Reflections of the Vow of Poverty
The relevance of the Vow of Poverty in the 21st century
Jesus, the Son of God, practiced voluntary poverty. He chose to be born in a stable without any of the accoutrements of a middle class life style.
“The great mystery of the Incarnation, which meant that God became man that man might become God, was a joy that made us want to kiss the earth in worship, because His feet once trod that same earth. It was a mystery that we as Catholics accepted, but there were also the facts of Christ’s life, that He was born in a stable, that He did not come to be a temporal King, that He worked with His hands, spent the first years of His life in exile, and the rest of His early manhood in a crude carpenter shop in Nazareth. He trod the roads in His public life and the first men He called were fishermen, small owners of boats and nets. He was familiar with the migrant worker and the proletariat, and some of His parables dealt with them. He spoke of the living wage, not equal pay for equal work, in the parable of those who came at the first and the eleventh hour.
He died between two thieves because He would not be made an earthly King. He lived in an occupied country for thirty years without starting an underground movement or trying to get out from under a foreign power. His teaching transcended all the wisdom of the scribes and pharisees, and taught us the most effective means of living in this world while preparing for the next. And He directed His sublime words to the poorest of the poor, to the people who thronged the towns and followed after John the Baptist, who hung around, sick and poverty-stricken at the doors of rich men.” (The Long Loneliness, pp. 204-205).
Poverty and Vocation
Contemplating the vow of poverty, and in fact all the Evangelical Councils which are, in my opinion, intrinsically linked, is the sense of vocation, a sense of calling by God for a specific role in the Church, the Mystical Body of Christ. Every religious knows that they are called and challenged to respond to the Beatitudes in our lives: Blessed are the poor.
Every Passionist, and all religious for that matter, who I have encountered for any length of time was challenged with the personal calling by God to be a follower of Jesus, spiritually and physically.
More to the vow of Poverty than Giving
The vow of poverty not only enriches the poor, it also enriches and empowers the religious in their life of poverty.
The vow of poverty does more. It gives us a new perspective, a new motivation, a whole new way of looking at poverty and justice. It helps us overcome the myopic approach that sees everything through the lens of consumerism and materialism. Indeed, it is a new way of providing human service.
The vow of poverty is liberating. You might say it is “liberation theology”, in the sense that it adopts as a lifestyle the fundamental option for the poor thus freeing the religious from inhibitions or other restraints.
The vow of poverty consists not only in simply living simply, nor does it only consist in sharing the struggle of the poor, but is a step toward freedom, allowing persons to use their skills as a gift to society, while at the same time having sufficient resources to survive destitution.
In responding to the challenges of society, of poverty, poor wages, horrible living conditions, it is almost worth becoming sad and despondent at the helplessness of society to facilitate social change.
It is the vow of poverty that brings together charity and justice. It is by living poorly (in our communal means) with the poor that we can change social structures and develop new ones.
But the whole tradition of the Church from the earliest times has understood that it is only in the light of the Sermon on the Mount, of the Beatitudes, of the love of God and neighbour, that social justice can be sought and authentically found.
The vow of poverty brings a whole new vision, dimension and identification with the poor that is missing in the statements of those promoting justice, not charity.
Voluntary poverty is that existential leap that frees us to be present to those who need justice implemented.
We don’t need a separation of charity and justice, what we need is a wedding of charity and justice through the vow of poverty.