I still remember what Théon used to say (Théon was quite against philanthropy), he said, "Philanthropy perpetuates human misery, because without human misery it would lose its raison d'être!" And you know, that great philanthropist ... what was his name? In the time of Mazarin, the one who founded the "Little Sisters of Charity"? Vincent de Paul.That's it. Mazarin once told him, "There have never been so many poor as since you started looking after them!"[[Someone had written to Mother, "I want my money to be used exclusively to conquer the causes of our sufferings and misery." Mother had replied, "That is what we are working towards here, but not in the artificial way of the philanthropists, who only deal with the outward effects. We want to eliminate forever the CAUSE of suffering, by divinizing matter through the integral transformation." ]] (Mother laughs) page 104 , Mother's Agenda , volume 9 , 10th Apr - 1968 |