In the last issue of this article, I suggested that personal disciple is required if we are to truly respond to God’s call to holiness. The Gospels indicate several forms of discipline fundamental for all Christians. As the Church grew in her understanding of how to help Christians respond to this call to holiness, she discovered that three disciples came to mind as helpful: poverty, chastity and obedience. Because men and women who embrace the religious life take these vows, those who are not in religious life tend to think that these vows are not an essential part of the spiritual journey.
Our American lifestyle is, many spiritual writers will agree, is one of the greatest challenges Christians in this country face on the journey. Advertising constantly tells people to surround themselves with the newest and best of everything – salvation and happiness are only one more purchase away. Because of this great emphasis on consumerism, material things can very easily and very subtly become the center of attention and the goal of life.
The discipline of poverty helps people come to terms with the ideal lifestyle present by our culture. Christian poverty is the discipline by which believers express their values in the way they use their time and money. Poverty, like discipline, is a word with many negative connotations. Most people tend to think it means destitution, the lack of all material possessions and of all provisions for the future. Rather, poverty simply means that our resources of time and money are allotted in a planned pattern to enhance our relationship with God and neighbor. It is the only way not to absolutized one’s wealth. Only poverty can keep us from making money and possessions a false God that dominates our vision of life, our feelings and all our decisions.
The important thing to remember is the goodness and generosity of God. When we begin to think that the things we have are all the result of our hard work, we begin to lose a real understanding of God’s generosity and goodness. This is the true meaning of the words that we pray during the Ambon Prayer – the prayer of Thanksgiving during regular Divine Liturgies: For every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from You, the Father of lights. It is easy, unfortunately, for people who are hard workers to think that all that they have is the result of their hard work. The spirituality of our Eastern Church constantly reminds us that everything we have is the result of God’s goodness and generosity.
This is a part of the challenge that comes from the call to holiness. The challenge is to think about all we have as gifts from our loving God. This is true poverty. Think about this ask yourself: Do I believe all I have is from God!