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12 August:

International Youth Day

The International Youth Day (IFD) is celebrated annually on August 12 since 2000. The objective of the world-wide event is to invite governments, NGOs and other organizations and institutions to empower the young people and engage them in social action and initiatives for achievement of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The UN proposes a theme for every IYD to focus on a particular issue that affects the world. The theme of the current year is Intergenerational Solidarity: Creating a World for All Ages. The UNO places before the world the challenges arising of ageism—the thinking, feeling and acting that arises on account of age.

Over 1.2 billion people in the world are youth. This is a colossal human resource that can be harnessed and employed to better the world—to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. I propose a three-fold strategy for maximum utilization of youth power in the world:

1. Empower and employ through quality education: Young people need to be prepared to contribute to the world through quality education and skill training. Unemployment is very high in the third world and in the developing countries owing to lack of quality education. Education is a powerful means of empowering the young to find a respectable place in society and make a significant contribution to it.
2. Liberate through holistic education: The current reality of the major portion of youth population is enslavement of erroneous ideologies, pornography, personal and social media abuse, alcohol and substance abuse, etc. We cannot think of harnessing the youth power unless they are set free from any form of slavery. Our social, religious and educational interventions have to focus on freeing the young mind, body and soul from any form of entrapment.
3. Translate youth power into social action: The 2016 UN report gives account of the 17 ways in which the young people all over the world are bringing about changes in the societies and nations. Given the opportunity and the right motivation, the young can be a strong force for social change. Obviously, they need to be prepared adequately and accompanied in their initiatives and actions.

21 August:

Senior Citizen’s Day

World Senior Citizen’s Day, observed on August 21, is meant to create awareness of the issues and concerns of the older adults, namely, health deterioration and abuse and to recognize, acknowledge and to express gratitude to the aging generation for their contribution to the society, nations and the world at large.

Three Basic Attitudes

Here are two foundational assumptions to help us change our attitude and behaviour towards the elderly:

Focus on a person’s true worth: In the world ruled by the principle of use and throw, we need to return to the foundational understanding of a human person.  He/she is beautiful and worthwhile beyond and above his/her economic contribution or usefulness. A person is worthy of love and acceptance and care just because he/she is a human being—an image of God. The world stands in need of this supernatural vision, particularly towards the sick and the elderly.

Awareness of mutual giftedness: In one of his books, Fr Henri Nouwen, world-famous author,  talks of a young man called Adam whom he looked after. Adam was born with severe multiple handicaps, both physical and mental. He was completely dependent on others for everything—gettng up,, brushing his teeth, bathing, eating, moving. In caring for him, Henri Nouwen became deeply aware that they were gifts to each other.  Both gave and received love from each other.  The most beautiful truth of life is that no matter who a person is, he/she is a gift. The world must take pains to discover the giftedness of the elderly. In turn, the elderly have to make effort to see the giftedness of the younger generation.

Gratitude: We owe so much to the elderly and to previous generations. Whatever we enjoy and use—medicines, clothes, modes of travel, buildings, food items—are not things we invented. We owe it all to previous generations and to the older persons in our midst. We owe more than we realize or admit to our parents, teachers, employees, doctors, nurses, who have do so much for us ever since our conception and birth. We cannot pay them adequately for this. The least we can do is to look after them lovingly and gratefully, learn from their wisdom (and their mistakes) and to try to improve on that, without denying the huge capital we have become of those who are older and those who have lived before us.

Fr Shilanand Kerketta SDB

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A famous writer—I do not remember his name—was interviewed towards the end of his life about his writings. He said, “I first wrote for academic journals, then found that very few people read those articles. Then I wrote for the general adult population; more people read it. Lastly, I wrote for children. Looking back, I wish I had written all my life for children.”

Some of the world’s greatest bestsellers are apparently stories for children. Think of Pinocchio or The Little Prince. Both seem to be children’s stories, but are hits with both adults and children. They contain much wisdom.

