I have been meditating on the Vow of Poverty this morning after reading comments on the Nun News Roundup podcast we did on Friday.

Jean raises some very good questions about discerning a call to religious life and encountering the question of privilege. Here’s what she wrote in part:

I am struggling mightily with a concern that 21st century American religious life may place many of its new or younger entrants (post-1990s, say, and I did just pull that out of my hat) in a tremendously privileged life and socioeconomic/cultural class in this society. That the matter of who legally owns the resources can be, in real terms, very much “semantics”, placing many religious and communities well and even deep within the ranks of the “non-poor” in terms of both concrete resources and the stew of privilege (or not) that is “class”, a powerful possibility in this society.

Jean, poverty and the vow of poverty are not easy realities to get one’s head around! But it is good to tangle with them as you are considering your calling in life and exploring religious life. I pulled your comments to the fore because I know I thought about them when I was discerning religious life (still do!) and I know others are as well. So I think this conversation will be helpful to many. All are welcome (as always) to participate in the conversation.

Although not all sisters and nuns profess a vow of poverty, one of three evangelical counsels (the other 2 are chastity and obedience … Jesus’ advice to those who wish to dedicate their lives to God), all religious strive to live this virtue in their personal and communal life.

Here are a couple of my thoughts on the vow of poverty … one comes from my reading of Pope Benedict XVI’s book on Jesus of Nazareth and the other comes from a visitor’s question a while back about the different dimensions of poverty. It’s important to note that poverty in the sense of the vow, the evangelical counsel, is not the same as poverty in the sense of destitution or lack of subsistence or means of supporting oneself or one’s family.

I would like to hear more from you about the topic of living poverty as a religious. If you are a sister or nun, what does this mean for you? If you are discerning like Jean, what concerns do you have? And for all visitors, do you find echoes of the evangelical counsel of poverty in your own life?

P.S. Join us for prayer at midday today — live at noon Central Time.

Today is Blog Action Day: Poverty. Bloggers, podcasters, and videocasters across the globe are addressing the issue of global poverty so that together we can raise awareness and trigger a global discussion. A Nun’s Life blog is participating today by hosting a discussion on poverty in light of faith by using Jon Sobrino’s book No Salvation Outside the Poor. This morning, I’d like to start off with a simple” question:

What does “no salvation outside the poor” mean to you?

Special Note:
For those of you on Plurk or Twitter, Denise205 will be covering the comments on A Nun’s Life throughout the day.

These are just a few Catholic resources on poverty that I have used and found helpful. Please add others that you have found helpful via the comment section below.

Catholic Charities USA on poverty in America

Catholic Relief Services

Catholic Campaign for Human Development

Catholic Social Teaching Internet Resources

Pope Benedict XVI on Tackling Poverty

Putting a Face on Poverty

A “Dialogue” with Archbishop Oscar Romero

IHM Sisters Action Alerts

Mercy Volunteer Corps

Jesuit Volunteer Corps

Tomorrow is Blog Action Day 2008 on Poverty. A Nun’s Life will be hosting a book discussion using Jon Sobrino’s book No Salvation Outside the Poor (Orbis 2008) as a springboard. It is not necessary to have read the book, but for those of us who have, please bring in your ideas, questions and thoughts.

Many of the thoughts in Sobrino’s book are based on the words of Ignacio Ellacuría, a Roman Catholic Jesuit priest who was also a theologian and philosopher who contributed to the work of Liberation Theology. He was martyred in El Salvador in 1989. Sobrino says in the prologue to the book that his reflection is based on the words of Ellacuría in a speech given in Barcelona 10 days before his assassination:

“This civilization is gravely ill–sick unto death, as Jean Ziegler says; to avoid an ominous, fatal outcome, the civilization must be changed.” With absolute and radical clarity Ellacuría added, “We have to turn history around, subvert it, and send it in a new direction.” (page ix)

I’d like us to think on this quote a bit and also consider the title of the book itself — “no salvation outside the poor” — and what it means to you personally. I’ll also post a few other compelling quotes from the book as we go through the day. Please let me know if there are specific questions that you would like us to consider. There are no “experts” checking in, just you, me and the rest of the A Nun’s Life community to reflect on and ponder these questions. As always I welcome your thoughts.

Blogs across the World Wide Web will be writing about poverty tomorrow. Be sure to check them out for other lenses through which to view the issue of poverty. My hope is to offer a faith-inspired lens through which to look at not just poverty abstractly but to stand with our sisters and brothers who are poor.

Let us dare to dream that we can do something to eradicate poverty and to love and support all people.

My friends on Plurk continue to pass along good info about which to blog. I learned from @TeresaDKG that today is World MDG Blogging Day. MDG stands for Millennium Development Goals which are as follows:

1. Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger.
2. Achieve universal primary education.
3. Promote gender equality and empower women.
4. Reduce child mortality.
5. Improve maternal health.
6. Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases.
7. Ensure environmental sustainability
8. Create a global partnership for development with targets for aid, trade and debt relief.

According to the United Nations:

“The eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) – which range from halving extreme poverty to halting the spread of HIV/AIDS and providing universal primary education, all by the target date of 2015 – form a blueprint agreed to by all the world’s countries and all the world’s leading development institutions. They have galvanized unprecedented efforts to meet the needs of the world’s poorest.”

Did you know that there are 1.2 billion people who live on less than $1 a day? Too often we simply think of such people as “the poor” but never with a name or face. Partly, I think, we just can’t cope with the reality of poverty and the suffering of others and so it’s easier to generalize and relegate it to the nebulous “poor”. Keeping it abstract keeps us safe from having to do anything. I know that’s harsh, but I feel it too and honestly don’t really know how to deal with the reality of poverty which I witness right in front of me here on the streets of Chicago.

I am hoping that our October 15 discussion on poverty for Blog Action Day 2008 will help us not only reflect more on the call to end poverty but also some practical ideas for how we can do so in our daily life. Sobrino’s book is not all that easy to read (so I’ve found) but over the next two weeks, I’ll pull out some interesting quotes that we can reflect on together or if you are reading the book, let me know what stirs you.