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The virtue of Poverty IV Lourdes Pinto, 1/30/18 Diary of a MOC, “Mission of the 12” (Mathew 10:1-24) My little one, I have chosen you to bear fruit for the Kingdom of God on earth. The mission is not easy, for the ways of God are never the ways of the world. All who are chosen by God to fulfill His plan on earth are hated by some, rejected by others, ill-treated, persecuted, for I came upon the earth to set one against another, for the ways of God will never be accepted nor appreciated by those who live for the things of this world. You have been asked by God to bring Him victim souls. A victim soul must fix his eyes on Christ, must desire with all his being to become one with his Master, must be willing to learn from Him and imitate Him. He must be willing to fight against all his disordered desires. This requires certain disciplines for my disciples: 1)    “take no gold, nor silver, nor copper”- that means detached from the riches of this world, trusting that God will provide. 2)    “no bag for your journey” –that means that My disciples must allow My spirit to detach them from all disordered attachments. (my Lord how do we know what a disordered attachment is?) Anything that weakens your desire for Me, distracts you from loving Me, takes your gaze from Me.  3)    “nor two tunics”– My disciples must live simply as I did, poor, never in excess.   4)    “nor sandals”– a life dedicated to sacrificial love, penance, renunciation.  5)    “nor a staff”– My disciples lean on Me; I become their support; I lead the way.   My disciples wear My yoke-the wood of the Cross, united to Me. I am their All. My disciples are the men and women consumed in love and desire for Me. They choose to live this way of life for love of Me and the consuming desire to be made perfect- which is to become Love. Only in this way will My disciples reflect the face and light of God in the world. These are my victim souls that possess the power of God on earth. Fr Raniero Cantalamessa, POVERTY  The Old Testament introduces us to a God who is open “for the poor,” while the New Testament shows us a God who Himself becomes poor. Only the gospel tells us About God who makes Himself one of them, choosing weakness and poverty for Himself: “Though he was rich, Jesus Christ became poor for your sake” (2 Cor.8:9). The two essential components of the ideal of biblical poverty are now made clear: to be “for the poor” and “to be poor.” John Paul II combined both aspects in his catechesis on poverty: “The Church feels ever more strongly the impulse of the Spirit to be poor among the poor, to remind everyone of the need to conform to the ideal of poverty preached and practiced by Christ, and to imitate Him in His sincere and active love for the poor.” (p27) Poverty in the Life of Christ (p36) -       “Although (Christ) was rich, yet for your sakes, He became poor, so that by His poverty you might become rich.” ( 2 Cor 8:9) -       St Thomas comments: “He endured material poverty in order to give us spiritual riches.” Christ’s poverty is an aspect of His self-abasement in the Incarnation.   -       “became a victim for sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Cor 5:21) -       Blessed Angela Foligno explains Christ’s three kinds of poverty: “Christ’s poverty was of three kinds: Christ, the way, the guide of our souls, exemplified the first degree of the most perfect poverty by choosing to live poorly and to be poor, bereft of all earthly possessions. He kept nothing for Himself: no house, vineyard, coins, money, estate, dishware, or any other possessions. He neither accepted any earthly...