Robert Coles, psychiatrist and Harvard professor, is known as the academic who wrote most on the life of children. He did not simply read about children. He listened to them. He learnt much from their wisdom and goodness. You will find his touching account of Ruby’s courage and faith in this issue.

Alister Hardy’s well-known research on religious experience found many adults who wrote about the religious experiences they had had as children. They also found that it was hard to find adults who understood their experience.

Psychologists of religion tell us that living with good and loving adults is far more important and helpful for a child than being indoctrinated in religion. Makes sense, doesn’t it? (True of religious formation, too, as we saw in the July issue.)

This issue, apart from our regular and much-acclaimed columns—carries three cover stories: One on learning from children, another on reaching out to youth (since August 12 is World Youth Day) and the third on the beauty of the senior years (August 21 is Seniors’ Day).

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Talking of the wisdom of children, we know that children are curious, full of life, open to learning. There is a freshness, innocence and creativity about them which most adults lose. Many adults go through life half dead, functioning far below our God-given potential. Some of us get caught in the sad and destructive games of adult life—power games, jealousy, greed, hatred, violence, wars, man-made poverty and mass starvation. Is there no way out?

Yes, there is.

If we retain the freshness and creativity of children, we can do much, enjoy much, contribute much. How?

Three categories of people seem to keep the qualities that make children charming and full of potential: poets, mystics and scientists.

Scientists do not simply repeat what previous generations did. They approach problems with a child’s freshness of mind. Albert Einstein, first thought to be a slow learner, proved to be a matchless wizard of science. He said that he asked questions that a child would ask: Does light bend around an object? Does a train look smaller from far? In fact, once when a neighbour apologized to him since her six-year-old daughter was “disturbing” the great man with her homework, Einstein answered, “I have learnt more from your child than all that I have been able to teach her.” Another time, at Halloween (when children in the US wear masks and go around asking for gifts), when a group of small children came to his home, Einstein asked them to wait, went in, picked up his violin, and joined them as they went from house to house.

Mahatma Gandhi, considered by many to be the Man of the Millennium, had a childlike side—charm, directness, lack of malice. He used to write for while with a pencil a child had given him, since it was given with love by that little kid.

Thomas Aquinas, a towering intellectual who became the most quoted name in Catholic theology, who wrote for kings and popes, retained the simplicity of a child. The monk who heard his last confession as Aquinas lay dying, came out of the cell crying and saying, “The sins of a child of five!”

Wouldn’t it be great if more of us had the childlike transparency, creativity, charm and innocence of these brilliant men—together with their wisdom, responsibility and use of time and talent?

Fr Joe Mannath SDB

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Here are direct quotes from religious and priests I know well. Each one was speaking out of personal experience.

“I enjoy meeting, hosting and doing what I can to help my past formators. The reason: I have such happy memories of my formation years,” wrote Gerson, whom I taught during his philosophy studies, and who left during regency and is a married professional now.

“Because of what we have seen and lived in this seminary, when we go back to our diocese, we shall invite everyone for our celebrations, and not just those of our caste. Here, there was no distinction or discrimination on the basis of language or caste.” This was from a group of deacons from Andhra who were leaving Poonamallee (Chennai) Seminary after their studies.

“I was a better person under my mother’s care than after joining religious life,” said Geetha (name changed), then a provincial, now general of her order.

“In our seminary, we could tease the staff and have fun. We really lived as one family. In some other seminaries, if students pull the leg of the fathers, they will get into trouble.” (A young priest about his alma mater.)

1. What is a formation house?

An institution where young religious or seminarians are supposed to be helped to become what they will publicly profess later—adults who want to put Jesus Christ at the centre of their lives, serve the needy, help others to get closer to God.

It is not simply a hostel or a boarding.

Whether it be a religious formation house or a diocesan seminary, it is supposed to be staffed by inspiring persons who live out the theories they teach to the formees—God-centredness, simplicity of love, sincere love for all, prayerfulness, unity among themselves without groupism or power games.

