Amma Syncletica beckons us into true freedom that does not rely on external things for inner happiness and peace.
The early ascetics valued simplicity, modesty, and acceptance of their physical situations. They sought balance in their daily lives, aware that they were on a long journey.
Blessed Syncletica was asked if poverty is a perfect good. She said, “For those who are capable of it, it is a perfect good. Those who can sustain it receive suffering in the body but rest in the soul, for just as one washes coarse clothes by trampling them underfoot and turning them about in all directions, even so the strong soul becomes much more stable thanks to voluntary poverty.”
This is an example of trusting fully on God to give you from the earth with all you need to sustain life.