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Instruction on the Vows of
Stability, Poverty Chastity and Obedience
in the Congregation of the Mission
CHAPTER 4 - POVERTY: SOLIDARITY WITH THE POOR
"Christ himself, the Lord of all , lived in poverty to such
an extent that he had no place to lay his head. He formed his apostles
and his disciples, his co-workers in his mission, to live in the same
sort of way so that individually they did not own anything.” (CR
III:1)
I. INTRODUCTION
The term, poverty, is
not understood in the same way by theologians, sociologists or by those
who study the evangelical counsels. Socio-economic realities, different
from continent to continent, color the meaning of poverty in each country.
Nonetheless, while recognizing legitimate differences in the understanding
and practice of poverty, a certain core of meaning remains. As with
the other evangelical counsels, Vincentian poverty takes its
meaning in reference to the mission, so that the poverty of the Congregation
of the Mission is one that imitates Christ, the evangelizer of the poor,
and is inspired by and oriented to the mission. This basic criterion is
the touchstone by which the missionary (personal poverty) and the
Congregation (communal poverty) uncover an authentic
Vincentian way when confronted with the different understandings and practices
of evangelical poverty.
II. PRESENT REALITY
Material poverty
is the unchosen condition of most of the human race. The daily reality
for large sectors of the population in every country is the struggle to
obtain the basic necessities of life. Illiteracy, unemployment, hunger
and illness continue to exist despite all of the recent technological
advances. The suffering of millions is not an occasional occurrence caused
by isolated individuals. Societies and economies have institutionalized
oppression, covertly or patently. In the words of Paul VI, "There
are certainly situations whose injustice cries out to heaven."
(Populorum Progresio., 30) For the poor, poverty is an evil
to be escaped.
While impoverishment
marks the lives of many, abundance exists for a few. Society holds out
the constant invitation to have more and use more. The accumulation and
consumption of goods is at times converted into an absolute value without
reference to other human values and needs. The use of wealth takes on
a purely private character, admitting no social responsibility.
The two extremes of wealth
and poverty create a tension for the members of the Congregation. The
misery of so many of our brothers and sisters can create a longing
to live a form of poverty we can never hope to achieve. While the
poor experience true poverty, our houses and works distance our lives
from theirs. For some members of the community this situation plagues
their conscience. For others it breeds indifference to the question
of lifestyle.
The media constantly
encourage us conform to the values of the mainstream. Living comfortably
is an attractive possibility which easily becomes an end in itself. The
ideology of exaggerated economic independence, which St. Vincent sought
to avoid, is not unknown in the Congregation.
III. THE VOW OF POVERTY
The Vincentian vow of
poverty can be only understood in the light of a decision
to follow Jesus the evangelizer of the poor. Underlying any discussion
of the vow is the fundamental option to hand over one's life for the sake
of the kingdom. Otherwise, the concrete formula of the vow,
which describes the juridical minimum that we must do, tends
to overshadow the radical consecration for mission. Doing the least
bit possible in order to stay within the bounds of the vow is a questionable
motive for living one's self-gift even if it is a legally acceptable.
Historically St. Vincent
faced the problem of creating a community of goods, available for
mission, without making his community “ religious”. The juridical
problem of not being identified with religious life and the practical
problem of not dividing the community along economic lines was resolved
in the formulation of the vow, explained in the fundamental statute.
The traditional formulation
of the vow simply states: "By reason of our vow we need to have the
consent of the superior according to the Constitutions and Statutes when
we use or dispose of goods."(C 34) Dependence on the superior
is the Congregation's visible form of practicing poverty. The true sense
of the permission, besides being a help for the superior in the animation
and good order of common life, offers the missionary a means for discernment.
"But since his (the superior's) consent is scarcely enough to promote
the spirit of poverty, each member must weigh what is more suitable and
conformable to our life and ministry, according to the spirit of our founder
as expressed in the Common Rules." (C 34). The needs of the poor,
personal and community commitments, pastoral responsibilities, the Vincentian
tradition and the fundamental statute on poverty are some criteria,
among others, which guide the process of making decisions about poverty.
IV. THE VIRTUE OF POVERTY
Vincentian poverty presupposes
patterning one's life on the example of the poor Christ, who evangelized
the most abandoned. For St. Vincent, missionary poverty was the fruit
of contemplating Jesus, "who made himself poor though he was rich,
so that you might become rich by his poverty,"(2 Cor 8:9b).