Formees, after all, observe the formators minutely.

I was a formator for some twenty-one years. My students would know everything about me—how many shirts I have, with whom I mix, how I teach, how I respond to questions, whether I live a simple or luxurious life, how and when I pray, my ups and downs. Everything.

If, on living with me day and night and observing me minutely, they find me genuine and loving, they open up and trust me. Then we have a warm friendship that lasts for life. It is a joy for me to meet chaps I taught even fifty years ago, when I was doing regency in my early twenties. We enjoy meeting each other; we can share in depth, count on one another, have fun and share in depth—just like many years ago.

If, instead, a so-called formation house is fear-filled or artificial, where power games or divisions dominate, the young will learn to hide, play it safe, and wait to get out and breathe freely.

This is nothing hard to understand. We were all born in a family. If we felt loved and cared for, and saw our parents making sacrifices for us without making a fuss, and taught us by example what a good life means, we pick up so many good things at home. If, instead, a home is ruled by an abusive alcoholic father or a gossipy, partial mother who does not welcome anyone, we too will probably grow up narrow-mined, suspicious and cynical. Families do differ a lot. Marriage by itself does not make anyone good or bad, holy or selfish. We have all seen many types of families.

The same with religious communities, including formation houses. They come in all sizes, shapes and types—from extremely joyful, loving and inspiring to cynical, cruel and abusive. Just as a married couple enter a house and either make it a loving home, or turn it into a place of torment and shame, we can make a formation house a home of love where immature young men or women learn to become responsible, loving adults, or a depressive, fear-filled setting that the young are waiting to get away from.

Fr Joe Mannath SDB

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“Look to him and be radiant, so that your faces shall never be ashamed.” (Psalm 34:5). This was the theme chosen as the motto on my final profession day. It was December 8^th, 2021, the day I like to remember as a memorable one.

I lost my mother two years back. I felt her absence very much. Tears started to roll down. At that moment, I just said, “Jesus, I am feeling very sad. I just surrender to you as I am.” The very next moment, I could experience the presence of my mummy along with Jesus and Mother Mary very close to me. I experienced my sorrow turning into indescribable joy. Throughout that celebration, I was overwhelmed with joy and peace. This was an eye opener for me once again: The one whom I decided to follow never allows me to be ashamed or sorrowful.

Difficult Choice

For me, it was very difficult to choose my vocation—whether to become a religious or choose married life. I saw both of them as good for me. My home is a heaven on earth for me, where I experience the love of God. The way my parents and siblings lived in the family always remain in my heart as an inspiration and motivation.

I really liked religious life as well. I was just waiting to know the will of God for me. So, I completed my 10^th and 12^th, and went to Mangalore to do B. Sc Nursing. There I was acquainted with the Jesus Youth (JY) movement. After completing my studies, I went to Mysore as a JY mission nurse for one year. After that, I went to Mumbai to work as a staff nurse. All these years I was blessed with amazing experiences –loving gifts from a loving God. He was my Father who comforted me in all my troubles, and I was His little tiny creature, who knew only to cling to Him.

Finally, the time came for me to make a decision. I was twenty-four years old. At home marriage proposals were awaiting. Apart from that, many options were open, like M. Sc Nursing and job opportunities from abroad. In the meantime, I got a job in a multispecialty hospital at Calicut.

But my mind was not at peace. How to understand the will of God? Which way of life to choose? I was in confusion. I prayed for forty days. I did not get any answer. I went for a retreat. The struggle within my soul increased day by day. I felt that I was in boiling oil.

God’s OK to My Decision

One night, before going to bed, I said to Jesus, ‘Lord, if I choose something against your will, I prefer to die.’ Then I slept off. That night, I had a dream. ‘Two priestly hands broke the big consecrated Host (which usually priests consume) and dipped in the wine from a chalice and gave to me. I received.’ The next day, when I got up from the sleep, this dream was very fresh in my mind. I became aware that the agony and pain I was going through had vanished and my soul was flooded with peace. I felt very light and thought I might fly.

