Consecrated Life: A Life of Sharing with the Poor
If all our houses offer continuous help to the needy, we can be sure that sufficient temporal goods will be provided as per our needs and we will be lacking nothing. (OOCC, II, p. 505)
The consecrated life is a life of sharing the goods one has with the poor and the needy. This dimension of the consecrated life comes out of the consecrated person’s decision to live a life of poverty. In opting to live a life that is poor, the consecrated person identifies himself with the poor. Hence, there is the need to give a share of what one has with those poor he attempts to identify by living the vow/promise of poverty. For this reason, St. Vincent encouraged every member of his Society to practice frugality in the use of things, so that the surplus goods could be given to the poor. He also admonished his followers to take good care of things so they would not be wasted. For, if the members of a community took good care of things and did not waste anything, they could save a lot of things which could be given to the poor. He believed that if all the houses of consecrated persons in the city of Rome offered continuous help to the needy, there should be no want of temporal goods to take care of the poor and the needy of the city. In order to help people to cultivate the giving attitude, he often used the scriptural statement, “Give and it shall be given to you,” for he believed that the infallible means to receive gifts from God was a person’s generosity to give others a share of what he has. Thus, being generous and sharing a bit of what one has with the poor is very essential for the proper living of the vow/promise of poverty.
Do I believe that consecrated poverty calls me to live a life of sharing? Am I frugal in the use of things? Do I take good care of things and avoid wasting things? Do I believe that if I am generous to others, God will also be generous to me?
Jesus looked upon him, loved him, and said to him, “You lack one thing; go, sell what you have, and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven.” (Mk. 10:21)