By practicing poverty, the members of the Congregation "will show
that they depend totally on God and their evangelization of the poor will
be more effective." (C 31).
St. Vincent, following
a long Church tradition, distinguishes between interior and exterior
poverty. Both poverty as a way of being and poverty as a way of
having are necessary. Without an exterior manifestation spiritual
poverty is not credible. Without spiritual motivation
material poverty may often be evil. "To renounce the goods
of this world exteriorly and to maintain the desire to have them is
to do nothing, it is a joke and it is keeping the better part."
(XI, 247).
The free decision to
accept the kingdom of God relativizes all other values. St. Vincent
underlines a fundamental motivation for voluntary poverty when he
reminds us that "it is a renunciation, surrender, an abandonment."
(XI, 246). The goal of poverty, its interior core, is to follow Jesus
freely and to participate in his mission to evangelize the poor.
All customs, rules and practical decisions about Vincentian poverty flow
from that . The vow not only commits us to the juridical minimum of
asking permissions; it also challenges us to find ways of using our
goods to persue our missionary vocation.
The Vincentian mission
places us in the world of the poor. Solidarity with our brothers and sisters
calls us to a simple lifestyle(C 33). When he wrote: "No one should
go in for useless and exotic things. Each one, too, should keep his needs
within moderate limits and curb his hankering after such things, so that
his lifestyle as regards food, room and bedding is that of a poor
person," (CR III,7 , Vincent reminded us that an intimate connection
exists between our lifestyle and our ministry. The willingness
to abandon material comfort and security, at least in some measure, makes
the service of the poor possible and credible. That is why St. Vincent
called poverty the rampart of the Congregation(CR III,1). On one
level a simple lifestyle manifests to the marginalized our desire stand
with them in solidarity. On another level it questions a society that
marginalizes and abandons the poor.
Vincentian poverty fosters
a community of service. The communal dimension of our vocation goes beyond
simply placing material goods in common. Rather, our common goods exist
to promote fraternal union, so that each member's needs are met, mutual
assistance is a concrete reality and economic inequalities and divisions
disappear.(C 32 & 35) We share our goods so that we will be
united in the service of the poor.
Our communal apostolic
goals demand that the Congregation of the Mission have and use material
goods for the evangelization of the poor. In this context
poverty involves the wise administration of goods. Recognizing
that we live "on the patrimony of Jesus Christ, from the sweat of
the poor"(XI, 201), the Congregation tries to use its goods generously
for their sake (C 33). At the same time, all of the members are
responsible for maintaining and caring for the goods entrusted to them.
Our proximity to the
poor asks us to assume, as much as possible, something of their condition.
" We should always think when going to the refectory: “ Have
I earned the food I am about to eat."(XI, 201) Just as the
poor must labor in order to make a living, "missionaries are bound
by the universal law of work in accord with the end of the Congregation
and the community plan" (C 32:1)
V. FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE ON POVERTY
Early in the history
of the Little Company, St. Vincent thiught about formulating guidelines
on poverty. Prudence suggested the advisability of distinguishing
between a confrere's personal goods and those of the community. Experience
indicated the need to clarify the nature of Vincentian poverty in legal
terms. After several attempts, Vincent obtained the
brief "Alias Nos" from Pope Alexander VII in 1659. This
statute is still normative, according to our Constitutions. (C 35)
Given the fact that members
of the Congregation can own property, St. Vincent's concern was to avoid
economic divisions in the community and to promote freedom for service.
The fundamental statute aimed to do this. The General Assembly of
1980, acknowledging the changes in the economy which have taken place
since the Seventeenth Century, gave an interpretation of this statute.
This interpretation does not change the statute; rather it makes its obligations
explicit.
The fundamental
statute mentions immovable goods. This concept comes from
an era when land, real property, was the chief source of income. The term
immovable goods literally means "possessions that cannot be moved"
(i.e.:a building or a field) or things that are physically mobile but
considered to be immovable by the law (i.e.: a door or a window). Movable
goods are personal property which can be moved: (furniture, books,
money, etc).
The fundamental
statute is concerned with property which is income-producing. It states
that missionaries maintain ownership of immovable goods.
