The Vow of Poverty is Prioritising Divine Riches over Worldly Riches

Poverty is a renunciation of prioritising worldly riches; and a radical prioritising of divine riches. Poverty is total dependence on God for divine riches. Jesus made father’s riches his riches; poverty is making God’s riches my riches. What are God's riches? Mercy, love, charity (heart to give), inclusivity etc. Earthly riches and heavenly riches are diametrically opposed. Think of the rich fool in the gospels, or the rich man who came to follow Jesus. In earthly poverty, and in heavenly riches we share a position with God. We have the richest father and mother, and we are heirs to those riches as children. “All I have is yours, and all you have is mine” (John 17: 10). God is not running a real estate enterprise on earth. I would think that God is not even bothered about who has what on earth; but definitely he is concerned about those who lack the basic necessities, like Lazarus, like man robbed and abandoned by robbers, etc. God’s riches are not in conformity with the world. Faith in God and in His riches is the beginning of the vow of poverty.

What about earthly riches that are essential for our living? “If anyone is not willing to work, let not that one eat” (2 Thessalonians 3: 10). Or again Jesus saying, every labourer deserves his wages. We must employ our gifts and talents, and work hard. We have the responsibility to work to sustain ourselves, sustain the young ones after us (formation), and attend to the needs of the sick and seniors who went before us, on whose shoulders we stand today. Poverty calls us to responsibility for what is entrusted to us; and accountability for what we do with it. Pope Francis addressing the religious had once said, do not make your communities refugee centres. Refugees are people who go around looking for food and shelter. You as members of the community take responsibility and accountability. Do not make yourself a parasite. Take responsibility and accountability of our earthly needs and riches. We are children of God, and God has provided enough for all humanities needs. We are called to trusteeship, stewardship; making sure all receive what they need.

Storing up earthy riches affects our priorities. Our all concern would be to protect our riches, have storehouses, have people to defend etc. “Do not store up treasure for yourself here on earth, where moth and rust destroy it, and where thieves can break in and steal it. Store up treasures for yourself with God, where no moth or rust can destroy it nor thieves break in and steal it. For where your treasure is, there also your heart will be” (Matthew 7: 19-21). Poverty is getting out of the clutches of earthy possessions. There is an incident in Acts 5 :1 and the following of a rich couple selling what they have and pretending to give all they have to the common use. Of course what they gave was a huge sum (compare that with the widow and her two copper coins in the gospel); but they kept a portion for themselves and lied about it. And the story ends in death. Protecting earthly riches and living heavenly riches cannot go together.

Often when we are rich with divine riches, people, even evil people, become generous to us; what they lack, what they are not able to do, they substitute through us, and they will have their satisfaction and reward. That is what we experience as the providence of God.

Developed from the retreat talks by Fr John Kusumalayan, OP.

Comments

New Year, New Beginning

The past year was different to different people. Some of us were very successful, won every battle we fought. Some others of us did not win every battle that we fought, might have found difficult even to get up from bed everyday, we just survived. But for both it is a new year. For those very successful, it is time to stand on the ground and not be overconfident, complacent, arrogant and egoistic. And it is also time to give back. And for those of us not very successful we have another new year with 365 blank pages, 365 blank days. It is a fresh new beginning. Start your dream and go all the way. “There are two mistakes one can make along the road to truth—not going all the way, and not starting”, said Buddha. Every New Year tells that we cannot eternally postpone important things in our lives. We must begin somewhere. How many lives do we have on this earth? One, two, three, four, or more? One of the foremost thinkers and philosophers of China, Confucius, four centuries before ...

2025 Must Create Its Own Art

People are afraid of art, because real art brings the question and the answer into your house. Tonight’s art becomes inadequate and useless when the sun rises in the morning. The mistake lies not in creating art for tonight, but in assuming tonight’s answers will serve tomorrow’s questions. Louise Bourgeois, a French American artist, reflected, “art is a guaranty of sanity;” but that guarantee must be renewed with each dawn, each cultural shift, and each evolution of human consciousness. If some art endures through generations, it is only because of its capacity to speak, its ability to demand fresh interpretations that test and challenge the new. To guarantee sanity in the coming year, 2025 must create its own art. Why create art? Why watch art? Why read literature? True art, in the words of Sunil P Ilayidam, shakes that which is rigid and unchangeable. Art serves as humanity’s persistent earthquake, destabilising comfortable certainties and creating space for new ways of...

Fine Ways of Disregarding Vital Issues

Observing the preoccupations of Pharisees, scribes and religious leaders of his time (Mark 7: 1-23) Jesus commended that they have fine ways of disregarding the commandments of God in order to maintain human traditions and interests. They put aside weightier matters to uphold human decrees. In modern politics we hear the jargon, ‘politics of distraction’. In a country of mass illiteracy and unemployment, farmers’ suicide, etc. politicians and other key people divert public attention by discussing building temples, girls wearing hijab to college, etc. Noam Chomsky, an American social commentator says, “The key element of social control is the strategy of distraction that is to divert public attention from important issues and changes decided by political and economic elites, through the technique of flood or flooding continuous distractions and insignificant information.” The corrupt politicians must have learned this strategy from the pickpockets (or is it visa versa): they di...

