"True Poverty" & a NEW Feature

Much of the time, because we see darkly as a result of sin, we fail to perceive the real poverty of our human existence. True poverty is not what the homeless and the poor experience. Actually, they are rich because their wills are crushed - abandoned and so they are automatically predisposed to the eternal wealth of knowing God. However, Thomas À Kempis makes a description of true poverty in his work, The Imitation of Christ, Book Four, Chapter 7, section 2. In an easy-to-read paraphrase Thomas laments...

“Sigh and grieve that you are still so carnal and worldly and so unmortified from your passions for the world and the flesh. Your heart so full of evil desires, so unguarded in your outward senses; so often entangled with many vain pursuits. So much inclined to things exterior; so negligent of the interior spirit. So prone to laughter and indulgence; so hard to come by tears and regrets. So inclined to relaxation, and to the pleasures of the flesh; so sluggish in soberness and fervor. So curious to hear gossip and news and to see fine things; so remiss to embrace humility and putting your self last. So covetous to possess much; so sparing in giving, so close in retaining. So inconsiderate in talking; so unobservant of silence. So disordered in thy manners; so overeager in your actions. So immoderate in food; so deaf to the Word of God. So ready for repose; so slow to labor. So wakeful to hear idle tales; so drowsy at prayer and at Mass. So hasty to finish devotions; so wandering in attention. So negligent in reciting the Liturgy of the Hours… So quickly distracted; so seldom fully recollected. So suddenly moved to anger; so apt to take offense at others. So prone to judge; so severe in being merciful. So joyful in prosperity; so weak when adversity strikes you. So often proposing many good things; and bringing so little to effect.” By: Thomas À Kempis

A NEW Feature
The People of Mercy and Compassion Map

Today, HIA begins to officially invite bloggers to participate in a new daily feature: The Homeless In America People of Mercy and Compassion Map. Scroll down to the bottom of the page and post your geographical location on the chart. Over days, weeks and months we will begin to discover how far and wide across the globe that there are people of mercy and compassion in pursuit of triumph over all types of poverty conditions. Take a moment and plot your city's location on the map.
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VOTE - Scroll down & vote in the polls.
COMMENT - Daily insights, prayers, thanksgiving & praise.
SUBSCRIBE! -Top, right column.
POST - Your location below at People of Mercy & Compassion Map.
INVITE - Friends and family to Subscribe!
http://www.homelessinamerica.blogspot.com/