Blessed

The poor in spirit know that God is more important than anything else in life.

Eight years ago, I was tasked to conduct a census on population to more than 600 homes on a small barangay in Angeles City, Pampanga, my hometown. For 30 days I had to finish the census all by myself. Thanks to my “Cabalens” I was able to meet the deadline in conducting interviews with them despite some hardships I went through.

On those days I had to make “house to house visits” and walk from 7:00 in the morning till 5:00 in the afternoon. I had to interview at least 20 households a day in a place known to be the haven of “not so nice people around” and I had to be careful in dealing with them. In addition, there were days when the sun was so hot and suddenly it would rain the next day (weather conditions have become unpredictable, isn’t it?). My Mama was kind of worried a lot of times but I told her it was just a matter of showing love and respect to other people and being sincere with them.

I had discovered a lot of things in meeting various people with different lifestyles.

My respondents came from rich, average, and poor families respectively. There was a big difference when it came to treatment to a volunteer like me I may say.

The poor ones had the biggest hearts among them. Even those I had thought who belong to the “not so nice people around” showed their other side to I may say a stranger like me.

When I had visited the homes of the rich, although some gave me the warmest welcome, most of them did not, I had even the hardest time doing interviews with them. But when I visited the homes of the most impoverished families, I had the greatest time on earth.

Now I know why Jesus said ,“It is much harder for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God than for a camel to go through the eye of a needle.”

My friends, “Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."