Voluntary Poverty

Divine Intimacy #86

If you have it, you must love it.

However, to have perfect charity, you must give it up.

Eek. More detachment and moderation. Okay, I agree that’s true for the Religious or the Consecrated, since giving up all they possess would help them stay focused on God.

But the rest of us?

Are we, who have not taken a vow of poverty, unable to attain the freedom we need to follow Jesus perfectly?

The suggestion for us is to adapt the rule of never using or disposing of anything with a spirit of ownership.

A spirit of ownership means living as if I owned nothing, and it will help me become like Jesus, free to follow Him. So now, as I look at my life going forward and at all that I own, I’ll have to say that those things I have aren’t really mine. Can I do that?

It’s another stripping away of the world from my earthly life, preparing me for the next. I have to be able to say it doesn’t matter, even though it was my mother’s, or how much I paid for it, or that I need it because of the memory attached to it.

The truth is, I don’t really need it. Is there anything I really need?

I only need Jesus.

Once, I gave away three-quarters of my possessions. I thought I heard Jesus say to ditch it and follow Him. At the time, it was freeing. I admit, I think of some things from time to time that I miss, special things, but the memory is still there, even though the item isn’t. And it’s okay.

When I look back, I don’t think Jesus was asking me to give away my material possessions; I think He was asking me to give up my pride and will, which were in the way of following Him. But it’s water under the bridge now, and I’m grateful to be able to see it His way. It was a good learning lesson.