Love of Poverty
I would like to remain poor, without even a place to rest my body, air to breathe, water to slake my thirst, food to sustain me, or a rag to cover me – indeed, with nothing at all. (OOCC, X, pp. 82 - 83; STA, 79)
St. Vincent Pallotti, in his lifetime, made an option to live a life that was poor. He made this decision to love poverty for two reasons. The first reason for his choice of poverty as a way of life was that he had made an option to spend his life serving the poor. The Universal Mission of Charity, he embarked upon by establishing the Union of Catholic Apostolate, was basically aimed at alleviating the various forms of poverty that plagued the poor of the city of Rome, both in the spiritual and the material plane. The Saint was involved in diverse ways to help the poor and to make their life better. The poor were the goal towards which every charitable act he performed was focused. Having made this option for the poor, St. Vincent felt that he needed to identify in a real way with the poor he served. The best way to identify with the poor is to live a life characterized by poverty. The second reason for St. Vincent opting to live a life of poverty wass to imitate Jesus. He wanted to have in his life the same spirit of poverty that marked the life of Jesus Christ. The imitation of the poverty of Jesus made St. Vincent deny for himself a place to live, air to breathe, water to quench his thirst, food to sustain himself, a piece of cloth to cover his body, and to go about in life without anything. Imitating Jesus, the poor, and serving the poor in Jesus’ name made St. Vincent make an option to be poor in his life.
Have I made an option to be poor in my life? Have I made an option to serve the poor? How do I serve the poor in my everyday life? How do I imitate Jesus, the poor, in my life? Have I cultivated a love for a life of simplicity and poverty?
Remember, I don’t even own a place to lay my head. Foxes have dens to live in, and birds have nests, but I, the Messiah, have no earthly home at all. (Lk. 9:58)