Formation Lesson - Positive and Evangelical Poverty
Part I - LMC Statutes and Documents of the Church
LMC Statues, page 15 on Positive and Evangelical Poverty
“Christ though rich became poor for our sake, so that in His poverty we be made rich.” [Cor 8:9 ]
“Positive spiritual poverty means the awareness and the conviction that without God we can do nothing – “ I am what I am by the grace of God.” [ 1 Cor 15:10 ] - that the way to power lies through the realisation of helplessness, that the way to victory lies through the admission of defeat, that the way to goodness lies through the acknowlegement and confession of sin, that the way to independence lies through dependence, and the way to freedom lies through surrender.”
“Evangelical poverty is the combination of the two positive aspects of material and spiritual poverty deliberately wanted and voluntarily chosen in imitation of “Jesus who though rich became poor for our sake so that in His poverty we may become rich.” [ 2 Cor 8:9 ], in order to make the poorest of the poor rich in our voluntary poverty. (from the MC Contemplative Brothers Constitutions No. 62 )
Part II - Letters of the Founders (Fr. Sebastian MC and Blessed Teresa MC)
Excerpt from the General Letter of Fr Sebastian, MC - Advent/Christmastide 2002
“Your vocation is to love and suffer and save souls.”
On the transformative power of love and joy.
“At times it is hard for us to understand the will and plan of God, and what does he really want to communicate. My everyday life teaches me to love God all the more, to trust Him more lovingly and more blindly. “Surrender to God and he will do everything for you”. And yet my long experience of religious life tells me that our life on earth is a struggle, a battle and a dark night experience. This is true especially if we have to do something worthwhile. Gold is to be melted and purified in the fire, and the more the gold is tested the brighter it becomes. Our growth in holiness demands much pain, which has to be baptized. The Christian’s suffering in love then becomes a vocation…as Jesus told Mother Teresa: “Your vocation is to love and to suffer and to save souls”. Only through contemplation we come to understand the Christian meaning and the redemptive value of human suffering.
Christmas is not a time to speak much about suffering, because the joy is so great that it makes us forget all the pain. It is not that the Holy Family, Mary and Joseph did not suffer. No, They suffered many inconveniences, much pain and sorrow. But the birth of Jesus made them forget all their poverty, misery and destitution. The center of their life was the newborn child and their concern was to make him feel happy and his life comfortable.”
Part III - Teachings of the Spiritual Directors and LMC Archive Resources
Christmastide Letter of Msgr. John Esseff 2010
