For a person to be able to 'fly' high, i.e. to reach ideals, especially of service to God, h needs to be dettached from anything that could distract him from his goal. St. Josemaria lived poverty, not meaning not having things, but in spite of having the required instruments, living free from them.
And he took care so that he could always keep that freedom by never 'possessing' things, never considering anything as 'his', never thinking of anything as 'essential'. If we have it, good, because we are able to do things better, if we don't have it, OK, we'll do without it.
His brother Santiago, knowing this, thought very hard of what to gift him. Once he gave him a walkie-talkie which he thought would be very useful. St. Josemaria received it with a lot of gratitude and enjoyed seeing how it worked, but as soon as he could, he gave it to somebody who needed it more (his daughters). Similarly, once he was gifted a table clock which he liked a lot. A few days afterwards he gave it to somebody else becauase he noticed he was grw
owing attached to the gift.
However, he was very generous, and lived justice to its maximum. Once, a worker who had saved for various months, so that his to-be-born child could be born at a nice clinic and would have a nice bed, lost all the savings when he got drunk in a bar and was robbed. St. Josemaria asked that the worker be given by the boss the full amount lost plus an extra bonus so that he could fulfill the dream for his child.
He had only two cassocks, one to see visitors and go visiting people, and an old one which he would wear at home. The old one was always very clean, but was very old (lasted 20 years) and had been fixed so many times that it had various shades of black.
When he died it took just 6 minutes for two people to put all his belongings in just one box.
He was always taking care of te material things of the house and teaching others to do so: not slamming doors, closing windows carefully, etc.
And he took care so that he could always keep that freedom by never 'possessing' things, never considering anything as 'his', never thinking of anything as 'essential'. If we have it, good, because we are able to do things better, if we don't have it, OK, we'll do without it.
His brother Santiago, knowing this, thought very hard of what to gift him. Once he gave him a walkie-talkie which he thought would be very useful. St. Josemaria received it with a lot of gratitude and enjoyed seeing how it worked, but as soon as he could, he gave it to somebody who needed it more (his daughters). Similarly, once he was gifted a table clock which he liked a lot. A few days afterwards he gave it to somebody else becauase he noticed he was grw
owing attached to the gift.
However, he was very generous, and lived justice to its maximum. Once, a worker who had saved for various months, so that his to-be-born child could be born at a nice clinic and would have a nice bed, lost all the savings when he got drunk in a bar and was robbed. St. Josemaria asked that the worker be given by the boss the full amount lost plus an extra bonus so that he could fulfill the dream for his child.
He had only two cassocks, one to see visitors and go visiting people, and an old one which he would wear at home. The old one was always very clean, but was very old (lasted 20 years) and had been fixed so many times that it had various shades of black.
When he died it took just 6 minutes for two people to put all his belongings in just one box.
He was always taking care of te material things of the house and teaching others to do so: not slamming doors, closing windows carefully, etc.
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