As the day went on, I realized there was no more confusion in my mind. One choice stood out: to embrace religious life. I got a chance to go for a counselling session. A lady counsellor prayed for me and told me, “You have taken a new decision. God is putting a tick mark on it.” This message was a confirmation for me. “The one who called me is faithful, I am going to be with Him.” This thought was resounding in my heart. It was also as an answer to all the questions that came up.

The whole summary of religious life was presented to me during my novitiate. In the first year, I felt it was an unexpected banquet prepared by God in order to quench the thirst of my soul. I had an unfathomable intimacy with the Lord. I become a drop of blood in the depths of His heart. It was enriched with deep spiritual experiences and moments of union with God.

Sr Bini Thomas SMMI

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Sr. Igora was a great formator, appreciated by everyone.  She was able to win the confidence of even difficult and troublesome formees and help them to change.  When I asked her what approach she followed in dealing with the formees, she said that she used the “Win/Win” approach.  She said that she had learned the “Win/Win” approach from a course she had attended on leadership. Although she could not recall much of what she had learned in that course, she said that the words “Win/Win” remained deeply etched in her mind.  She approached every person and every situation with this attitude “I must win, he/she must win.”

            Exploring the “Win/Win” approach, I came to realize that it is a strategy that is used in business dealings and negotiations to resolve conflicts, which could be adapted to community situations.  In essence, the Win/Win strategy consists in dealing with persons or situations in such a way that everyone benefits in one way or the other; there are no losers, only winners.

“In the long run, if it isn’t a win for both of us, we both lose. That’s why win-win is the only real alternative in interdependent realities.” (Stephen R. Covey)

            In his book, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, Stephen Covey presents a detailed description and analysis of the Win/Win strategy.  According to Covey, the approaches that people take in interacting with others can be brought under six broad categories, namely, Win/Win, Win/Lose, Lose/Win, Lose/Lose, Win, Win/Win or No Deal.

Let us look at each of these attitudes briefly.

1. Win/Win: People with a ‘Win/Win” attitude look for the benefit of all. They have a mindset which says: “I must win. He/she also must win.” They look for agreements or solutions that are mutually beneficial and satisfying. “Win/Win is based on the paradigm that there is plenty for everybody, that one person’s success is not achieved at the expense or exclusion of the success of others” (Covey, p. 207).
2. Win/Lose: In this approach, a person tries to win by making the other lose. The attitude underlying this position is that for me to win, you have to lose. I get my way by ensuring that you don’t get yours. This is the attitude or frame of mind (paradigm) with which many of us have grown up.  In families where we are constantly compared with others, in schools where we are graded, in sports where winning is by defeating the other, we learn this attitude.  This is the attitude of the world of competition.  But the fact is that most of our life is not competition. We do not have to live each day competing with our spouse, our children, our colleagues, our community members. “Who’s winning in your marriage? is a ridiculous question.  If both people aren’t winning, both are losing” (Covey, p. 209).  If all the members of a community are not winning, the entire community stands to lose.

Our life is interdependent, not independent.  Most of the things we want in life can be achieved only through cooperation, not competition.  If you want to become a good singer, for example, you have to cooperate with your music master, with the employees who maintain the place where you practice, with the doctor who sees to your health, etc.  The Win/Lose attitude discourages cooperation and so, is dysfunctional.

Fr  Jose Kuttianimattathil SDB

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“For the Lord your God is gracious and compassionate. He will not turn His face from you, if you return to Him” (2Corinthians 30:9b)

I had a very bitter childhood. The arguments and fights at home between my parents were so intense that all the frustration was poured out on me and my brother. I had many times questioned God saying, “Why was I born in this family?”

