Apostolic Poverty

Wednesday Week 25, 22^nd Sept 2021, Josephinum

Luke 9:1-6

Today I want to reflect on apostolic poverty, 

on poverty and the diocesan priesthood.

In our text we heard the Lord say:

• Take nothing for your journey.  No staff, no bag, no money, no spare tunic, etc (Lk 9:3)

But, we know that elsewhere He says:

• Take a purse, a bag, and a sword (Lk 22:35-6)

An obvious and standard interpretation of these 2 apparently conflicting texts is this:

• some of His commands are specific to a specific mission,

 specific to a time and place

There is a general rule we could phrase as this:

• Poverty is measured by the needs of the mission

Today, in our era:

• Pope St John Paul II has reminded us of the demands of poverty and simplicity of life for the diocesan priest

We take no vow of poverty, not even a simple promise

• Yet, JPII teaches us:
• The diocesan is called to live poverty for the sake of our apostolate

• Poverty is REQUIREMENT OF living our state of life
• I need to avoid all that “smacks of worldliness” (canon law 282.1), 
• I need to adopt “a simple life” (directory, 67), 
• “In all aspects (living quarters, means of transportation [car], vacations etc) the priest must eliminate any kind of affectation and luxury”(n.67).
• I need to have the Lord for my “inheritance” (directory, 67) rather than earthly possessions as my inheritance.
• And there is twofold reason:
• First, to follow the Lord better:
• “voluntarily embracing POVERTY to follow Christ more closely.”(n.67).
• Second, as a MEANS to grow in “apostolic charity”
• The freedom of poverty frees me to love,
• love like an apostle, living for others

Living “a simple life” is not simple, 

• it involves dozens of significant financial decisions per year
• it involves multiple daily and weekly smaller decisions

Responding to what seemed (to my Bishop and me) as a call of Providence, 

I came here.  

I gave up a 6 bedroom rectory, 

a private garden, 

and threw away a thousand books, 

to name a few things.

Charity called, I was happy to follow, 

but I knew various things couldn’t follow with me.

I needed that interior freedom

But, I also stand here with an iPad and an Smart Watch 

(though not the most recent version -one of my constant criteria: 

never have the most recent model phone)

Difficult decisions.  

Qu: What is the criterion to judge?

An: The needs of the mission, 

which takes us back to today’s text.

(1) For some missions, 

take a “spare” tunic and two swords 

-you need to be ready for  the task.

(2) For other missions, 

take neither staff nor bread nor money 

-the Lord will provide.

(3) In all missions:

Apostolic charity is the measure.  

What I possess: 

 it must not hinder me from loving with the freedom of apostolic loving  

 it must aid me in my mission 

To close:

Three questions to take away:

• What did you give up to come here, give up already?
• What do you expect to give up in the future, to not possess because you’re a priest?
• What are you willing to give up, for the sake of the mission?

Humility

Monday 23^rd Week Ordinary Time, 13^th Sept 2021, Josephinum

Lk 7:1-10

I want to focus on the words of the centurion, 

words that holy Mother Church puts on our lips at every Mass:

• “Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof”

I’d like to walk you through 3 phases of faith and humility, and for you to ask yourself where you fit in these phases, and maybe, where you have fit in your own past.

First phase:

For those of us raised after the cultural revolution of the 1960s,

Humility often does not come naturally to us:

• We were raised on self-affirmation
• We received little discipline 
• We were told we were good.

To my generation, 

we would tend to think:

• “Lord, actually I AM worthy, 
• and I just don’t need you to enter under my roof”

A second phase:

When I went to college I found the Lord,

• I came to know Him “personally”, as we say.
• But, if I’m honest, I still thought of myself as “worthy”.

And while I wouldn’t have phrased it exactly like this, I think it would be true to say that my attitude was:

• “Lord, I AM worthy, 
• But you bring added value to my life, added meaning
• So,
• For MY own sake, please do come and enter in”
• That is NOT the faith of the centurion
• That’s a “faith” that is a problem

Still today, I know this is a problem in my spiritual life:

• My self-affirmation
• My lack of being criticised as a child,
• My upbringing has been such that I struggle to say,
• “I am not worthy”

Yet, 

• I know my eternal salvation depends on having the ‘unworthiness’ of the centurion

We need to be in a third phase, one that has a humility born of faith.

Let’s connect those 2 things: faith and humility

• The words of the centurion expressed humility, :I am not worthy’
• But the Lord praised him for his “faith” –‘not even in Israel have I found such faith”

True faith recognises the Lord for WHO He is:

• He is God
• He is much greater than me
• He is pure; He is goodness,
• “me?  ‘’I am not worthy’
• Real faith SEES this
• Real humility ACCEPTS this

Where are you in those three phases of humility and faith?

• If you are one of the post-1960s generations who struggle to be humble, then pray
• Pray for what is MOST important:
• Not healing the body
• But healing what is wrong in your soul:
• but only say the word, and my soul shall be healed”

“Power came forth from Him [that] healed them all.”

Tuesday 22nd Week in Ordinary Time, Josephinum seminary

“Power came forth from Him [that] healed them all.” (Lk 6:19)

To return to one of my favourite questions:

What was it like to be in His presence?

And, as I often reflect, the reaction of the people shows us so much:

They sought Him out.

They came from vast distances:

The phrase, “the coastal region of Tyre and Sidon” 

means the Mediterranean -not the nearby lake of Galilee

means they came from gentile as well as Jewish towns

-as St Bede and St Cyril note, in St Thomas’s Catena Aurea (p.206)

They came  

“to hear”

“to be healed”

To have “unclean spirits” cast out

“Power came forth from Him [that] healed them all.” (Lk 6:19)

(pause)

As priests, power goes forth from us too.

As priests, it is a power 

to teach, 

that they might again “hear”, in a world of confusion

to comfort and console the distressed, 

that they might again “be healed” in a world of brokenness

The people long ago sought to “touch” the Lord

In many ways, they seek to touch us too

NOT

not because of something that is ours per se, 

but because of something we ourselves have touched and continually touch: 

The Lord 

 

St Ambrose points out a symbolism to be found in this passage (in St Thomas’s Catena Aurea (p.207)):

Jesus ascends the “mountain”, to the heavenly,

before DESCENDING to the “plain”, to the crowd, the earthly

Thus, might well say that, 

The mountain and the plain both meet in Him

Heaven and earth meet in Him

God and man meet in Him

And, if we want that “power” to touch others, this is what we must first touch ourselves.

(pause)

Here in seminary, there are many things we seek to do in you and to you

We seek to teach you

We seek to form and remedy human issues in you

But these, and many other things, PALE in comparison to the importance of leading you to a deeper encounter with the Lord.

The “power” that people will seek in you

The “power” that can “go forth” from you

-this power is not YOURS but HIS

So, we must first seek to come and touch Him ourselves.