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A thought-provoking interview with Mr. T is making the rounds on social media. Filmed in the 1980s, the actor and professional wrestler, who is best known for his striking persona and his roles on classic TV shows such as The A-Team, shares a timeless reflection on faith and how it relates to his relationship with money and material goods.
In the clip, the late Bobby Wygant is interviewing Mr. T when she laughingly points out the fact that he is decked out in diamonds and gold while wearing tennis shoes that are held together with duct tape. Mr. T explains himself.
"There's a message in these shoes," he says. "You see ... they keep me humble."
Mr. T goes on to explain that the shoes had been worn by his father and brother and they remind him of his family back home in Chicago who need his support. He explains that while he owns many shoes, he purposefully wears the tattered pair in public when he's with important people "to keep my feet on the ground and my head towards heaven."
In this statement, Mr. T, whose given name is Laurence Tureaud, offers a glimpse of his rise-from-poverty upbringing that took him from being the youngest of 12 kids raised by a single mother in the inner city, to a Hollywood movie star.
He's also cluing the audience into the fact that he's embraced the age-old Christian concept of voluntary poverty in certain areas of his life. Voluntary poverty is the practice of purposefully living with less in order to give to the needy; it's been embraced by Christians to varying degrees throughout the history of the Church.
Interestingly, Wygant responds to Mr. T's message about his beat-up shoes with a compelling question that most of the audience likely had in mind.
"People look at you with your diamonds and jewelry...," she says. "Why aren't you feeding hungry people with all your money?"
A similar question is often posed to Catholics: How can you build such beautiful churches when there are starving people in the world. Mr. T clearly takes no offense at the reporter's question. Rather, he briefly explains his many charitable activities and then follows up with the compelling sentiment: "God knows all I do. I can lie to you if I want, but I can't lie to God."
The conversation brings to mind the 12th-century St. Francis of Assisi who, although born rich, was a champion of the poor. He embraced voluntary poverty so completely, his followers were shocked when he demanded that priests use the highest quality of chalices in Mass. St. Francis reasoned that like Mary of Bethany who anointed Jesus' feet with expensive perfume, we should only use the very best for the Eucharist.
St. Francis didn't fear people judging him for adorning the church with beauty, doing our best to honor Christ's Real Presence. Similarly, every individual (you, me, and Mr. T) also contains God's spirit in a unique way. Of course, neither churches nor individuals should be adorned to the detriment of the poor. But in most spaces and times (from St. Francis' day to the 1980s to now) it is possible to do both -- to care for the poor and clothe churches and individuals with beauty.
Today, Mr. T, a father of three adult children, is continuing to leave a generous Christian legacy that at first blush may not be incredibly reminiscent of St. Francis, but one that comes out in his actions and in interviews. In 2017, he donated all his earnings from Dancing with the Stars to St. Jude's Cancer Research Hospital for Children. And he recently spoke about his faith with Beliefnet, about the cancer battle he faced in the 90s, crediting the Book of Job for giving him strength during his illness (that remains in remission.)
"As a Christian you forgive and you feed the hungry, and clothe the naked, and you visit the sick, and comfort the lonely," he said. "If I'm a true follower of my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, I got to do the things you're supposed to be doing."
