Our Call to Apostolic Poverty
The following is an excerpt from the Sinsinawa Dominican Constitution (p. 36). At profession, each Sister takes a vow of obedience and promises to live in accord with these ideals and practices.
Evangelical poverty is our response to the counsel given by Jesus to the rich young man: “Go and sell what you have and give to the poor; you will then have treasure in heaven. After that, come and follow me.” (Mark 10:21) The Dominican ideal of evangelical poverty freely chosen is apostolic in purpose. From the time of St. Dominic, poverty was an essential partner of the preaching, a necessary testimony to the message of the gospel. St. Dominic’s exhortation to his followers to “possess voluntary poverty” challenges Dominicans of all times to make responsible choices according to the gospel ideal and our mission purpose.
By the vow of poverty, we promise to be poor in spirit, generous and simple in our way of life. As a witness to poverty and a sign of our consecration for mission, we wear simple attire, appropriate to the times and culture in which we live and minister. We choose community of goods, placing all that we receive by reason of our membership, whether remuneration, gift, or benefit, at the disposal of the congregation. We commit ourselves to responsible use of necessary things and personal concern for the property we hold in common.
In a world of imbalance of wealth, our common life of gospel simplicity helps to make us credible ministers of the gospel of justice and love, free to speak out against all forms of injustice. Our simplicity of life and community of goods may be understood as a form of social criticism whereby we witness restraint in consumption, lack of collective greed and the primacy of the transcendent in human life. As we detach ourselves from preoccupation with goods and security, we become more free to declare our solidarity with the poor and our trust in Providence.