Thursday, January 17, 2008

Meditation for January 18, The Vow of Poverty

Here is a very apt remark:
"The vice that contributes most to laxity in a religious community is the violation of the vow of poverty....Failures against obedience and chastity are personal, and, with some exceptions, more hidden; failures against poverty destroy every economy of the religious state."
They are in general more visible, and defy the very Rule which is the rampart of the religious life.

I must, consequently, give all my attention to the observance of poverty; submit to the common rule, to the adopted customs. I must not seek finer things than those provided for everyone else; accept nothing from outsiders, except with permission, and then give it to the superiors to dispose of as they see fit.

I will gratefully accept objects that are less good, already used, less modern and less convenient; I will not think it strange that others, for reasons that I do not know, are better provided for than I, and except by the express permission of my superiors given for legitimate reasons, I will not permit myself to be better provided for than others.

Poverty encompasses religious life with a sacred barrier. To raise a hand against it is a kind of sacrilege. We do not see Mary and Joseph installing an expensive chandelier or any precious object in the stable at Bethlehem, or wearing costly garments near the crib of the Little Jesus. It would be just as gross an anomaly to
play the rich lady in my life of poverty. I must live poor in my poor life.

"I will be vigilant during the day, O my Jesus, to see if You are asking a sacrifice of me in the objects given for my use; I do not wish to be content with resolutions made in the chapel, but without being perturbed or meticulous I desire to practice the actual poverty of my state in all its rigor."
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Adapted from Meditations for Religious
by Father Raoul Plus, S.J. (© 1939, Frederick Pustet Co.)

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