Let me be thy herald to the poor, Ahura Mazda

We live in the midst of the anomalies of life, with riotous riches on the one hand and grinding poverty on the other. The noblest persons that have walked this earth have given their food to the hungry and the starving and have themselves gone without it. Pious souls vowed to live in willful poverty. Poverty is adorned when greatness is born from it.

My heart beats warm for the poor. I will impose privation upon myself to save something for the poor and the needy. What little I can give to the poor, I will give with the grace that would make my gift rich in humility and love. Never will I put indignities upon the poor.

Let my heart ever go out to the poor. Let me have a ready disposition to help them. Let me ever be ready to help those that are in need of my help. Let me feel for the poor. Let my thoughts be devoted to their welfare. Let my generosity to the poor know no bounds, when I happen to possess a superfluity. Let me help them in ever so small a degree. Let me think and work for the happiness of the poor, when I am in the midst of poverty myself. Let me always pity them and love them and bless them, even when I cannot help them. Let me feel the sorrows of the poor, as if they were mine and let me sympathize with them, as if their trials were my own concern.

Let me chase away poverty from my door by hard work and honest industry. Let me always eat my hard-earned bread. Let me fight my way from my poverty in life by strenuous work. Let me ever stand on my own feet to work for and win my independent means.

Wealth has wings. If I lose my wealth and am reduced to poverty after having known plenty, let me battle as best as I can with the hardships of poverty. The thought that I labor to preserve my self-independence, sweetens my toil.

The entire creation attests to thy bounty, O Bountiful Lord. Thy bounty feeds all that live. Thou dost put thy protecting hand on the heads of the poor and soothe their pangs by whispering words of kindliness into their cars. Poverty with thee is happier than affluence without thee, Ahura Mazda.

This page was last updated on Tuesday, August 01, 2000.