5.6. Poverty

Jesus proclaimed the good news first to the poor and rejoiced that the Father had hidden revelation from the wealthy and powerful, giving it instead to the lowly. He urged anyone who sought perfection to give away all they owned to the poor. Total poverty will force us to survive and face our wrong mindset/traumas, they are the best medicine to gain perfection.

Many Christians misread the parable of the talents, mistakenly identifying the harsh master as a symbol of Christ. This error has allowed many to justify their attachment to wealth, imagining that financial success is somehow spiritual fruitfulness. But Jesus never spoke of multiplying income, nor did He model a life of acquisition. On the contrary, He lived in material simplicity, and He called His disciples into the same dispossession. Just as He spoke of the birds who do not sow or reap, Jesus Himself ate freely from the land—like the fig tree—implying that the Father provides when we seek His kingdom.

Yet in reality, most who seek the kingdom still live in hardship and poverty. This suggests that when Jesus said, “these things will be added to you,” He may have meant only what is necessary to survive—not success, not stability, and certainly not wealth.

The early Church obeyed this call. They abandoned private property and held all things in common. While the Catholic Church rightly rejects forced confiscation of property in civil society, this teaching has nothing to do with the interior life of the faithful. Jesus did not merely warn us to be careful with money—He told us plainly that we will either love it or hate it. It is a weight, a drag, a spiritual barrier to the love of God, leading most ministries at this age end with impact without sacrifice, change without communion, unused fungible power stored for personal safety of so-called future.

To leave ourselves without resources, even to surrender our retirement and comforts for the sake of others—to embrace lack, and even decay, out of love—is the true form of the Gospel. It is not enough to keep our possessions and soothe the conscience through calculated donations. That is bookkeeping, not sacrifice. What Christ called for was everything. Yet, it is only for those who seek perfection and can swallow the Truth, He does not enforce any extreme rule over the faithful.