No one can celebrate
A genuine Christmas
Without being truly poor.
The self-sufficient, the proud,
Those who, because they have
Everything, look down on others,
Those who have no need
Even of God – for them there
Will be no Christmas.
Only the poor, the hungry,
Those who need someone
To come on their behalf,
Will have that someone.
That someone is God.
Emmanuel. God–with-us
Without poverty of spirit
There can be no abundance of God.

Oscar Romero

Poverty: brokenness, weakness, vulnerability, inefficiency, lack of necessities, lack of knowledge, not having the vital medicine or the special help that can make all the difference, forced to have to wait, forced to have to accept, no options, little hope.

This poem of Oscar Romero’s spoke to me as I reflect on the Christmas we are experiencing here in Haiti this year. There are no shopping malls or incessant commercials reminding us of all the material abundance we need in order to be happy. Our calendars don’t get filled up with parties to attend or Christmas festivities. The wintry wind doesn’t bring snowflakes or even icicles to remind us of the season. Though Christmas joys in Haiti are often simple, they can also be wonderful. We have sunshine and tropical breezes and red poinsettias blooming outside our window. Grapefruits and oranges ripen now and can be picked right off the trees. But we also encounter, almost daily in our life in Haiti, those who are suffering greatly. As we get to know each of these poor broken ones who come our way, we sense an inner, almost subconscious longing for the Messiah to come to them, for him to touch them, to heal them, to love them.

A few weeks ago a mother brought her 14 year-old, son, Jimmy, to the clinic for help. The small lab confirmed leukemia, a disease almost always fatal here in Haiti due to lack of cancer-treating drugs or radiation. Jimmy was extremely ill and we wondered if he were within days to weeks of death. After praying with the staff, his mother was urged to take him to the hospital in Cape for a blood transfusion and to follow-up with visits back at the clinic here. After an urgent request for the needed drug from friends in the US, we received the medicine within a few weeks. But Jimmy did not return for his appointment and is at present lost to follow-up. We don’t know if he has died or is being cared for elsewhere or is silently dying in his home. Without an integrated home visit program in the communities, we are helpless in not being able to contact him at this point, though we are still trying.

Broken country.

We feel very poor in not being of much help to Jimmy and his mother at this point.

This week, a young man named Joel, was brought to the clinic by his sister. He was suffering greatly from what appeared to be an AIDS complication called Kaposi’s sarcoma of his foot that has now spread all over his body. His foot and leg were greatly disfigured and he was having difficulty breathing. We feared the cancer had spread to his lungs. He had already been to many doctors and hospitals and came to this small community clinic for who knows what? A glimmer of hope? Yet we all felt so helpless and useless in our inability to offer him anything that would improve his condition. While our dear friend, Art Wiser, lovingly washed and bandaged his foot, all we could do was order a few lab tests and offer him an antibiotic to treat opportunistic infections and some Tylenol for pain. We listened to him with a sympathetic ear as he shared his story with us, a story of much suffering, pain and fear. We longed to be able to refer Joel to a loving place, a hospice, where he could receive the loving quality care he needed. We did not know of where to send him.

Poverty.

Finally, we asked Joel if he would like us to pray with him. His face brightened as he said he would like us to pray. He said he had a faith in Jesus. We all needed God to come on Joel’s behalf. Our “manger” was empty. We needed Jesus to come to us, our Emmanuel. As we prayed, with our hands on his shoulders, with tears flowing, we began to feel our hearts fill with hope and light for Joel. What had been so dark and hopeless a moment ago now became for us all a wonderful loving moment of endless possibilities. With God, all things are possible. We gave Joel to Jesus, asking Him, who loves Joel, to touch him, and to heal him. He seemed so grateful for the little we could do. Yet in the mystery of God, with whom all things are possible and in whom we have eternity, what do we really know of what just transpired and of what was actually done for Joel in those few moments together?

In our own brokenness and poverty, when “our manger” is empty, when we ask him, Jesus can come to us to transform us into beautiful, loving, whole people of joy. But he so lovingly and nonviolently will not intrude on us if “our manger” is full of our own “stuff” and we don’t really need him. We are reminded of words of Mother Theresa, “The poorest of the poor are the wealthiest people because they do not know how poor they really are.” Perhaps some of you are broken, poor, and empty this Christmas. Please ask him to come and fill you and heal you.

Our prayer for each of you is that you may have an “empty manger” this Christmas, and that he may come into your lives all year long, bringing you profound love and peace that will spread to all around you. Thank you for your love, prayers, and support, which allow us to be your servants in Haiti.

In His love,

Micah, Nancy, Steve & Asia James