Elizabeth was taught by her confessor, Conrad of Marburg, to always follow the dictates of her conscience. She did this when she refused to eat the food from her husband's lands that was extorted unjustly from the poor.

She knew that the poor did not need only our compassion, but justice as well. This understanding of justice would later lead her, after her expulsion from her dower lands and castle, to refuse the sustenance her brother-in-law, now ruling Thuringia, would have offered her. She did this, her handmaid Irmingard said, because "she did not want to receive her nourishment by theft and by taxing the poor, as was so often the practice at the courts of princes."

Elizabeth also did everything she could to preserve the dignity of the poor people she came in contact with. Knowing that the poor often did not have shrouds, she would provide shrouds of the best linen and prepare them for burial with her own hands.

She understood that the right to work is one of the things most conducive to human dignity. When famine struck Thuringia in 1226, she made sure that all the poor were not just fed, but had the proper clothes and tools so that they could work and prepare for the new harvest.

At that time, the lives of mothers-to-be and their children were often threatened by poverty as they are today. Elizabeth provided for pregnant women, making sure that they had enough food, money and clothing to care for themselves and their children.

Spiritual reflection:

Elizabeth saw that each poor or sick or marginalized person she came across was a child of God, and a brother or sister of Christ. Because of this, each and every human life was precious to her; each of the poor, sick and handicapped was a person of unique dignity, including the unborn children. As St. James, said: " Did not God choose those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom that he promised to those who love him? But you have dishonored the poor person (James 2:4-5)." Today's culture of death desperately needs to learn this truth.

Recognition of human dignity requires us to act not just with charity and compassion for the unfortunate but preservation of their human rights and assuring justice for them, including the right to work. Elizabeth is also our example in this.