However, they do not have free use of these goods and need the
superior's permission to employ them. "Alias Nos" did
not mention movable goods. But the Seventeenth Century did not foresee
such things as bank accounts, stocks and bonds or money markets as sources
of wealth. For that reason the General Assembly of 1980, in its explanation
of the statute, considers some movable goods as sources of income
or as the equivalent of immovable goods. In other words, the Assembly
interprets the statute today to mean this: confreres maintain ownership
of income-producing property, movable or immovable, but need the superior's
permission to use them.
The members of
the Congregation of the Mission do not need permission to maintain their
personal property (repairs,etc.) and may dispose of it as they wish in
a will or testament. However, according to the statute, a missionary
may only employ the yield of this property (interest, rents, dividends)
for his personal use with the superior's permission. "This
is a permissive norm, not a positive recommendation" (Explanation,
A 4). In fact, St Vincent, commenting on the statute, affirmed: "The
use of these goods is not for the individual; he has no need of
them; the company provides for his needs" (XII, 383).
Members who possess personal
property are obliged to apply the yield or income in pious works (charity,
social benefit, etc) and, above all, for needy parents and relatives (Alias
Nos). The Constitutions add that our personal goods should also be used
for the other members "avoiding distinctions among us"
(C 35). These positive norms complement the negative norms of the
statute, by urging us not only to avoid amassing fortunes but encouraging
us to use our goods for others.
The explanation
of the fundamental statute (B4f) recalls that our Constitutions
highlight the communal dimension of Vincentian poverty(C 32:2).
The fruits of one's labor (stipends, salaries, royalties) belong to the
Congregation. Moreover, benefits which come to a confrere after incorporation,
such as pensions, insurance or social security, become property of the
community. This is a consequence of our commitment to form a community
of goods and contribute to the well-being of theother members.
The fundamental statute
on poverty (Alias Nos) and the explanation of the 1980 General Assembly
offer practical directives for living poverty. But they
are not the only points of reference for living poverty (Explanation
B4). In order to understand the spirit and intention of the statute,
we should also take into account:
- our commitment to the evangelization of the poor;
-poverty of spirit(cf SV XII,377-386; CR III4, 7)
-community of goods(CR III, 3,4,5,6)
-conformity of our life to the life of the poor (cf CR III,7)
-the universal law of work (cf. SV XI, 210ff)
-that the fruits of our work belong to the Community
- that community of goods are to be considered the patrimony of
the poor; that we may not, either as individuals or as a community, keep
goods non-productive or not invested, with the result that they are not
of benefit to the poor.
V. LIVING POVERTY
Avoid accumulating goods.
The goal of our poverty is freedom
for mission. Vincent knew that attachment to material possessions
was a danger. "... then we could bid can say good-bye to
the works of the the Mission and the Mission itself"(XI,
79). A simple lifestyle is practical means to avoid the
temptation to spend our energies on building up our own fortune or in
maintaining a comfortable existence. We have to be willing to feel the
"Bite of poverty" even when other possibilities exist.
Using our goods for others.
Our vow permits us
to retain ownership of personal possessions. The practical realities
of our apostolic life demand that the community should have material
resources. Since we do not completely abandon material goods,
the practice of poverty is tied to the way we use what we have. The
great danger is that personal property and community assets get
channeled only into meeting our personal needs and wants. Generosity
with our goods,(also with our time and talents) fosters a spirit of
detachment and freedom.
Personal contact and sensitivity to the poor.
Although our mission
to the poor does not exist primarily for our own benefit, insertion
into the world of the poor holds out to us the possibility of transforming
our vision and our lives. The poor not only lack the superfluous
but often even the basic necessities of life. They are the victims
of institutionalized injustice, oppression and scandalous socio-economic
inequalities. Personal contact makes us sensitive to their sufferings,
hopes and desires. It enables us to learn from their example of
generosity in the midst of want and necessity. The poor can evangelize
us by transforming our charity from a private exercise in compassion
into solidarity lived out concretely.
Dependence on the Community.
