Two-day recollection on vow of poverty: superiors meet at MSJ

On : 2022-02-14

Superiors of the province met together at Mount St Joseph on February 12 and 13 for a two-day recollection on the theme of vow of poverty. The recollection was organised in the context of the letter of Fr General to the whole Society of Jesus to reflect on our vow of poverty to have a personal conversion.

The recollection was spent mostly in prayer and silent reflection with spiritual conversations to reflect on interior movements. Provincial, Fr Dionysius Vaz presented points for the recollection keeping Fr General’s letter as the guiding link.

In his points Fr Vaz said: “There is a relationship between the examen of how we live our vow of poverty and the revision of our norms asked by GC36…The examen starts from a motion of the Spirit. The is why I invite you to live it in the same dynamic: starting from the motions that arise in personal and community prayer.”

Stressing the aspect of poverty coming directly from the Lord, Fr Vaz said: “Our poverty too finds its deepest meaning as we seek to live more and more that enriching poverty of Jesus. We become poor not as an ascetical denial of the “world” or because of a miserliness in the use of resources, but because we want, with our vow, to be able to enrich others.”

He also added that our vow of poverty enables us to consider everything as a “gift of God”. “It leads us to the humble confidence of allowing ourselves to be guided by His Spirit,” he said.

In his second address, he stressed the aspect of poverty as both mother and bulwark, as defined by Pope Francis. He said the style of Jesuit life mission is subject to all kinds of threats. “The vow of poverty is a wall that defends him from threats and preserves the election made to become a companion of Jesus poor and humble.”

He further said that the personal poverty of each Jesuit is “expressed in the renunciation of all personal possessions, in giving the community everything he receives, in a life as austere as possible, in depending on the community for his sustenance and in generous dedication to the service of the mission.”

Towards the end of the two-day programme, the superiors were also asked to do a self-appraisal of their style of functioning as leaders. They also shared their joys and struggles as superiors, especially with regard to cura personalis. The provincial also addressed the superiors at the end and stressed the need to give greater importance to cura pesonalis, even as cura apostolica seems to be going on fairly well in the province.