The words of Jesus, “For wherever your treasure is, there will your heart be also” (Matthew 6: 21) are echoed by Eugene. Prompted by the criticism of some of the pastors of Aix that all that he was searching for was honours in the Church, he continues to speak about the choices of his life:
When one prefers eternity to temporality,
poverty to riches,
work to repose,
when one is more concerned with the sanctification of a soul than with all the kingdoms of the earth,
one returns with joy to a community where reigns peace, union and all sorts of virtues
and one does not pine for the princely house, canonries, grand vicariates, etc., and one cares so little for all these things that one refuses them as I insist I have done, without effort, without regret; on the contrary, with joy and satisfaction…
Letter to Henri Tempier, 24 November 1817, O.W. VI n.30.
From Asia the saying of Lao-tzu sums this up for me: “He who knows he has enough is rich.”