mendicant
too bad for me to forgot who a mendicant is…i think the last time i perfectly recalled the meaning of the word was in my senior high school year when our english teacher initiated an on the spot quiz regarding the collected vocabulary on our idiot’s board…hahaha
so what i did, just to satisfy my curiosity, i browsed my wordweb. it gave me actually two meanings: 1) a priest belonging to the mendicant group preaching the gospel and 2) a pauper who lives by begging alms.
i remember. my classmate before gave us the second definition, or rather, a description of the concept. and it came to my thinking that there could be a link between the two definitions…
well, before or even now in conservative religious practices, being a "man of god" is associated in a life of poverty, let’s just say, life of simplicity to some…isn’t it?
most of the priest, pastors and preachers i have come to know personally are not that really financially well-off. they lived with what the members of the clergy and the church are voluntarily giving aside from the "monthly allowance", which is really very ample.
maybe, in other sense of the word, they are like pauper in the street. only, they do not beg, but just be satisfied with the "blessings" people with heart are giving them…