On the other hand, my mom was truly an inspiration for me in knowing and loving Jesus. No matter what the state was at home, we always prayed the family rosary, which has miraculously kept me and my family united in the Lord. Yet there were constant fights and peaceless situations at home.

In studies, I wasn’t as smart as my brother and was compared with him often by my family members. This developed a strong ‘good for nothing’ feeling in me. I I felt rejected and unloved, faced many humiliations wherever I went. I couldn’t even do my best in my board exams.

When I got exposed to certain unholy videos during my junior college days, I began to find pleasure and satisfy my emotional needs with them involving myself in self-abuse, which later became a kind of addiction for me. I got into things that were destroying my soul, my behavior at home began to get worse. I was more aggressive, disrespectful and almost hated life itself. With all these negative emotions welling up in me, my heart was searching for Love. Observing my intolerable behavior at home, my mom forced me to attend a retreat at Tabor Ashram in Mumbai. In the first retreat, God touched my conscience and opened my eyes to see the filth I was in.

I also received the gift of forgiveness towards my parents. This happened when the Word of God was broken to me. Reconciling with my parents, I began a new life in Christ, a purposeful one. Yet it was hard for me to give up on the addictions I was into. I was fearful and ashamed to even confess that grave sin at holy confession. Yet God was patient with me. (2 Peter 3:9)

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The touching story of Archie Williams, condemned to life imprisonment without parole for a crime he did not commit, and spent thirty-seven years in jail—and yet did not become bitter or desperate.

“When somebody inflicts evil on you, it’s all about how we let it affect us mentally. If you harbour evil, it can destroy you. That’s a scientific fact, right there. I never harboured evil — even when I knew that the people that put me in prison knew that I was innocent. And I’m talking about from the top to the bottom; they knew. But I never allowed the evil spirit of it to live in my heart. I always say life is how we feel it. My dream is to pursue a career as a boxing coach and singer.” These are the inspiring words of Archie Williams, an innocent African American who was imprisoned for thirty-seven years for a crime he did not commit.

Archie Williams hails from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, United States. On 9 December 1982, a thirty-year-old woman was raped and stabbed in her Baton Rouge home in Louisiana by an unknown black male. On the 4 January 1983, twenty-two-year-old Archie Williams was arrested as the culprit, a crime he knew nothing about. He knew he was innocent, but, as a poor black kid, he didn’t have the financial or political clout to fight the state of Louisiana.

During his trial, it was discovered that fingerprints found at the crime scene were not his own. Williams also had three witnesses that came forward to testify that Williams was at home sleeping when the crime occurred. The victim herself wasn’t able to identify Williams as the culprit. The victim’s neighbour also said the culprit was taller than Williams. But the court succumbed after intense pressure by the police. Even with evidence showing that Williams was innocent, the state of Louisiana convicted Williams of the crime on April 21, 1983. He was sentenced to life imprisonment without a possibility of parole to a prison called “Angola,” known as the most violent and crime-ridden prison in the United States.

Days turned into weeks, weeks into months, months into years and years into decades—with no help in sight. In prison, Williams watched the TV show “America’s Got Talent” all the time. He would visualize himself being there. He was twenty-two when he was jailed. He never gave up. What sustained him over the three decades of his wrongful imprisonment was his family, first and foremost, and also singing and boxing.  While at Angola, he coached the best boxing team in the prison’s history, winning numerous Louisiana state titles.  He also comes from a family of singers. When he felt knocked down in prison, he would pray and sing to the Lord and that was how he found peace in prison. He led music ministrations in the prison church singing and praising God. There is a documentary of Williams, “A Decade behind Bars: Return to the Farm.”

God Experience in Dark Cells

“I don’t know that it can be explained, but all it’s all about faith in God,” Williams says, when asked how he kept going through the fear and darkness of his time in a notorious prison. “My faith has always been with God, all my life,” he adds. “I have faith that God will guide me through whatever storm. I just trust.” As the Bible says, “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze” (Isaiah 43). This was a lived experience for Williams. He never allowed the evil spirit of being angry and bitter at his conviction live in his heart.