According to the Constitutions
the "administrators should provide willingly for the needs
of the members in all matters which concern their life, their particular
office and apostolic work." (C 154:2) Dependence on the
community, lived in a mature fashion, stimulates a fraternal spirit
of concern and shared life. Dependence is also manifested in the
seeking of required permissions. This implies, concretely, that
each province indicate clearly the types of expenditures for which it
is neccessary to the permission of the superior. When, for example,
provinces provide a monthly allotment for confreres, there should be
clear norms regarding the amount and uses of such an allotment.
There should also be concrete norms regarding the neccessary permissions
for expenditures made with personal money, since such monies are to
be used in conformity with our Fundamental Statute on Poverty as explained
by the General Assembly of l984.
Support for Community.
Communal poverty is
not just a question of receiving from the community. A concern
for the well-being of the other members is the other side of the coin.
Stipends and other remunerations for apostolic work done in the name
of the community are not payment for personal projects. These
should be employed for the good of all the members as an expression
of our concern for and identity with the other members of the Congregation.
Frequent revision.
Following the poor
Christ as missionaries involves continual conversion. Because
"the practice of poverty is a condition for renewal and a sign
of progress in our vocation in the Church and the world" (S18),
a frequent revision of our personal and communal practice of poverty
is a means towards an on-going transformation. The meetings
for formulating the house plan and examining the budget are
two moments for reveiwing our use of material possessions in the light
of the Constitutions, provincial norms and the needs of the poor.
POVERTY: SOLIDARITY WITH THE POOR
- Some Texts That May Serve for Meditation -
"I shall have
the pictures and books you want sent to you, but I feel it my duty to
tell you, Father, that we are living at a time when no unnecessary expenses
should be incurred. Public misfortune surrounds us on every side.
It is to be feared that it may reach us also, and even if it should
not, we must be compassionate toward those who are enduring it.
Perhaps, once you have laid in your provisions and taken stock of all
domestic and related needs, you will be of the same mind about economizing
the meager fund you have found." (SV IV, 177-178)
2. "Everything that God does he does
for the better; so we have to hope that this loss will be good for us
since it comes from God. For the just everything works out well,
and we have the assurance that by accepting misfortunes as coming from
God they are turned into joys andblessings. So, Fathers and Brothers,
I ask you to thank God for the way this affair has turned out, for the
loss of this property, and for giving us the attitude of accepting this
loss for love of him. It is a big loss, but his adorable wisdom
knows well how to have it turn to our benefit, in ways which for the
present remain unknown to us but which you will see some day.
Yes, you will see that, and I hope that the admirable way in which you
have behaved in the face of such an unexpected misfortune as this will
serve as a foundation for the grace God will grant you in the future
of making the best use of all the afflictions which it will please him
to send you." (SV VII, 251-252)
3. "We would give great scandal if,
after such a formal judgement, we were to take legal proceedings to
overturn it. We would be accused of being too attached to possessions,
a standard anti-clerical accusation, and we would be wronging other
communities and causing our friends to be scandalized at us if we were
to make a big issue of it in the palace.
We have reason to hope,
Father, that if we seek the kingdom of God, as the gospel says, we will
not lack anything, and that if the world takes something from us on
the one hand God will give us something on the other, which we have
experienced since the upper court took this land from us; for God has
permitted that a lawyer from that same court who has just died should
bequeath us almost as much as that property was worth. "
(SV VII, 406)
4. "Poverty, then, is the voluntary
giving up of all worldly possessions for the love of God, doing so in
order to serve him better and to think about one's salvation; it is
a renouncing, a shedding, an abandoning, an abnegation. This renunciation
is both external and internal, not merely external. It is not
enough just to give up, openly, all one's possessions; this renunciation
must be internalized, it must stem from the heart. In addition
to the possessions one must get rid of attachment to them and affection
for them, becoming totally stripped of any liking for the perishable
things of this world. Openly giving up one's possessions while
at the same time retaining the wish to have them is meaningless, it
is a mockery and a holding back of what is most important. God
asks mainly for the heart, and t hat is the main thing." (SV XI,
246-247)
5. "If we have
possessions we do not have the use of them, and that is how we are like
Jesus Christ who, while having everything, had nothing; he was master
and lord of the entire world, he had made all the things which are in
it; for love of us, though, he chose to deprive himself of their use;
although he was lord of the whole world he became the poorest of men,
having even less than the least of the animals: 'The foxes have dens,
the birds of the sky have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay
his head' (Mt 8:20). 0 Savior, Savior, what will become of us if we
have a liking for earthly possessions? What will become of us,
in the wake of the poverty of the Son of God? Let those who have
possessions not wish to make use of them if they have given this up;
and let those who do not have any not want to have some!" (SV XI
224-225)
6. "So, Fathers,
there you have the two reasons which oblige us to keep the vow of holy
poverty:
because we have given our word on it to both the superior and God.
