The Definition Of Poverty

The definition of poverty is broad in Mother Teresa’s terms. She defines “least of my brethren” as “the hungry and the lonely, not only for food but for the Word of God; the thirsty and the ignorant, not only for water but also for knowledge, peace, truth, justice, and love; the naked and the unloved, not only for clothes but also for human dignity; the unwanted, the unborn child; the racially discriminated against; the homeless and abandoned, not only for shelter made of bricks, but for a heart that understands, the covers, that loves; the sick, the dying destitutes, and the captives, not only in body but also in mind and spirit; all those who have lost all hope and faith in life, the alcoholics and drug addicts and all those who have lost God (for them God was but God is) and who have lost all hope in the power of the Spirit.

-- from Mother Teresa – A Simple Path