– Detachment from material goods for a greater surrender to God:
Job 34:28 : They made the cry of the poor reach God and made him attentive to the cry of the unfortunate.
Ps 9,33.39 : Arise, Lord! Stretch out your hand, and do not forget the poor.
Ps 21:27 : The poor shall eat and be satisfied; those who seek him will praise the Lord.
Ps 33 :7: See, this wretch cried, and the Lord heard him, he delivered him out of all his troubles.
Ps 68,33-34 : O ye humble ones, look and rejoice; you who seek God, let your heart be revived.
Ps 85 :1 : Incline your ear, Lord, and answer me, for I am poor and miserable.
– Nature of evangelical poverty:
Mt 10,9s : Do not carry gold, silver or money in your belts.
Mk 6,8s : He ordered them not to take anything for the journey, except a staff.
Lk 9,3 : Take nothing for the journey, neither staff, nor knapsack, nor bread, nor money.
1Tm 6,6-10 : Piety is a great source of profit, but when accompanied by a spirit of detachment.
– Profit from poverty:
Ecl 5,9-16 : Whoever loves money will never be satisfied. Those who love wealth do not take advantage of it.
Mt 5 :3: Blessed are the poor at heart, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven!
Mt 19,21-29 : If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven.
Mc 10,21-30 : You lack only one thing; go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven.
Lk 6:20 : Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the Kingdom of God!
Lk 14:33 : Therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.
Lk 18,22-30 : You still lack one thing: sell everything you have and give to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven.
Lk 18,28ff : Peter then said: “See, we have abandoned everything and followed you”.
1Cor 9 : Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord?
– Proper of the humble and the righteous:
Ps 9:17 : The Lord appeared and brought justice, catching the wicked in his nets.
Ps 17:28 : The humble you save, the proud countenance humiliate.
Ps 36:11 : As for the meek, they will possess the earth, and they will enjoy immense peace in it.
Pr 22:4 : The reward of humility is the fear of the Lord, riches, honor and life.
Is 26,6 : She is trampled underfoot by the plebs, under the steps of the indigent.
– Of the poor of Yahweh:
Ps 39:18 : As for me, I am poor and helpless, but the Lord watches over me.
Ps 85 :1 : Incline your ear, Lord, and answer me, for I am poor and miserable.
Is 49:13 : For the Lord comforted his people, he was moved and had mercy on his own in their affliction.
Is 66,2 : It is the anguished one who attracts my eyes, the contrite heart who fears my word.
Zeph 3:12 : I will let a humble and modest people remain among you, who will put their trust in the name of the Lord.
– Poverty, however, is also deprivation of goods:
Pr 19,1.22 : Better is a poor man who walks in integrity than a fool with lying lips.
Pr 28 :6: Better is a poor man who walks uprightly than a rich man who walks crooked ways.
Ecclesiastes 4:13 : Better a poor but wise youth than an old king.
– Because of laziness:
Pr 6,6-7 : Go, you sluggard, to the ant, observe its behavior and become wise.
Pr 10.4 : A lazy hand causes indigence; the diligent hand is made rich.
Pr 19:15 : Laziness falls into torpor: the indolent soul will be hungry.
Pr 20,4.13 : Since autumn the lazy person does not work: he will beg in harvest time, but he will have nothing.
Pr 24,30.31 : I passed by the land of the sluggard, by the vineyard of a foolish man.
– Of the disorders:
Pr 13,18 : Misery and shame to those who refuse discipline; honor to him who accepts rebuke.
Pr 21:17 : He who loves feasting will be a poor man; he who loves wine and oil will not get rich.
– By the oppression of the powerful:
Job 24,2-12 : The wicked change the borders of the land and make the herd they have stolen graze.
– Against whom the prophets raise their voice:
Is 5:8: Woe to you, who join house to house, and who add field to field, until there is no more room.
Is 10,1-2 : Woe to those who make unjust laws […] to remove the poor from the courts.
Jer 22,13-14 : Woe to him who built this palace for himself by dishonest means, and its halls, violating equity.
Jer 34,8-22 : This is the word that was addressed to Jeremiah by the Lord, after King Zedekiah had made a pact with the people.