Human Empowerment Vs Technological Determinism

This article, Seeking truth in a barrage of biases , presents an inspiring call to action for maintaining our intellectual autonomy in the digital age. Written by J Jehoson Jiresh, it addresses the critical challenge of navigating through algorithmic biases and misinformation while offering hope and practical solutions. The author beautifully frames our modern predicament - how even a simple online search for running shoes can shape our digital landscape - and transforms this everyday observation into a powerful message about reclaiming our agency in the digital world. What's particularly inspiring is the article's emphasis on human empowerment rather than technological determinism. The article presents three key strategies for hope and change: Active critical engagement to question assumptions and challenge biases Seeking diverse perspectives to break free from our echo chambers Demanding transparency and accountability in algorithmic systems Most uplifting is the article...

Zacchaeus’ Last Will

Zacchaeus, as we know, was a chief tax collector and a rich man (Luke 19: 1-10). He, as any tax collectors of his time would do, used to collect much more than due, even by force and violence. Now we might say, in a very self-justifying manner, that I am not a tax collector, thus this gospel does not concern my life and me. The figures of a survey done on taxes; taxpayers and tax collectors could be quite embarrassing. 72% people do not pay taxes fully or partially. They cheat the country and the government. 26% of people pay the full tax, not because they love their country and its development but because of fear of being caught and punished; they are in a search of completely safe ways of evading taxes. The rest 2% are involved in collecting taxes. They cheat the country and people by collecting more and not correctly accounting for it. That leaves us with a 100% of ‘Zacchaeuses’ in our societies. Thus most of us stand in need of salvation for our families and ourselves. Zacchae...

Religion Must Help Greater Acceptance And Not Control

What if you see people who never came to your church or never were part of the universal Church found with God; forgiven by god, loved by god, helped by god, and even pampered by god? Our average human spirit and mind will feel a bit of discomfort and repulsion. That exactly is what is happening with apostle John in Mark 9: 38-41. Membership in a religion in many phases in history, and religious practices like praying, church-going etc. has become tools and means of exercising superiority and control over others, or it becomes a means to exclude people. In the name of religion and religious practices we take control of what can be done, who can do it, what is good and bad, what is moral and what is immoral. This approach creates an exclusive moral, good, pure, and authentic race or people or group. We keep doing it as individuals and institutions for the fear of losing control over others. And that is the end of humanity. Stopping others from doing good comes from a sickening clo...

Inter-religious Sensitivity in the Time of Covid-19

I was religiously pleased and humanly excited to read the story of a Hindu doctor reciting Kalima Shahada for a dying Muslim Covid patient in Kerala. Beevathu, 56 year old, was all isolated from her family in a covid ward. She had been there for 17 days, she was on a ventilator, and it was increasingly clear that there was no hope. After the consent from her family she was taken off from the ventilator. Beevathu lies there between life and death. Nothing more to happen. But like any good dying Muslim, she perhaps wanted to hear the Kalima Shahada (the Islamic oath of faith) to be chanted to her by one of her family members; but there was none, the situation made it so. Dr. Rekha, a Hindu doctor, was attending to her all these days. She knew what was happening, and she also knew what was not happening. Dr. Rekha knew the words of Kalima Shahada , thanks to her upbringing in UAE. She went close to Beevathu’s bed chanted into her ears, “ La ilaha illallah Muhammadur rasulullah...

Great Teachers Create Vocal Students

Picture a classroom where questions are met with impatience, where unique perspectives are dismissed, where vulnerable thoughts are cut short. Gradually, hands stop rising, eyes avoid contact, and the once-vibrant space becomes a vacuum of missed opportunities and untapped potential. This silence is not respect—it is retreat, it is a silent protest, and it is dissent. When teachers fail to listen, they unwittingly construct invisible barriers. Students quickly sense when their contributions hold no value, when their voices are merely tolerated rather than treasured. The natural response is self-preservation through silence. Why risk sharing when no one is truly receiving? This silent classroom is a warning sign. A teacher who does not listen will soon be surrounded by students who do not speak. Andy Stanley has spoken about it on leadership, "a leader who does not listen will gradually be surrounded by people who do not speak." It is true in every field, including educatio...

Jesus Sends Seventy-Two To Meet And Get Transformed

For a person of faith, ‘God comes, ever comes’ is a constant experience; logically, it also means that God goes, ever goes to the other. We read in Romans, “God came to save us when we were still sinners.” At another point of time in history we were the other to whom God came. Throughout his earthly journey, Jesus demonstrated a radical commitment to crossing boundaries, meeting others. This wasn't merely a strategy for spreading his message—it was a fundamental aspect of his vision for humanity. He didn't establish a comfortable base and wait for people to come to him. Instead, he was constantly moving—crossing territorial boundaries, cultural divides, and social barriers. He didn't try to change people from a distance through arguments or condemnation. He shared meals with tax collectors, conversed with Samaritan women, touched lepers, and welcomed children. Each encounter was an act of radical hospitality that said, you matter and your story matters. Jesus didn't k...

SPRINGBOARDS and WALKING STICKS

Search This Blog