vow of poverty

I have been meditating on the Vow of Poverty this morning after receiving a question about discerning a call to religious life and encountering the question of privilege.

In a recent comment, Marilyn asked what I think of the vow of poverty. She pointed out the different meanings of the word poverty: 1) lacking resources and 2) renouncing the right to individual ownership. The vow of poverty has more to do with the second meaning.

Here at A Nun’s Life Ministry, we’re often asked about what the vow of poverty is and how it is lived both personally and as a congregation. While a significant aspect of the vow is that we hold all things in common and don’t personally own anything, there are other dimensions too.

Poverty? That's not good at all, right? The word itself often calls to mind the reality of destitution that many people in our own country and indeed our very own neighborhood face every single day -- living without sufficient resources. But the word poverty is also one that is an important part of our lives as Catholic sisters and nuns -- as well as religious brothers, monks, and friars.