Sr Lini Sheeja MSC

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Religious and priestly formation process until very recently gave little attention to the mental and emotional health of their candidates. The focus was on helping one become a good priest or religious with great emphasis on the religious and spiritual dimensions of life. The result was that many religious and priests remained emotionally immature, compromising their inter-personal and ministerial functioning. There is some research evidence to support the above statement.

Relevant Studies

A 1991 study by Lourdes, Patel and Paranjpe that compared the personality traits of 300 clergy (priests, sisters and seminarians) and 300 lay persons found that clergy on the whole were far less mature psychologically than lay persons. Of the eleven positive traits measured, lay persons scored more positively on nine. Of the eight negative traits, clergy faired worse on seven. “More clergy than lay persons were also characterized as having excessive nervousness, bad temper, exhibitionism, excessive conservatism and jealousy, and being easily led away…” (p. 131)

The studies on vocation and formation undertaken by Paul Parathazham and colleagues at Jnana Deepa, Pune, highlight serious gaps and flaws in our current formation practice. In one study (2006a) which investigated how seminarians and religious sisters assessed the effectiveness of their formation, most participants rated their peers in the society outside as better than themselves on all eight criteria of psychological and emotional maturity measured. As many as 36% of them felt that the formation they received, overall, was not worth the time and energy invested in it. Another study (2006b) which sought to elicit the views of formation personnel on issues and challenges in the formation of priests and religious in India concluded:

Human formation, which is the foundation of priestly formation, is arguably the most neglected aspect of formation in India. We seem to be concentrating all our efforts on building a spiritual “superstructure” without the human “base structure,” thus rendering the entire enterprise tenuous and futile. Every other aspect of formation, be it intellectual, spiritual, or pastoral, is institutionalized in seminaries with a specific programme, designated personnel, and prescribed activities or exercises. But for human formation there is no such programme in place. It is largely taken for granted!! (p. 7)

Recent Church documents stress the importance of human formation. In 2008, the Sacred Congregation for Catholic Education promulgated a document entitled, Guidelines for the Use of Psychology in the Admission and Formation of Candidates for the Priesthood. This document highlighted the need for a formation programme that fosters a solid psychological and affective maturity in the candidates to the priesthood.

Many of the views expressed in this document are not really new. More than fifty years ago, Vatican II (in the document, Perfectae Caritatis) had declared that only those should be accepted into religious and priestly life who “have the needed degree of psychological and emotional maturity” (1966, #12) and, more specifically, demonstrate a capacity “to develop a due degree of human maturity, attested to chiefly by a certain emotional stability, by an ability to make considered decisions and by a right manner of passing judgment on events and people” (Optatam Totius, 1966, #11). John Paul II’s Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Pastores Dabo Vobis (1992) had also stated emphatically that human dimension is the foundation of all formation and listed a series of human virtues and relational abilities needed in the priest.

FR JOSE PARAPPULLY SDB

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It is really a shame and sad that in our advanced technological era we are still killing each other simply because the other is poor and cannot defend himself or herself, or belongs to a different religion or simply because his or her skin is of a darker shade. The following are the stories of three young men who were killed because they were just different. I need not comment more. Let them speak for themselves . . .

Mohammed Bouazizi (Born 29 March 1984, Tunisia – Died 4 January 2011, Tunisia)

Cause of Death: Burns from Self-Immolation

He was known by his friends and family as “Basbousa.” His father was a construction worker who had died when Mohammed Bouazizi was three. His mother later married his uncle.  The only education he had was the little he could get in a one-room school in his small village. One of his ambitions was to graduate at least from high school, but due to ill health of his uncle, who was unable to work regularly, Bouazizi had to work various jobs from a young age. It was then that he became a street vendor. He managed to earn enough money to be able to support his family, even paying for a younger sister’s university tuition.

