In order to enrich us with true riches, Jesus Christ chose to be a poor man, as the Apostle writes, ‘For your sakes He became poor, that by His poverty ye might become rich.’ He chose to be poor in order to teach us by his example to despise earthly blessings; and thus to enrich us with heavenly blessings, which are infinitely more precious, and which last forever. Wherefore he declared that whoever did not renounce every species of attachment to this earth could not be his true disciple.
— Saint Alphonsus Liguori (1696-1787)