“How could the guests of an All-Munificent Provider, Who has made the earth’s surface as a table and the spring for flowers to put on that table, regard their own
poverty and
helplessness before God as unbearable? Their
poverty and need become their appetite, and so they try to increase their
poverty. The guest tries to increase his
poverty in the same way he does his appetite. This is why spiritually perfect people are proud of their
poverty. However, do not misunderstand this! It means to be aware of one’s
poverty before God and to entreat Him, not to parade
poverty before the people and assume the air of a beggar.”
2)