202. Fourth Thursday of Ordinary Time

Meditations no. 81 (unofficial computer-aided translation)

Our spirit requires us to lead a sober life.

And he called to him the twelve, and began to send them out two by two, and gave them authority over the unclean spirits. He charged them to take nothing for their journey except a staff; no bread, no bag, no money in their belts; but to wear sandals and not put on two tunics.

By associating us to his redemptive mission, our Lord asks us, as he did the Apostles, to be completely detached. He is the one who moves souls, and his divine zeal ensures that his instruments will not work in vain. Christ requires us to be free from any ties to creatures, because these would render his grace sterile in us.

Certainly, to work apostolically in the heart of the world we need to make use of material things. But our Father warns us that we should engrave on our hearts our Lord’s words: Ideo, dico vobis, nolite solliciti esse animae vestrae quid manducetis neque corpori quid induamini. Anima plus est quam esca, et corpus plus quam vestimentum. Considerate lilia, quomodo crescunt… Si autem foenum, quod hodie est in agro et eras in clibanum mittitur, Deus sic vestit, quanto magis vos pusillae fidei. (Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you shall eat, nor about your body, what you shall put on. For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing … Consider the lilies, how they grow … if God so clothes the grass which is alive in the field today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will he clothe you, O men of little faith!) Don’t be overly concerned about material things, because God will take care of you. Rather keep our Lord’s promise constantly in mind: Beati pauperes spiritu, quoniam ipsorum est regnum caelorum. Blessed are the poor in spirit, those who are detached from the things of this world, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Let us therefore practise the virtue of poverty generously, striving to be personally detached from earthly possessions.

Our vocation and our relationship with God require a demanding spirit of poverty; a detachment which we practise with naturalness, as far as those around us are concerned. But it has to be true poverty, so that other people do in fact notice the austerity of our Christian life. Only in this way can we serve God. Detach yourself from the goods of the world. Love and practise poverty of spirit. Be content with what enables you to live a simple and sober life. Otherwise you will never be an apostle. God and the Work ask us to lead a sober life, and to have our hearts and minds constantly fixed on God. Our lives should radiate the aroma of sobriety that we see in Christ’s life and in that of the Apostles, the same cheerful sobriety that has always been present in the Work. In the words of St Jerome: It is a great joy for the soul to be content with little and to keep the world under its feet.

Sobriety breaks the bonds that tie down our heart. When it is released in this way, the heart is enabled to expand, and to grow in love for Christ. Be sober, be watchful, St Peter tells us, reminding us of the pressing need for sobriety in Christian life. When there is love, it becomes easy to fulfil this duty - a duty which is especially binding on us, who are called by divine vocation to be apostles.

We should avoid creating needs for ourselves.

Don’t forget it: he has most who needs least. Don’t create needs for yourself. We must make our way to God as quickly as possible, without unnecessary or excess baggage that could weigh us down or hold us back. That was the way Jesus sent out his Apostles. Although we know that true poverty doesn’t so much consist in not having things as in being detached from them, prudence dictates that we should do all we can to make detachment easier. Seek what is sufficient, St Augustine tells us. Seek what is enough, and do not crave for more. Anything more would bring you anxiety rather than relief; it would weigh you down rather than lighten your heart.

God asks us for a spirit of mortification so that we are able to renounce lawful things, even things that would be compatible with our poverty and dedication. We must remain vigilant, lest we be deceived and create false needs in our social or professional life. Don’t create false needs for yourselves, our Father advises us. There are things which may appear indispensable, but aren’t in fact so. I remember years ago, when in my youthful eagerness as a young priest I used to visit the very worst districts of Madrid, and I heard about some ladies who used to spend a lot of time every day providing charitable services for the unfortunate inhabitants of those districts. In the very depths of winter they came across a child who could hardly be described as being badly dressed, because he was going around practically naked.

One of those good ladies, moved with Christian compassion, said: Young boy, aren’t you cold? To which the little fellow replied: Is your face cold? No? Well, for me it’s all face.

With this story I would like to remind you, so that you never forget it, that you shouldn’t allow yourselves to get bogged down by completely artificial needs, which in the last analysis are simply concessions to comfort.

We need to be careful not to deceive ourselves with false reasons such as wanting to appear natural, or to be more effective, which in the long run - or even in the short run - could cause our spirit of detachment to suffer. We have to face up to the enemies of our poverty, and overcome them. They may come under the guise of vanity, or whims, or love of comfort, or even a certain hankering for luxury that we allow to nestle in our hearts. If we uproot these obstacles and really struggle to become more detached, our Lord will occupy the room we have made free. This struggle of ours may at times be scarcely noticeable on the outside, but it is something very pleasing to God. The Lord sees not as man sees; man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.

Loving the consequences of poverty.

You don’t love poverty if you don’t love what poverty brings with it. It is good for us to experience privation at times. If poverty and its consequences never make themselves felt in our lives, then we aren’t looking after the virtue as well as we should. Our poverty can’t just be a vague disposition or desire. It must show itself in real, specific ways that we should accept joyfully. If we are not experiencing or loving the consequences of being poor, it means we aren’t yet truly detached from things.

God wants us to learn to be detached and to get used to being really poor; and so he sometimes allows us to lack even what is necessary. Such privation, which is the mark of a true disciple of Christ, is something our Father and our older brothers in the Work were very familiar with. We even lacked what was necessary, our Father once told us. And I often had to travel without the money needed. As on that trip from Cordoba, for example: I got to the station, took out all the money I had in my pocket, and gave it to the booking clerk, saying, “I’ve got to get to Burgos. How far will this get me?” And I reached a place not far from Salamanca; third class, of course. We have always been prepared to give everything we had, whether affection, or sacrifice, or money, in order to help a soul on. And I believe God will not reproach us for this: on the contrary, he will weigh it in the balance, on the good side, and it will be as pure gold, but heavy as lead, because it represents the great value of charity.

When we are short of time; when we have to work under difficult conditions, because we lack the right equipment; when we have to go without the tools that would make it easier for us to do our work; let us see all these circumstances as affectionate reminders from God of the consequences of true poverty. And through these hardships, he will also make clear to us that our effectiveness as apostles depends not on what we have, but on our personal holiness.

When we practise the virtue of poverty, we are following closely in Christ’s footsteps, who, being rich, became poor for our sake. Today let us ask our Lady to show us the path of poverty that we must tread daily, since we want to be apostles; we want to be saints.