Living poverty: a year without new possessions

[Sister Leticia]

I came back from Mass a couple of hours ago. The person who puts together our newsletter abhors empty spaces, so if we run out of notices what would otherwise be a blank corner is filled with a little prayer or reflection. And today, we had quite a lot of space, so plenty of room for... Charles de Foucauld's Prayer of Abandonment! Which made me think of you and your situation.

It occurs to me that if we ever say this prayer, or indeed any sort of suscipe, we do so aware that God might take us at our word and send us a major trial or difficulty - illness, deprivation, humiliation etc. Subconsciously, we gird our loins for this when we say this sort of prayer. But really, the prayer doesn't mention hardships - it just says "Whatever you may do, I thank you: I am ready for all, I accept all..."

Whatever - be it stale bread or partridges.

It also made me think of the First Principle and Foundation with which St Ignatius begins the Spiritual Exercises. The retreatant is encouraged to ask for the grace of indifference - by which he means inner freedom and openness to "whatever". These are the last lines of a version of the P&F reflection by David Fleming SJ

 

In everyday life, then, we must hold ourselves in balance before all of these created gifts insofar as we have a choice and are not bound by some obligation. We should not fix our desires on health or sickness, wealth or poverty, success or failure, a long life or a short one. For everything has the potential of calling forth in us a deeper response to our life in God.

Our only desire and our one choice should be this: I want and I choose what better leads to God’s deepening his life in me.