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.
