In 1972, a group of young girls from an exclusive Catholic school, ages ranging from 10-17, in their desire to seek holiness, lived together in community. Since most of them came from a Benedictine School, they adopted the Rule of St. Benedict. Strange that they did not simply joined the Benedictine sisters who ran their school. They had nothing against them. They simply felt they had to start a new community.
At first they felt they would need a means of income for their sustenance. So they made stuff toys. It sold fast….bought by their own families to support their effort. But of course, you could not sell stuff toys to your family for all eternity. It was not such a good idea. Being mostly undergraduate students, they knew of no other means of income. Actually they did not need because their families were supporting them. A religious order supported by their own families? Not a bad idea!
From the beginning, their families supported them. And the community progressed. They had their first community house and later on a small 4-hectar land gifted by a friend.
Then, at the closing of the centenary of St. Benedict which coincided with the start of the centenary of St. Francis of Assisi, the Pope, John Paul II, speaking to the Franciscans hurled a challenge. He said we needed a new order in the Church that will combine the discipline of St. Benedict and the poverty of St. Francis. A new order, with so many new orders sprouting up like weeds? But the suggestion was coming from a Pope and was worth noting. The Benedictines today do not have the poverty of St. Francis. In fact, the Benedictines had an Asian meet wherein they discussed the nature of Benedictine poverty and came up with nothing. On the other hand, the Franciscan are not noted for the poverty of St. Francis. A practice they had given up long ago, if my observation is not betraying me.
The Pope’s challenge was a tempting idea. This community of undergraduates had been existing for several years without any means of income. They were supported by their families; but now they were growing, their needs were increasing and another source of support was in order. So they decided that their next means of support would come from the poverty of St. Francis. What? Are you serious? Yes. St. Francis, practicing the poverty of Christ, not by living penniless, but in complete dependence on God and as a result, literally, lacked nothing. In fact Francis had more than what he needed. Now, that was a good idea. So the young girls adapted the poverty of St. Francis with the Rule of St. Benedict. They would depend completely on God.
Ascetically speaking the poverty of St. Francis is spiritually included in the monasticism of St. Benedict. The Benedictines did not have any means of income. Of course, they worked with their hands, thus “Ora et Labora.” But the work was not a means of income but an ascetical exercise. This was literally the poverty of St. Francis where the monks depended on God completely that they did not know where their next meal would come from.
The idea of fusing two difficult Holy Rules was unthinkable, impractical, preposterous if not outright disastrous. But it is still working in this community after more than 30 years! Come to think of it wasn’t this how the first Christian communities were. Beginning with Christ, He had nothing, not even a place to lay His head. He died with nothing and was buried in a borrowed grave. The apostles, when they preached, brought nothing with them, no wallet, no haversack, no credit card. The first Christian communities were described as selling all their things and laying them down at the apostles’ feet. It seems everyone had nothing. And Ananias and Saphira who kept a little dropped dead.
This is not the common practice in religious communities today. All have some means of income for their sustenance. It is required by their constitutions and statutes. The Congregation in Rome requires that a community must have a means of secure income to be recognized.
Visitors to this community get the impression that they are so wealthy. But they completely depend on the providence of God….without any means of livelihood, and does no solicitation. Most of their members are still undergraduates with no skill to earn an income. They live in poverty, not in penury, in complete dependence on God. The lesson is clear: all religious communities in the service of God can concentrate on being holy and exert no effort in earning a living bearing in mind what Christ said: “Seek first the kingdom of God and all the rest will be given you.” Just like Christ, just like the apostolic community, just like the first Christian communities.
(Painting above is “St. Francis in Ecstasy” by Giovanni Battista Piazzetta, 1729)