Poverty: Sharing of Gifts, Living Stewardship

Poverty: Sharing of Gifts, Living Stewardship
by Jane Rogers, BVM

A Monet print entitled “Sunrise” hangs next to my bed. It assures me that every morning I will see the sun rise! It has a quiet, subtle beauty with its miry mist over a water scene depicting some fisher people hopefully taking in the intensity of God’s presence in the NOW as they await a new day to begin.

The above imagery also reminds me of Dietrich Bonhoeffer when he said, “Jesus Christ calls us, not to a new religion, but to LIFE.” For me to write anything about poverty, it is crucial to be into life in the NOW as that is how I see responding to the call of God.

This means living life to the full by focusing on all of life as I grow in love of God, neighbor and self. This is all about searching, seeking, exploring, risking and at the same time knowing that, “we are absolutely dependent, at the depths of our being, upon God as Source of Life.”¹

I see God’s love as unconditional, unrelenting and forever. To live in a community where together people are totally committed to God’s love and who strive to live “the spirit of poverty” assists me in living out my covenant relationship with God.

Simplicity is Key

For me, simplicity is an important part of living the vow of poverty. It means openness to the beauty of the present, whatever its shape, whatever its lack. It can lead to a certain freedom of mind and spirit.

It asks me to take things I need and to leave things I don’t. “Ownership is not a thing we do or have, but a set of values we live out in daily life.”² I am invited to see the world around me with God’s eyes and respond to what I see with a compassionate heart.

Diarmuid O’Murchu says the vows are conglomerates of values and that they all relate to the human search for meaning. This fits well, as I do not see poverty as “sacrificing material goods so much as exercising stewardship over the goods of creation according to the equality and integrity of the gospel.”³

While I know Gospel values are inculturated and vary enormously from one part of the earth to another, I feel too much energy is given to weapons and war and results in poverty for our world.

Jesus never talked about poverty. He talked about “the poor in spirit,” those who experience God’s unconditional love in the ordinary. “It’s what we do for Christ in the here and now that makes a difference in the then and there.”⁴

Prophetic Witness

I realize, in a world of limited resources and unjust distribution of wealth, how I live the vow of poverty can be a prophetic witness. I try to do this by buying generic products, recycling, avoiding multinationals, purchasing fair trade products, watching for sales, not accumulating stuff.

Another major challenge for prophetic witness is how I respond to our dear Mother Earth. I am pained to see the earth taken for granted, to be used and abused and for the times we are utterly oblivious of the gift it is.

My ministry in hospice bereavement requires me to be a good listener as people share their brokenness, their utter poverty of pain in spirit. My hope is that they will do the grief work in order to live life more fully.

At the end of my day, it is the values that have touched the depth of my heart that matter. I know in my aging process I need to be more gentle to myself, and this, too, is a reminder of my poverty.

This also elicits a different quality of spirituality. It is more one of “Being.” I find that a grand comfort!! I also find comfort in family, friends, faith journey reading, bridge, travels, art and music.

In conclusion, everything is gift to be shared and used for mutual benefit. I thank God for each precious person, place, thing that has been given as gift to me for a time. Knowing this in a spirit of poverty helps me to appreciate the gifts more. Gifts are given to be celebrated, and so I celebrate!

Ronald Rolheiser says, “The spiritual life is not a quick sprint to a well-marked finish line, but a marathon, an arduous lifelong journey into an ever-widening horizon.”⁵ Each day with or without the sunrise, I know I am grateful for it.

Endnotes

Prevallet SL, Elaine M. “A Wisdom for Life,” presentation given at a conference sponsored by the Loretto Earth Network, Nerinx, Kentucky, 1995.
O’Murchu, Diarmuid. Poverty, Celibacy and Obedience. Crossroads, Pub. Co., 1999, p. 68.
Ibid, p. 16.
Lucado, Max. The Eye of the Storm, on a Hallmark Card.
Rolheiser, Ronald. The Holy Longing. Doubleday, 1999.

About the author: Jane Rogers, BVM (Jananne) is a bereavement counselor with Hospice of Fort Dodge at Trinity Regional Medical Center, Fort Dodge, Iowa. She celebrated her golden jubilee in religious life this past summer.