Category: AVARICE & ALMSGIVING & MINIMALISM

  • But the man who has been born into a poor position looks upon it as the natural one, and if by any chance he comes in for a fortune, he regards it as a superfluity, something to be enjoyed or wasted, because, if it comes to an end, he can get on just as well as before,

    The Wisdom of Life
    Arthur Schopenhauer

  • Rather than securing freedom from anxiety and ample provision to satisfy our desires, wealth actually increases our worry, insecurity, and desire for more. Evagrius of Pontus, one of the desert fathers, concurs: “A monk with many possessions is like a heavily laden boat that easily sinks in a sea storm. Just as a very leaky ship is submerged by each wave, so the person with many possessions is awash with his concerns.”

    Glittering Vices: A New Look at the Seven Deadly Sins and Their Remedies
    Rebecca Konyndyk DeYoung

  • When my husband and I were first married, we lived in a small apartment. It was old and quite run-down, but to us, its most noteworthy disadvantage was the size of the closets. They were barely deep enough for a single pair of shoes and about an eighth of the size of any closet in any place we had lived previously. Our workout clothes alone filled one of them. “What did the people who built that house ever do with all their clothes?” we wondered. Then I recalled my mother telling me that when she grew up, she had two dresses to her name—one for school and one for church on Sunday. That would have fit in our closet with room to spare! While our current house doesn’t have a walk-in closet, it does have double closets in every room and a cedar closet in the hallway. They are all full.

    Glittering Vices: A New Look at the Seven Deadly Sins and Their Remedies
    Rebecca Konyndyk DeYoung

  • Abba Isaiah was asked: “What is the love of money?” and he answered: “It is not believing in God that He is taking care of you.”

    Give Me a Word: The Alphabetical Sayings of the Desert Fathers
    John Wortley

  • By directing its power toward destruction of this support on which the sinner’s selfishness has established itself and rests, divine, salvific grace carries out the following to awaken the sinner from his slumber: He who is enslaved by pleasing the flesh shall fall ill, and by weakening the flesh, shall give the spirit freedom and power to come to its senses and become sober. He who is preoccupied with his own attractiveness and strength shall be deprived of this attractiveness and kept in a state of utter exhaustion. He who finds refuge in his own power and strength shall be subject to slavery and humiliation. He who relies greatly on wealth shall have it taken from him. He who shows off great learnedness shall be put to shame. He who relies on solid personal connections shall have them cut off. He who counts on the permanence of the order established around him shall have it destroyed by the death of people he knows or the loss of essential material possessions. Is there any way to sober up those kept in the bonds of indifference through outward happiness other than by sorrows and grief? Isn’t our life filled with misfortunes so that it may assist with the divine intention of keeping us sober?

    Each destruction of the supports of indifferent self-indulgence constitutes a turning point in life, which, because it is always unexpected, operates in an overwhelming and salvific manner. The sense that one’s life is in danger operates strongest of all in this respect. This sense weakens all bonds and kills selfishness at the very root; the person does not know where to run. The sense of total abandonment is of the same character and special circumstance. Both sense leave a person alone with himself. From himself, the most miserable of creatures, he immediately turns to God.

    —St. Theophan the Recluse, The Path to Salvation: A Manual of Spiritual Transformation

  • “When you are weary of praying and do not receive, consider how often you have heard a poor man calling, and have not listened to him.”

    —St. John Chrysostom

  • It is equally difficult to preserve one’s soul from despair in hard times, and to prevent it from becoming arrogant in prosperous circumstances.

    —St. Basil the Great, On Social Justice

  • Therefore, a man occupied with such reflections should choose an austere and pure dwelling-place. The spirit is weakened by surroundings that are too pleasant, and without a doubt one’s place of residence can contribute towards impairing its vigour. Animals whose hoofs are hardened on rough ground can travel any road; but when they are fattened on soft marshy meadows their hoofs are soon worn out.

    —Seneca, Letters from a Stoic

  • Observe yourself, then, and see whether your dress and your house are inconsistent, whether you treat yourself lavishly and your family meanly, whether you eat frugal dinners and yet build luxurious houses. You should lay hold, once for all, upon a single norm to live by, and should regulate your whole life according to this norm.

    —Seneca, Letters from a Stoic

  • Riches have shut off many a man from the attainment of wisdom; poverty is unburdened and free from care.

    —Seneca, Letters from a Stoic