Poverty

I'm taking a class called "Senior Religion Seminar." We are currently reading a book called Enduring Grace. In this book, each chapter studies one of seven female mystics. We haven't gotten through the whole book yet, but thus far there is a common theme. POVERTY. For example, St. Theresa of Avila is big on being poor in spirit. On another hand, St. Clare of Assisi is the epitome of real life poverty. (She was often too sick from fasting to walk). Although poverty is a central theme, it seems to mean something slightly different for each individual saint. So I think the challenge for me (and you) is to find what poverty means in our lives. In what area do we need to be poor in order to be closer to God? Is it to the extreme that St. Clare takes it? Or is something else, like poor in the amount of T.V. we watch? or the amount of time we spend on the computer? How can you and I bring poverty into our lives, so that we can also bring God further in?