Asked last month by the editor of the Jesuit magazine, Jivan, about the relevance of religious vows today, I started my article by quoting a good laywoman I knew in Rome. She stayed single, and was known for her readiness to help anyone. She was active in her prayer group. She told me one day, “God loves me. God did not make a vow to love me. I want to live my life loving God and doing good. I do not see the need for making a vow to do this.” Isn’t she talking sense?
What is the purpose and meaning of this vow? (And of the other vows as well?)
Our cover story has a quick look at this.
In it, I quote Father Henri Nouwen’s words, “a rich celibate is like a fat sprinter—a contradiction in terms.”
Do you believe this? That you cannot be a rich celibate. You can be a rich spinster or bachelor, but not a rich celibate. For celibacy means you want to live as Jesus lived and taught. He did not insist on anyone being celibate; but he did speak about the cult of money. God versus mammon. This idolatry is a constant temptation for all of us.
As for the vow, the quotes under “Inspiration” has this thought-provoking saying by Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen, whose TV talks used to attract huge crowds: “There are about 200 million people in the world who would gladly take the vow of poverty if they could eat, dress and have a home like I do.” True, isn’t it? We, who make the vow of poverty, are certainly much better provided than a good section of humanity. This was particularly visible during the recent pandemic.
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Not only money, but power and control can hold persons and groups in a vicious grip. See what Pol Pot and his party did in Cambodia. They murdered some two million citizens out of a population of five million! And in very cruel ways. They brain-washed young Cambodians into becoming ruthless executioners of their fellow citizens. The cruelty was diabolic. They would kill babies and children by smashing them against trees. They killed grownups with atrocious ferocity. When a heartless ideology grips a person or group, there is no limit to the evil that human beings can do. Sadly, it seems easier to motivate people to hatred than to love. This happened in Cambodia. It happened in Sri Lanka, which is now facing the consequences—drastic shortage of essentials, including food and fuel. Why don’t we, human beings, learn from history to avoid ideologies of hatred? Mutual love and respect are not just nice words; they are the only way for human beings to survive.
Since we all learn much better from people than from theories, our articles present real life heroes—in medical work, in religious life and ministry, in settings of intense suffering. Read and see.
When we, members of religious orders, look at our vows, it will be good to remember some basics: Just as we did not learn to take bath or brush our teeth after joining religious life, the basics of life are learnt elsewhere. The long and somewhat artificial setting of a celibate “vowed” same gender community is meant to help us reach what all humans are called to reach—to become good, compassionate, just, caring persons. This is what Jesus showed in his deeds; this is what he asked us to be. He did not, in this sense, teach something new or something hard to understand. His parables are real life stories which anyone can understand and respond to. If there is something new, it is the depth and intensity of love. We are asked to imitated God’s own way of loving. And to see and treat everyone as God’s precious son or daughter.
If our vows and complicated practices and our long, expensive formation help us to become good human beings, it serves a purpose. If not, what a huge, organized waste of time and money! What a counter-witness! A small reminder from the Synod papers will also help: The highest dignity is that of Baptism (not religious profession, ordination, etc.).
May this vow—and the other two—free my heart to love more deeply and more extensively. May it heal and free me of the greed for power, pleasure and possessions, which fuels hatred, leading to wars, persecution and robbing of the poor.
Fr Joe Mannath SDB
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