Seldom do we find anyone so spiritual as to be stripped of all things. For who shall be able to find the man that is truly poor in spirit, and divested of all affection for created things? His value is as of things that are brought from far and from the uttermost coasts (Prov. xxxi, 10).
- Bk. II, ch. xi.
If thou lookest to thyself, thou canst do nothing of this of thyself. But if thou confidest in the Lord, strength will be given thee from heaven, and the world and the flesh shall be made subject to thee.
- Bk. II, ch. xii.
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In order to love Jesus, to be His loving victim, the more weak and wretched we are, the more easily can His transforming and consuming love work in us. Merely to wish to be a victim is enough, provided that we are willing to remain poor and without strength of our own, and therein lies the difficulty, for, as the author of the Imitation says: Who shall be able to find the man that is truly poor in spirit? He does not tell us to seek him amongst great souls, but afar, that is, in lowliness and abjection.
Oh! let us remain far away from all that glitters, let us love our littleness, love our inability to feel what is going on in our soul; then we shall be truly poor in spirit, and Jesus will fetch us from afar and enkindle within us the fire of His love.
- Letters
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For more information, see this post.
Adapted from Just For Today(©1943 Burns & Oates)
Nihil Obstat: Reginaldus Phillips, S.T.L.,Censor deputatus
Imprimatur: Edwardus Myers, Vic. Cap.
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