What follows is a summary of Decree 9, one of 26 Decrees dealing with the Mission of the Society Jesus today issued by the 34th General Congregation [GC34] of the Society of Jesus. The congregation met in Rome in the first three months of 1995. Its work affects the immediate future of Jesuits worldwide.
Responding to recent General Congregations, Jesuits "have made noticeable efforts to live a more authentic poverty, both personally and in communities" and "have advanced in detachment, simplicity of life, solidarity, and fraternal sharing." Nonetheless, the "deeper renewal" sought by GC 32 in Decree 12 has not been reached. Does our way of life bear credible witness to the vow of evangelical poverty?
The Apostolic and Prophetic Dimension of Our Poverty: Jesuit poverty "witnesses to God as the one Lord of our lives and the only Absolute; it distances us from material goods and frees us from all attachment so that we can be fully available to serve the Gospel and dedicate ourselves to the most needy." It also becomes "a sign and message of a different logic, that of evangelical solidarity." As "the unequivocal condition of our credibility," poverty enables us to "show that we as persons and as body' consider ourselves the least Company' which lives from God and for God rather than putting its trust in material goods."
1. "Our manner of life personally and in communities has to be simple, hospitable, and open."
2. "Economic openness and dependence on the community for income and expenses are indispensable for a life of fraternal poverty."
3. "Spiritual discernment will make us vigilant servants' regarding the evangelical quality of our lives." Personal discernment is practiced in prayer and the examen. Lifestyle is an important topic for community discernment.
4. Changes in administrative structures enable a sharing of goods so that community surplus is distributed annually "to the apostolic work dependent on it" and "to other communities or works that are needy."
5. To feel what it is like to be dispossessed we need direct personal experience. "The lived experience of poverty and marginalization should accompany each Jesuit." "Solidarity with the poor ... has to typify our life and ministry." "Effectiveness and apostolic poverty are two values which must be kept in ongoing tension."
We must appreciate poverty and desire it as a grace. This "will place us joyfully with the Son and with those among whom the Son wants to be, the poor and neglected of the earth."
Synopses of Other Decrees which are available.
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