The third one that occurred to me is that without this vow it is impossible
to live tranquilly in a community like ours; not only is it impossible
to live there well, but even to stay there long is impossible.
So, Fathers, in the third place what I say is that it is extremely difficult,
even impossible, for someone whose head is filled with the wish to have
possessions to be able to carry out his duties among us and to live
according to the rules he has accepted, and follow the ordinary routine
of the Congregation. And how could a man who thinks of nothing
but his pleasure, of giving joy to his heart, of living the good life,
of spending his time in diversions (for that is what those who have
this insatiable desire for possessions really intend), how could such
a person do the work of the Mission properly? It is not possible...
0 Savior!
Is that being a missionary? He is a devil, not a missionary.
His mentality is that of the world. He is already in the world
in his heart and in his preferences, and only his carcass is in the
Mission. Looking for comfort, getting enjoyment, living it up,
getting noticed, that is the worldly mentality, that is what he wants,
that is his spirit. " (SV XI, 237, 240-241)
7. "I was wondering
recently if it were true that poverty is so beautiful, and what is the
beauty of such a virtue that St. Francis called his lady. How
ravishing it is! It struck me that it is endowed with such excellence
that if we had the chance of seeing it even ever so slightly we would
immediately be overcome by love of it and we would never want to be
separated from it, we would never abandon it and we would rate it above
all the world's goods. Oh, if God were to give us the grace to
draw back the curtain which stops us from seeing such beauty.
Oh, if he were, by his grace, to remove all the veils which the world
and our self-love cast in front of our eyes, Fathers, we would be immediately
overcome by the charms of this virtue, which overcame the heart and
affections of the Son of God. It was the Son's virtue; he wanted
to have it as his own; he was the first who taught it; he wanted to
be its teacher. Up to his time nobody knew what poverty was; it
was unknown. God did not want to teach us about it through the
prophets, he reserved it to himself, and he himself came to teach it
to us. It was completely unknown under the old law; only wealth
was appreciated; no one took any account of poverty, not realizing its
merit.' (SV XI, 245)
8. "Being a missionary
is like being an apostle and it involves, as it did for the apostles,
leaving and abandoning everything in order to follow Jesus Christ and
become real Christians; many in the Congregation have done just that,
leaving their parishes and coming here to live in poverty, in other
words in a Christian way; and, as a certain person said to me recently,
only the devil could find something to say against the Mission.
To go from village to village, for example, to help the poor people
save themselves and get to heaven, as you can see is being done.
Take, for example, Fr. Tholard who is doing so at the moment,
also the Abb6 de Chandenier, and where they even have to sleep on straw."
(SV XI, 163)
9. "We all want
to be Our Lord's disciples. Now, since your call to his service
have you felt this love and this affection for holy poverty? We
gave ourselves to God for this in order to be his disciples, and we
cannot be that without it, without taking on poverty. If we have
not done so then we cannot be a disciple of Our Lord to the same extent
as if we had done so. But as well as this, if we have not done
so sufficiently completely, sufficiently perfectly, let us do so now
and give ourselves to God so as to commit ourselves to poverty as fully
as possible." (SV XII, 389)
10. "In the course of a conference
to his community Fr. Vincent said that the missionaries would
be really happy if they were to become poor through showing charity
to others, but that they need have no fear of becoming so in this way
unless they lacked trust in our Lord's goodness and in the truth of
his word.
If,
however, God were to allow them to be reduced to the need of going to
work as village curates to earn their livelihood, or even if some of
them would be obliged to go begging for bread, or to sleep in rags at
the corner of a hedge perishing from the cold, and someone were to come
along and find them in such a state and ask one of them: 'Poor priest
of the Mission, what brought you to this extremity?,' what a happiness,
Fathers, to be able to answer: 'Charity.' How greatly this poor priest
would be appreciated in the sight of God and his angels!" (SV XI,
76-77)
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