Wednesday, November 7, 2018

Reflections of poverty by Bishop Camisasca

"Poverty is born from the discovery that I am Another's: I exist because I am loved in an individual way by Another.... I am the work of Another, nothing is mine, because everything is given to me by HIM."

 "Poverty cannot exist unless it is fed by hope, that is to say, by the certainty that we have been given what really counts in life and that no one can take that away from us....  Poverty is freedom from things, and awareness that it is God who fulfills our desires." 

“Poverty, understood as the use of things according to their true purpose, is a virtue for building up, a virtue animated by the certainty that God’s promises are being fulfilled. Unless you are certain of having already received everything, in fact, you cannot have the freedom to use what you hold in your hands according to its ultimate purpose. You will be out for your own safety, you will tighten your grip on things, and so you will set the stage for your own destruction.”
“To be poor, then, is to use each thing according to its ultimate end, placing the expectation of one’s good, not in the possession of this or that thing, but in the realization of the Kingdom of God. When we do that, we use, appreciate, and love each thing without turning it into an idol. When they become idols, persons and things cease to be ours: they are like objects that irreparably break to pieces in our hands. In a correct relationship with things and with other people, we do not refuse them the esteem that is their due – for example, you do not deny the value of a person if you are friends with him. At the same time, however, one does not expect from them the fulfillment of one’s own life. It is in the Kingdom of God that things and persons find their proper place….”
“Through this stripping, however, an endless joy comes to birth. For when we live poverty, we discover that we are lacking nothing, since everything is given to us….”

“We are already in the definitive hour, the hour in which, after the Incarnation, Death, and Resurrection of Jesus, we human beings possess everything, but in a new way.” 
Source: Bishop Massimo Camisasca, Magnificat from his book, The Challenge of Fatherhood:

"Poverty is born from the discovery that I am Another's: I exist because I am loved in an individual way by Another.... I am the work of Another, nothing is mine, because everything is given to me by HIM."    "Poverty cannot exist unless it is fed by hope, that is to say, by the certainty that we have been given what really counts in life and that no one can take that away from us....  Poverty is freedom from things, and awareness that it is God who fulfills our desires."    “Poverty, understood as the use of things according to their true purpose, is a virtue for building up, a virtue animated by the certainty that God’s promises are being fulfilled. Unless you are certain of having already received everything, in fact, you cannot have the freedom to use what you hold in your hands according to its ultimate purpose. You will be out for your own safety, you will tighten your grip on things, and so you will set the stage for your own destruction.” “To be poor, then, is to use each things according to its ultimate end, placing the expectation of one’s good, not in the possession of this or that thing, but in the realization of the Kingdom of God. When we do that, we use, appreciate, and love each thing without turning it into an idol. When they become idols, persons and things cease to be ours: they are like objects that irreparably break to pieces in our hands. In a correct relationship with things and with other people, we do not refuse them the esteem that is their due – for example, you do not deny the value of a person if you are friends with him. At the same time, however, one does not expect from them the fulfillment of one’s own life. It is in the Kingdom of God that things and persons find their proper place….” “Through this stripping, however, an endless joy comes to birth. For when we live poverty, we discover that we are lacking nothing, since everything is given to us….” “We are already in the definitive hour, the hour in which, after the Incarnation, Death, and Resurrection of Jesus, we human being possess everything, but in a new way.”  Source: Bishop Massimo Camisasca, Magnificat from his book, The Challenge of Fatherhood: