From the text: “Pauline Catechesis”, 1989 Ediciones Paulinas, Madrid, a Spanish language translation of the Italian original “Catechesi Paolina”, 1986 Edizioni Paoline, Rome.

Poverty in the thoughts and writings of Blessed James Alberione

“Religious poverty is a total abandonment to God, as the only and maximum good, and a detachment from earthly goods for love of Christ and of men. For Paulines poverty will be the foundation of their life, together with piety, study and the apostolate.” (Const. SSP, art. 33)

Using an image from the rural culture of his time to illustrate the stability desirable in each individual and community, Blessed Alberione describes Pauline life as a car that moves steadily on four wheels: holiness, study, apostolate and poverty. This is the only path to full maturity in Christ, who is the object and testimony of religious life: “Every person in Christ, for a total love of God: intelligence, will, heart and physical strength. All of it, nature and grace and vocation for the apostolate. A car that advances supported by four wheels: holiness, study, apostolate and poverty.” (AD 100)

In a message of June 22, 1933 the founder specified what he understood “poverty” to be in this role as an indispensable wheel of the “Pauline car”:

“Poverty: which is equilibrium of character for living together in society and in community; balance of administration of expenses, income, accounting, just wages and the proper economies; adecuate austerity in dress, eating, lodging and health; a holy ability to multiply the means for doing good, care for order, urbanity and cleanliness; pastoral spirit and the care of diverse things and the means of apostolate.” (CISP 10)

Poverty consists in imitating Jesus Christ who – as Saint Bernard says – “was poor at birth, even poorer during his earthly life and extremely poor on the cross.” “We must imitate Christ. If we want to be true Christians we must imitate Christ from the manger to the cross. He was very poor, and he worked: he had a detached heart [from the things of this world]. The duty of work, which was already a natural duty, has been elevated and sanctified by Jesus. (Pens. 293; IA IV, 45; cf. UPS I, 451)

Poverty is above all an attitude of the heart, without which there can be no truly “poor” person. “There is an effective poverty that is accompanied by an affective wealth; some live in miserable conditions but have disordered desires, including robbery, cheating and forbidden professions. There is also an affective poverty accompanied by effective wealth, which can go so far as to beg for coins to give to God and to others. ‘Blessed is the man who keeps himself whole and is not perverted by wealth.’ (Sir 31, 8)” (UPS I, 450)

External poverty is never an end in itself, but rather an instrument (albeit a necessary one) to attain holiness and the apostolate. “Poverty is required of all Institutes, but not in the same manner: the poverty of a Cistercian is quite different from that of a Jesuit. Saint Thomas says that ‘religious poverty has an instrumental value in function of the two ends to which it is ordered: holiness and the apostolate.’” (Pens. 275; cf UPS I, 455)

Poverty combats the three enemies of man – those identified by Saint John in his first letter as the “passions of earthly man, the covetousness of the eyes and the arrogance of wealth.” (1Jn 2, 16). In other words, poverty combats:

1. The love of money: in each one of us there is always the dormant owner or greedy one.

2. The love of comforts: we are all constantly tempted to create a place we enjoy, surrounded by security and comforts we may enjoy, and of belongings we may dispose of at our will.

3. The love of prestige: ambition, vanity, which always stem from what is owned and what is known. Poverty, on the contrary, allows us to see that everything we have we owe to the Institute to which God has called us. (cf UPS I, 458 - 459)

Poverty also consists of imitating Mary: “Let us imagine her just as she was: a simple country town girl, wife of a carpenter” (UPS I, 453); and of imitating Saint Paul. (cf UPS I, 454-455)

In summary: Poverty, according to Blessed Alberione, has five functions:
• Poverty renounces
• Poverty produces
• Poverty conserves
• Poverty provides
• Poverty builds up

We’ll look at each ones of these functions in succesive posts, as I get the text translated.

Important note: any differences between the texts quoted above and official versions is a result of my inadequate translation skills in translating from Spanish, which was based on the original version in Italian. All texts from the writing of Blessed James Alberione are cited in parentheses. Officially translated texts should always take precedence. I will gladly correct any errors or inconsistencies that are brought to my attention by those kind enough to assist me in this endeavor.

It seems fitting that as we cross the point in the year of shortest days and greatest darkness, we stop to celebrate a festival of light: the Epiphany, when God shines forth in the form of a child, bringing light to a world subsumed in darkness. Children have a way of brightening up any community, and we recently had a wonderful experience of God's presence in our midst that was revealed to us by a group of second graders.

The setting for this gift of light and life was the church on the night of our daughter's First Reconciliation. Like all the parents there, we were trying to keep our child focused on preparing to receive the sacrament with an appropriate balance of reverence and ease. But we parents were probably more nervous than the kids, who seemed to have a festive and joyous attitude, no matter how much shushing we adults did. It was while were standing in line with our daughter to take her in to our parish priest that we realized that we adults probably had it all wrong that evening, and the kids were full of the wisdom of innocence that Christ reminds us is needed to enter the Kingdom of God. A child had just finished his first Reconciliation and the door to the confession room opened as he came out. He lifted his hands above his head and said "AWESOME!" with a look of joy that we would not easily have expected to see on someone coming out of confession.

That got us thinking about our own attitudes toward this Sacrament of healing. Maybe we adults are too somber about the notion of reconciliation with God. Maybe we forget to be amazed by the infinite mercy that is available to us, with no strings attached, if we just approach it honestly and with the innocent trust that a child has with his or her father. While it probably would look a little strange to see an adult leaving confession with arms raised and shouting for joy, shouldn't we at least feel that way a little on the inside? Shouldn't we feel so overwhelmed by God's forgiveness that we want to celebrate Christ's victory over sin for us? When you think about it, "awesome" is a pretty good description of the essence of the Sacrament.

We are truly blessed to have such a vibrant parish community, so full of life that we are constantly celebrating the Sacraments, living them as a community of faith; young and old together before the Lord. We came from a parish that had no school, and very few young people attended Mass. Now we are overflowing with life, thanks to the presence of so many families with young children and the welcoming embrace of our educators, catechists, clergy and lay members. What a joy it is to be a part of a community that manifests it light in a world full of too much darkness. By our very embrace of life we radiate a beacon of hope and love out into the world.

Thank you, second graders, for teaching us a powerful lesson about the joys of the Sacrament of Reconciliation!  Didn't the Psalmist remind us that the greatest words of praise to God would come out of the mouths of babes?

Have a blessed Epiphany!

From Thanksgiving through Advent and Christmas our thoughts often turn to gathering with family and loved ones in joy and celebration. We give thanks for our blessings and draw strength from the strong bonds of humanity that unite us.

These can also be times of great sadness and difficulty for those who have lost a loved one, and this is a particularly trying time for parents who have lost one or more children. As families gather and enjoy the enthusiasm and energy of young ones at the approach of Christmas, a missing child is even more in the minds hearts of his or her parents, siblings and extended family.

Women and men who have experienced the abortion of an unborn child can carry feelings of guilt and emptiness in silence for years. Depression and anxiety may be greater around the Christmas festivities and other holidays that emphasize children and birth. The Church has a special concern for parents who have suffered the loss of a child, but did you know that there are also specific programs of healing and support for those who have lost a child through abortion?

Project Rachel is a national program of post-abortion healing, reconciliation and recovery from the trauma and grief that affect many of the women and men who have been involved in an abortion. Through customized, personal and confidential support services, the living victims of abortion are assisted to find the healing and forgiveness that will help them realize that “God’s mercy is always available and without limit, that the Christian life can be restored and renewed through the sacraments, and that union with God can be accomplished despite the problems of human existence.” (1975 Bishops statement “Pastoral Plan for Pro-Life Activities,” No. 24)

It is estimated that 43% of all women will have had at least one abortion by the time they reach the age of 45. And for every abortion there is also a father, an extended family, siblings, uncles, aunts, grandparents and friends of those who suffer the loss of a child. With upwards of 50 million legal abortions performed in the United States since 1973, and a current population of 300 million, this is the equivalent of our country losing every seventh person we know under the age of 35. Chances are high that each of us has been touched directly or indirectly by the loss of a child through abortion, or knows someone who has.

As Pope John Paul II wrote to women who have suffered abortion in the Gospel of Life: "The wound in your heart may not yet have healed. Certainly what happened was and remains terribly wrong. But do not give in to discouragement and do not lose hope. Try rather to understand what happened and face it honestly. If you have not already done so, give yourselves over with humility and trust to repentance. The Father of mercies is ready to give you his forgiveness and his peace in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. You will come to understand that nothing is definitively lost and you will also be able to ask forgiveness from your child, who is now living in the Lord."

Let’s pay special attention to those who have suffered the loss of a child through abortion during this holiday season, and be alert to signs of grief and anguish. A caring word offered with a prayer of encouragement and mercy can help them on the path to healing. And please take note of your local diocesan Project Rachel Helpline number (usually posted on the webiste, or in diocesan directories - check with your Respect Life office). Trained counselors and priests are waiting to help all who have been harmed by abortion to find healing and renewal. Advent is a time of hope and joyful expectation. The healing ministry offered to women and men through Project Rachel is a living expression of our continued hope and trust in God’s infinite mercy.

Please help spread the word.

May God bless you and your families in this time of joyful hope.

Jim & Luisa McMillan

This past Sunday, September 21, 2008, at the end of the Holy Family Institute's 2008 spiritual exercises, we were blessed with the graces of professing in perpetuity our vows of Marital Chastity, Poverty, Obedience and our special fourth Pauline vow of fidelity to the Pope.

What a blessing it has been for us to make this journey of growth in faith, hope and love with you all, and to experience the infinite depths of God's mercy for all his creation.  We are enormously grateful to all our fellow HFI members in both the U.S. and Colombian provinces who have supported us with their wisdom, fellowship and prayer.  And our special prayer of thanksgiving to the Divine Master for all the Pauline priests, brothers and sisters whose faithful living of the Pauline spirituality has been an extraordinary example to us, showing us the Way to live more perfectly our vowed life.

We also raise a prayer of thanks to Blessed James Alberione and Timothy Giaccardo, who so faithfully applied their Mind, Will and Heart to the building of the Pauline Family, along with Mothers Tecla and Scholastica and the numerous vocations raised up by the Lord to keep alive in such a special way St. Paul for all humanity today.  We pray for wisdom and perseverance for our Superior General, Fr. Sassi, our Provincial, Fr. Ernesto and our HFI delegate, Fr. Tom, and for all who serve in roles of authority throughout the Pauline Family.  May their efforts bear fruit one hundred fold.

We are humbled by the experience of the past nine years of formation and preparation for this moment.  We realize that this is not the culmination of our journey, rather just the beginning.  We have barely begun our journey on the Way to which our Divine Master has called us, and we surely cannot see the twists and turns that lie ahead.  But there is no fear of the unknown; no anxiety about the response to His call; no doubt about the decision and commitment made.

If we question anything, it is our own ability to correspond fully to the infinite grace and love that God has showered upon us.  Every misstep, each word spoken impatiently, each fault of the ego make us keenly aware of how it offends our Lord when we don't fully live out his commandments of love.  We beg for your prayers that we might be continually strengthened in our vocation, as St. Paul says, until Christ is fully formed in us. 

It is a journey of a lifetime, and often seems the opposite of the worldly wisdom journey in that we seek to arrive at spiritual childhood in order to have the same trust in our Lord that a  child has in a parent:  Complete, utter, unshakable, joyful and wrapped in infinite love.

Our prayer for the entire Holy Family Institute and Pauline Family is that we may all progress faithfully toward the goal of being true children of God, living faithfully our Pauline spirituality through the wonderful charisms of the different branches of our family tree.

May our Mother Mary, Queen of the Apostles watch over and protect us through her intercession on behalf of all her Son's apostles in the spirit of St. Paul and Blessed James Alberione.

Amen.