Meditation for January 5, The Poverty of the Crib

St. Therese of the Child Jesus writes that as a postulant she de­lighted in having nice things for her use and in never being with­out anything she needed.

"And Jesus," she said, "suffered that patiently because He does not like to disclose everything at once to the soul. He is accus­tomed to give His light little by little."

She did not realize then that it was more perfect to want for even necessary things in religious life; she was not yet so far ad­vanced in perfection as to desire the least agreeable to nature, either through charity for others, or to free her soul from every attachment to the comforts of this life.

Later, God attracted the attention of Therese to the riches and advantages of poverty.

"I was seized," she says, "with a veritable love for the ugliest and most worn things. I experienced joy when I saw a pretty little pitcher taken from my cell and replaced by a clumsy one badly cracked."

"O Jesus, model of perfect detachment; Jesus, born in a stable; so often without shelter during your public life; utterly indifferent as to food and clothing; grant that I may be entirely detached from objects given me to use. Permit me, when I may choose, to seek without undue eagerness, but with courage and simplicity, what is poorest, and when nothing is wanting to me, let me manage voluntarily to deprive myself of necessities.

"Jesus, who loves poverty, make me poor, truly poor, in spirit and in truth."

_________________
Adapted from Meditations for Religious
by Father Raoul Plus, S.J. (© 1939, Frederick Pustet Co.)