St. Francis Addresses Lady Poverty
"Enamored of your beauty, the Son of the Most High Father clung tightly to you when he was in the world and he knew your fidelity, proven in every instance. Even before he came to earth from the splendid light of his true home, you prepared a worthy dwelling place for him, a throne to support him, a wedding bed to receive him: the Virgin most poor, from whom he was born to shine his light upon this world. And hardly was he born when you ran in haste to meet him, for he had already found his home in you instead of in easy comfort. He was laid 'in a manger,' the Evangelist says, 'because there was no room' for him 'in the living-space' (Lk 2:7). And from then on you were never separated from him and were always at his side, so that all his life long when he appeared on earth and moved among people (cf. Ba 3:38), even though 'foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests,' he nevertheless had 'nowhere to lay his head' (Mt 8:20). Then when he opened his mouth to teach, as in times past he had opened the mouths of the prophets, you were the first one he praised, the first one he exalted with the words "How blessed are the poor in spirit: the kingdom of heaven is theirs" (Mt 5:3)." --Sacrum Commercium, 19
Francis confirms what I wrote on January 28. I went in search of further clarification and found this on the Billy Graham website: "We must be humble in our spirits. If you put the word “humble” in place of the word “poor,” you will understand what He meant. In other words, when we come to God, we must realize our own sin and our spiritual emptiness and poverty. We must not be self-satisfied or proud in our hearts, thinking we don’t really need God. If we are, God cannot bless us. The Bible says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble” (James 4:6)."
"Enamored of your beauty, the Son of the Most High Father clung tightly to you when he was in the world and he knew your fidelity, proven in every instance. Even before he came to earth from the splendid light of his true home, you prepared a worthy dwelling place for him, a throne to support him, a wedding bed to receive him: the Virgin most poor, from whom he was born to shine his light upon this world. And hardly was he born when you ran in haste to meet him, for he had already found his home in you instead of in easy comfort. He was laid 'in a manger,' the Evangelist says, 'because there was no room' for him 'in the living-space' (Lk 2:7). And from then on you were never separated from him and were always at his side, so that all his life long when he appeared on earth and moved among people (cf. Ba 3:38), even though 'foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests,' he nevertheless had 'nowhere to lay his head' (Mt 8:20). Then when he opened his mouth to teach, as in times past he had opened the mouths of the prophets, you were the first one he praised, the first one he exalted with the words "How blessed are the poor in spirit: the kingdom of heaven is theirs" (Mt 5:3)." --Sacrum Commercium, 19Francis confirms what I wrote on January 28. I went in search of further clarification and found this on the Billy Graham website: "We must be humble in our spirits. If you put the word “humble” in place of the word “poor,” you will understand what He meant. In other words, when we come to God, we must realize our own sin and our spiritual emptiness and poverty. We must not be self-satisfied or proud in our hearts, thinking we don’t really need God. If we are, God cannot bless us. The Bible says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble” (James 4:6)."
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