Wisdom of the Saints about detachment (part 5)

“I know indeed how to live in humble circumstances; I know also how to live with abundance.  In every circumstance and in all things I have learned the secret of being well fed and of going hungry, of living in abundance and of being in need.  I have the strength for everything through Him Who empowers me.” St. Paul the Apostle (1st century)

I have no fear of poverty, no desire for wealth. I am not afraid of death nor do I long to live, except for your good. I concentrate therefore on the present situation, and I urge you, my friends, to have confidence.” St. John Chrysostom (4th-5th centuries, Doctor of the Church)

“The love of worldly possessions is a sort of birdlime, which entangles the soul and prevents it flying to God.” St. Augustine of Hippo (4th-5th centuries, Doctor of the Church)

“Three things that please God most are true faith in God with a simple heart, a simple life with a grateful spirit, and generosity inspired by charity.  The three things that most displease God are a mouth that hates people, a heart harboring resentments, and confidence in wealth.” St. Ita (5th-6th centuries)

“If we had possessions we should need arms for their defense.  They are the source of quarrels and lawsuits, and are usually a great obstacle to the love of God and one’s neighbor.  That is why we have no desire for temporal goods.” St. Francis of Assisi (12th-13th centuries)

“In temporal matters it is true that nothing is sufficient for one who is not satisfied with what is enough.” St. Francis de Sales (16th-17th centuries, Doctor of the Church)

“If you choose to remain in the world, use the things found there, enjoy them and take what you require, but, for the love of God, do not fix your affections on them or attach yourself to them so that you forget the heavenly and eternal goods for which you were created; for all things will pass away.” St. Francis de Sales 

“The excessive dedication to luxury and refinement is always an indication of the inner poverty of the spirit.  When the treasure is within, there is no need of those outer treasures that rust consumes, moths eat, and thieves break through and steal.  When the inner beauty is gone, we need luxuries to clothe our nakedness.” Ven. Fulton Sheen (19th-20th centuries)

“The joy of the heart is a fragile and delicate flower which can easily be damaged and destroyed by money, poisoned by celebrity, anesthetized by pleasure, but it can bloom to beauty in the noble-spirited, those in whom the only ideal and purpose is the most holy: God the Eternal.” Servant of God Stephen Kaszap (20th century)

“Use riches with generosity, appreciate them with discernment, and be strongly detached from them, because they do not belong to you.  God has merely entrusted them to you to share with the poor.” Ven. Francis Xavier Nguyen Van Thuan (20th-21st centuries)