It was on the morning of 17 December 2010 around 8.00 a.m. that Bouazizi started his day selling vegetables from a small cart. (The day before he had contracted a debt of approximately 200 dollars in order to buy the produce to sell the following day). But just after 10.30 a.m. the police started harassing him because he did not have a vendor’s license. This was not the first time. Some people even said that in that part of Tunisia no permit was needed to sell from a cart. Bouazizi came from a poor family, and so he could not afford to bribe the police officials. His family claimed that he was publicly humiliated when a forty-five year old female municipal officer slapped him in the face, spat at him, confiscated his electronic weighing scales and threw away all his produce. When an angry and hurt Bouazizi went to the governor’s office to complain, and was not allowed in, he got a can of gasoline, and, standing in the middle of the traffic, he soaked himself with the fuel and set himself pm fire. People immediately panicked and tried to pour water on him. But he had already suffered burns on over 90% of his body. He was taken to the hospital. While in the hospital, he was visited by the then President of Tunisia, who,  according to Bouazizi’s mother, promised to send him to France for treatment, but no such transfer ever occurred. Bouazizi died some three weeks later.

Within hours of Bouazizi’s self-immolation, protests erupted in his hometown, but soon became widespread. The anger and violence became so intense that the President and his family had to flee Tunisia and seek refuge in another country. Such protests around the Middle East and North Africa became known as the Arab Spring. Young people were tired of the autocratic politics of their respective countries.

Bro Carmel Duca MC

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The practice of the vow of poverty is not an external imposition.  It is a free choice made by each individual when we joined our religious Congregation and re-affirmed when we made our final profession. It is a choice we made in our eagerness to follow Christ the poor, “Christ who emptied himself (kenosis) for my sake.” It is a way of life we have chosen in order to imitate Him whom we want to follow as closely as possible.  It is part of our religious life, affecting our personal lives and community life, as well as our apostolic works. Poverty, synonymous with   humility, is the mother of all virtues and it has been dear to so many saints. For example, St Ignatius of Loyola says that poverty must be loved as a mother.  He also sees poverty as the bulwark that defends us from all dangers to our religious life.  The same images have been used by Pope Francis too in the context of our religious vocation, which must be protected from the onslaught of the worldly attractions we are exposed to in our day-to-day life.  In this context, here are some thoughts for our proper understanding of and reflection on the practice of poverty.

Religious Poverty: Meaning and Implications

1. Practice of poverty is to generously and willingly give up what I like to have for the sake of Christ and his Kingdom/mission. It is the total giving up (emptying) of oneself for the sake of others.
2. It is to deny oneself. It is to live in solidarity with Him and His people. It is to identify oneself with the poor around us (spirit of self-emptying and incarnation).
3. It is to be authentic followers/imitators of Christ the poor. It is to be content with the minimum, as Christ did. It is to preach Christ the poor through our way of life (evangelical poverty).
4. It is to compare oneself with those who have less than what I have and not with those who have more than what I have. This is done with the desire to imitate him as closely as possible.
5. It is to like what Christ likes and to do what He likes to do. It is to see everything from His perspective.
6. It is to walk with the poor and see everything from the perspective of the poor.
7. It is a way of life.
8. It is to actually feel the pinch of lacking something needed or one would like to have in life.
9. It is to be sensitive to the needs of others rather than of oneself. It is to be sensitive to the consequences of poverty of the poor around us.
10. It is to do with personal integrity and credibility (walk the talk).
11. It is to be free from all inordinate attachments which prevent us from making ourselves available for others and His Kingdom.
12. It is to treat everything not as owners, but as responsible stewards of all the goods and resources at our disposal.
13. It is to realize that all assets are meant for the mission and that we use them as responsible stewards and not as care-free owners. It is to be accountable to the religious society, to the people and to the Lord.
14. It is an on-going discernment on the use of all things and resources at our disposal.
15. It is a human attempt, by the grace of God, to be like Christ.

Fr Alex G., SJ

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