SEARCHING FOR A RELEVANT UNDERSTANDING OF THE VOW OF POVERTY IN OUR TIME
A MATURE UNDERSTANDING NEEDED
As we begin our exploration into a contemporary understanding of the three vows of consecrated life, we are pressed to ask: Are the vows crucial to the spiritual life of contemporary religious? In her influential book, Fire In These Ashes, Joan Chittister offers a direct answer saying: “The answer may be a clear and firm, ‘Yes and no.’ No, if we use them as restrictions on life. Yes, if we see them as attitudes toward life.”
Many religious individuals have wrestled with the traditional vow of poverty, finding it challenging since they themselves are not materially poor and often live insulated from the harsh uncertainties of economic deprivation. The poor saying to us, “You take the vow of poverty and the rest of us live it,” poignantly reflects this reality.
Poverty is not merely an unfortunate condition to be managed but an evil to be eradicated. It’s time we reframe our language in our articulation of religious vows to align with the Biblical position: poverty is an evil to be got rid of at every level, not embraced or romanticized.
Br. Sunil Britto CFC
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