POVERTY OF HEART
“Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry or thirst or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not take care of you?” – Mt. 25:44
There are different kinds of poverty. Some people live and die in hunger. But there is another worse poverty, spiritual poverty. People do not believe in God, do not pray. People do not care for each other. You have the poverty of people who are dissatisfied with what they have, who do not know how to suffer, who give in to despair. This poverty of heart is often more difficult to relieve and to defeat. Once in a while we should ask ourselves several questions to guide our actions like: Do I know the poor? Do I know the poor in my family, those who are closest to me – people who are poor, but not because they lack bread? There are other types of poverty just as painful because they are more intrinsic. Perhaps what my husband or wife lacks, what my children lack, what my parents lack, is not clothes or food. Perhaps they lack love, because I do not give it to them.
Jesus, help me extend my loving care to those in need around me.
St. Mother Teresa