#human-need — Public Fediverse posts

Quote of the day, 17 June: Pope Leo XIV

She was very compassionate, even as a small child, for the suffering of others. She was especially charged with distributing alms to the poor…. I could see deep compassion in her eyes.

Mother Agnès of Jesus, O.C.D. (Pauline Martin)
Witness to the heroic charity of Thérèse of Lisieux

The gravest form of poverty is not to know God.

As Pope Francis wrote in Evangelii Gaudium: “The worst discrimination which the poor suffer is the lack of spiritual care. The great majority of the poor have a special openness to the faith; they need God and we must not fail to offer them his friendship, his blessing, his word, the celebration of the sacraments and a journey of growth and maturity in the faith” (No. 2000).

Here we see a basic and essential awareness of how we can find our treasure in God. As the Apostle John insists: “If anyone says, ‘I love God,’ but hates his brother, he is a liar; for whoever does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen” (1 Jn 4:20).

This is a rule of faith and the secret of hope: all this earth’s goods, material realities, worldly pleasures, economic prosperity, however important, cannot bring happiness to our hearts.

Wealth often disappoints and can lead to tragic situations of poverty — above all the poverty born of the failure to recognize our need for God and of the attempt to live without him.

A saying of Saint Augustine comes to mind: “Let all your hope be in God: feel your need for him, and let him fill that need. Without him, whatever you possess will only make you all the more empty” (Enarr. in Ps., 85:3).

Pope Leo XIV

Message, World Day of the Poor (2025)

We always refer to the website of the Archives of the Carmel of Lisieux for the vast majority of our quotes concerning Saint Thérèse, Saint Zélie, and Saint Louis Martin. If you would like to purchase English translations for the collected works of St. Thérèse, please visit the website of our Discalced Carmelite friars at ICS Publications. 

Featured image: The United States nonprofit organization Feed My Starving Children visited Nicaragua in March 2011. To date, the Ortega regime has revoked the non-profit status of over 5000 non-governmental, non-profit organizations, including those funded by the Catholic Church who partnered with Feed My Starving Children. Since 2018, Catholic schools and universities have been seized, diocesan bank accounts have been frozen, religious congregations have been expelled, and their property confiscated. Yet the poor who relied on their assistance remain in Nicaragua. Image credit: Feed My Starving Children / Flickr (Some rights reserved).

⬦ Reflection Question ⬦
How can I make more space to feel my need for God—and to let Him fill that need?
⬦ Join the conversation in the comments.

#hope #humanNeed #PopeLeoXIV #poverty #StThérèseOfLisieux

Quote of the day, 17 June: Pope Leo XIV

She was very compassionate, even as a small child, for the suffering of others. She was especially charged with distributing alms to the poor…. I could see deep compassion in her eyes.

Mother Agnès of Jesus, O.C.D. (Pauline Martin)
Witness to the heroic charity of Thérèse of Lisieux

The gravest form of poverty is not to know God.

As Pope Francis wrote in Evangelii Gaudium: “The worst discrimination which the poor suffer is the lack of spiritual care. The great majority of the poor have a special openness to the faith; they need God and we must not fail to offer them his friendship, his blessing, his word, the celebration of the sacraments and a journey of growth and maturity in the faith” (No. 2000).

Here we see a basic and essential awareness of how we can find our treasure in God. As the Apostle John insists: “If anyone says, ‘I love God,’ but hates his brother, he is a liar; for whoever does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen” (1 Jn 4:20).

This is a rule of faith and the secret of hope: all this earth’s goods, material realities, worldly pleasures, economic prosperity, however important, cannot bring happiness to our hearts.

Wealth often disappoints and can lead to tragic situations of poverty — above all the poverty born of the failure to recognize our need for God and of the attempt to live without him.

A saying of Saint Augustine comes to mind: “Let all your hope be in God: feel your need for him, and let him fill that need. Without him, whatever you possess will only make you all the more empty” (Enarr. in Ps., 85:3).