Ez 22,9 : There are informers in you who cause blood to be shed; people from your household who go to eat on the mountain.
Am 2,6-7 : Because they sell the righteous for money, and the poor for a pair of sandals.
Am 4,1 : You who oppress the weak and mistreat the poor, you who say to your husbands: “Bring, and let us celebrate!”.
Amos 5:11 : Therefore, because you oppress the poor and exact tribute from them in grain, you shall not inhabit these palaces.
Am 8,5-6 : We will buy the wretched for money and the poor for a pair of sandals.
Leviticus 25:4-5 : But the seventh year will be a sabbath, a rest for the land, a sabbath in honor of the Lord.
Deut 15,1-15 : Every seven years, you will redeem your debts.
Deut 24,10-11 : If you make any loan to your neighbor, you shall not enter his house to take (some) pledge.
– In the NT, the spirit of poverty, source of beatitudes, is highlighted:
Mt 5 :3: Blessed are the poor at heart, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven!
– To adhere to true riches:
Mt 6,24.33 : You cannot serve God and wealth.
Mt 13:22 : But in him the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choke him and make him unfruitful.
Rev 2 :9 : I know your anguish and your poverty – even if you are rich.
Ap 3,17 : For you say: I am rich, I do good business, I need nothing.
– And thus be true disciples of Jesus:
Mt 10,37-38 : Whoever loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me.
– Able to share:
Lk 12,33-34 : Sell what you have and give alms; make yourselves purses that do not wear out.
Lk 18:22 : You still lack one thing: sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven.
Acts 2:44 : All the faithful lived together and had everything in common.
Acts 4:34-35 : Neither was there anyone in need among them, because all those who owned land or houses sold them.
– Effective poverty is also important:
Mt 6,19-20.25 : Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where rust and moths corrupt.
Mt 9:9: Jesus saw a man named Matthew, who was sitting at the tax payment post. He said to him, “Follow me”.
Mt 10,9.10 : Carry neither gold nor silver nor money in your belts.
Mt 19:21 : If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven.
Lk 6:20 : Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the Kingdom of God!
Lk 9:3 : He said to them: “Take nothing for the journey, neither staff, nor knapsack, nor bread, nor money”.
Lc 10,4 : Do not carry a purse or backpack, or shoes and greet no one along the way.
Lk 12,33-34 : Sell what you have and give alms; make yourselves purses that do not wear out.
– Jesus gave an example of poverty:
Mt 8:20 : Foxes have their holes […] but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.
Luke 2:7 : And she gave birth to her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a crib.
2Cor 8,9 : You know the goodness of our Lord Jesus Christ. Being rich, he became poor for you.
– Identifying with the little ones and the needy:
Mt 18,5-6 : And he who receives a child like this in my name, he receives me.
Mt 25:45 : As often as you did not do it for one of these little ones, you did not do it for me.
– Even if he is not always with us:
Jn 12 : Six days before the Passover, Jesus went to Bethany, where Lazarus lived, whom he had raised from the dead.
– Jesus from rich became poor:
2Cor 8,9 : You know the goodness of our Lord Jesus Christ. Being rich, he became poor for you.
Phil 2,5-6 : Being of divine status, he did not take advantage of his equality with God.
– And also the apostles:
Mt 19:27 : Behold, we have left everything to follow you. What then will there be for us?
2Cor 6,10 : We are judged sad, we who are always happy; poor, yet making many rich.
– Poverty leads to the Kingdom of Heaven:
Mt 11:25 : Because you have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and revealed them to little ones.
Mt 18,4 : Whoever humbles himself like this child will be greater in the Kingdom of Heaven.
Mt 19,13 : Then some little children were presented to him so that he could lay his hands on them and pray for them.
Mc 9,33.35 : If anyone wants to be first, let him be last of all and servant of all.
Lc 9,46 : So the thought occurred to them which of them would be the greatest.
– The Church recommends remembering the poor:
Gal 2:10 : We were only recommended to remember the poor, which was precisely my intention.
– And in the assembly one should not shame the poor:
1Cor 11:22 : Do you not have a house where you can eat and drink?
Jas 2,2-3 : Suppose a man with a gold ring and rich clothes enters your meeting, and a poor man also enters.
– See HUMILITY.
