wish to be poor. I'd like to get to the place where I have the freedom from the wants. A freedom to live without having to have everything that gets advertised. The freedom from paying for things that brought fleeting satisfaction.
While I do not believe I could be called to the radical self imposed poverty of St. Francis, I do understand what Fr. Rohr means by birdbath Franciscanism. We like his love for animals, we may not be as keen on his embracing of poverty.
It is also possible to fall into the same trap with Christ, loving the aspects of his teaching that are warm and fuzzy while ignoring or explaining away the parts that point at us. Sometimes wearing or displaying our crosses in the hopes that we don't actually have to follow his example.
Blessings,
Ed
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