Pope Leo XIV

Message, World Day of the Poor (2025)

We always refer to the website of the Archives of the Carmel of Lisieux for the vast majority of our quotes concerning Saint Thérèse, Saint Zélie, and Saint Louis Martin. If you would like to purchase English translations for the collected works of St. Thérèse, please visit the website of our Discalced Carmelite friars at ICS Publications. 

Featured image: The United States nonprofit organization Feed My Starving Children visited Nicaragua in March 2011. To date, the Ortega regime has revoked the non-profit status of over 5000 non-governmental, non-profit organizations, including those funded by the Catholic Church who partnered with Feed My Starving Children. Since 2018, Catholic schools and universities have been seized, diocesan bank accounts have been frozen, religious congregations have been expelled, and their property confiscated. Yet the poor who relied on their assistance remain in Nicaragua. Image credit: Feed My Starving Children / Flickr (Some rights reserved).

⬦ Reflection Question ⬦
How can I make more space to feel my need for God—and to let Him fill that need?
⬦ Join the conversation in the comments.

#hope #humanNeed #PopeLeoXIV #poverty #StThérèseOfLisieux

Every time you eat be grateful for it because hundreds of millions of people are still starving now. Be grateful for whatever food you have, no matter how much it is. Food is a basic human need that no human being throughout history can deny.

#sofiaflorina #ソフィアフロリナ #food #foods #savefood #hunger #hungry #starvation #starving #history #basicneed #basicneeds #humanneed #humanneeds #begrateful #grateful #imgrateful #noonecandeny #feedthehungry #feedpeople

Every time you eat be grateful for it because hundreds of millions of people are still starving now. Be grateful for whatever food you have, no matter how much it is. Food is a basic human need that no human being throughout history can deny.

#sofiaflorina #ソフィアフロリナ #food #foods #savefood #hunger #hungry #starvation #starving #history #basicneed #basicneeds #humanneed #humanneeds #begrateful #grateful #imgrateful #noonecandeny #feedthehungry #feedpeople

Every time you eat be grateful for it because hundreds of millions of people are still starving now. Be grateful for whatever food you have, no matter how much it is. Food is a basic human need that no human being throughout history can deny.

#sofiaflorina #ソフィアフロリナ #food #foods #savefood #hunger #hungry #starvation #starving #history #basicneed #basicneeds #humanneed #humanneeds #begrateful #grateful #imgrateful #noonecandeny #feedthehungry #feedpeople

Late, late the mind confessed:
wisdom has not sufficed.
I cannot take one step into the light
without the Christ.

Late, late the heart affirmed:
wild do my heart-beats run
when in the blood-stream sings one wish away
from the Incarnate Son.

Christ is my utmost need.
I lift each breath, each beat for Him to bless,
knowing our language cannot overspeak
our frightening helplessness.

Here where proud morning walks
and we hang wreaths on power and self-command,
I cling with all my strength unto a nail-
investigated hand.

Christ is my only trust.
I am my fear since, down the lanes of ill,
my steps surprised a dark Iscariot
plotting in my own will.

Past nature called,
I cry who clutch at fingers and at tunic folds,
“Lay not on me, O Christ, this fastening.
Yours be the hand that holds.”

Sister Miriam of the Holy Spirit, O.C.D.
(Jessica Powers)

Christ Is My Utmost Need (1952; 1984)

Powers, J 1999, The Selected Poetry of Jessica Powers, ICS Publications, Washington DC.

Featured image: This detailed image from Evening Prayer by Antoine-Émile Plassan (French, 1817-1903) was executed in oil on panel c. 1863–1864. This artwork comes from the collection of the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore, Maryland. (Public domain)

https://carmelitequotes.blog/2024/04/10/jess-utmostneed/

#Christ #faith #fear #hope #humanNeed #inspiration #JessicaPowers #poetry #power #SrMiriamOfTheHolySpirit #trust