I’ve heard it said that we’re the sum of the five people closest to us.

These can be relatives and friends, but they can also be people whom we have never personally met, great writers, or saints, or celebrities - it all depends on how much of our lives we are willing to yield to them - how close to our hearts we keep them - how much of us we are willing to let them influence.

On Sunday, we will hear Jesus make a curious statement. Perhaps you've heard it before, Jesus will say, "The poor will always be with you."

Certainly, this may be understood as a damning reality of the intractable nature of living in a world with haves and have nots - or our utter inability to stem the tide of poverty.

 

But we can also understand this statement as a commentary on the nature of Christian discipleship - meaning that those who follow Jesus will seek the company of the poor, hence, when we follow Jesus, the poor will always be with us.

Just think if that were true for those debating immigration policy, or federal funding for programs that benefit the poor. In other words, it's that old adage our mothers told us, “It's hard to speak badly of someone who's right in front of you."

To take Jesus' advice, what does it mean for you and me to allow someone who's vulnerable, living on the margins, who’s oppressed and suffering - to be one of the five people in our inner circle - who influences our choices and behaviors?

May Lent be a time that we decide to include the poor among those who are always with us.