Christian Mission and Poverty

104

Christian Mission and Poverty

poverty as your rule, for Scripture laments in his name, “The foxes have dens, the birds have nests, but the Virgin’s Son has nowhere to lay his head.” Who knows this? Those who are enlightened by most holy faith. In whom do you find this faith? In the spiritually poor who have taken as their bride Queen Poverty, for they have cast away the riches that bring on the darkness of infidelity. This queen’s realm is never at war, but is always peaceful and calm. She overflows with justice, because the thing that perpetrates injustice is cut off from her. Her city walls are strong, because their foundation is not in the earth, nor on the sand that every little wind scares up from the earth, but on the living rock, the gentle Christ Jesus my only- begotten Son. There is no darkness within her, but fire without any cold, because this queen’s mother is divine charity. This city’s adornment is compassion and mercy, because the cruel tyrant wealth has been put out. There is benevolence, that is, neighborly affection, among all its citizens. There is enduring perseverance and prudence, for poverty does not act or govern her city imprudently but watches over it with great concern and prudence. Thus the soul who take this gentle queen, poverty, as bride is made master of all these riches, for the two go hand in hand. The soul who takes Queen Poverty as bride . . . has no fear of vexation, for no one is at war with her. She has no fear of hunger or want, because her faith sees and trusts me, her Creator and the source of all wealth and providence, for I always feed and nurture her. Have you ever found a servant of mine, a spouse of poverty, who died of hunger? No. There have been some who had great and overflowing riches and have perished because they trusted in their riches