Poverty December
To be poor in the sense of the Gospel is to base our existence on the life of others and no longer to root our concern in ourselves (Const. 12.1).
The Virgin Mary is the model of evangelical poverty. She chanted, for all generations to hear, her confidence in Him who notices the little ones, protects the powerless and feeds the hungry. Her experience of God made a formidable messenger of her. Her poverty contradicts the spirit of the world. What an appetite the world has for a life of advantage! And at what price! Workers risk becoming slaves of others who manipulate the economy. The earth risks becoming a disfigured, exploited, polluted place. People of means risk becoming monstrous egotists. What a shock a life of evangelical poverty is in such an environment! Sharing the spirit of Mary’s confidence in God, religious are liberated Christians without a thirst for possessions, persons full of wonder at creation, devoted to the service of others’ needs! A sign of things to come! The witness of a life of evangelical poverty is an apostolate in itself. However forcefully the world may reject the vision, religious remain nonetheless attractive because their very life-style speaks to the most profound aspirations of the human heart.
A hen who finds a grain of rice always shares it with her chicks. (Kusu)
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