The Jesuit Guide To (Almost) Everything - James Martin [92]
Both responses mean that freedom cannot take hold.
The invitation to live a simple life does not mean giving up everything you have. Surrendering all your possessions is the right path for only a very few people, mostly those who choose to live in common with others. We’re not meant to live exactly like Gauddy or Agustino or Loyce. But the opposite of their situations—that is, a total immersion into our consumerist culture, which tells us that we can only be happy if we have more—is a dead end.
Nor does the invitation to a simple life mean you have to feel bad about yourself. But, from time to time, it’s good to feel the sting of conscience. Ignatius said the voice of conscience sometimes feels like the “drop of water falling onto a stone,” a sharp feeling that awakens you to reality. If you feel guilty about how much stuff you have, perhaps this is an invitation from God to give some of it away, to live more simply.
But it is an invitation to freedom, not to guilt. The turn to a simple lifestyle frees us, reminds us of our reliance on God, makes us more grateful, and leads us to desire “upward mobility” for everyone, not just for the few. Ultimately, it also moves us closer to the forgotten and outcast, something at the heart of the ministry of Jesus of Nazareth, and a theme frequently mentioned in the Old Testament. It reminds us that people like the refugees of East Africa, people you may never meet, are part of our lives. As Dean Brackley writes in “Downward Mobility,”
This vision reveals a fundamental equality of all human beings that overshadows all differences. In other words, the outcast has the potential to shatter my world. When I can identify with the outcast, allowing her to come crashing in on my world, the ladder collapses, at least for me, exposed as a colossal fraud. The superiority of the great dissolves together with the inferiority of the small. If only for a moment we all appear naked and on an equal footing. This crucial experience shows that identifying with the outcast enables us to identify with everyone. I can say, “These people are all just like me.”
So, as it turns out, Gauddy, Agustino, and Loyce have a lot to do with you.
BUT HOW DO I DO IT?
That still raises the question, How can you live simply? Given that you’re not called to give up everything, how can you simplify your life and respond to the invitation to live with less stuff coming between God and you?
Let me suggest three steps, of increasing difficulty. Then a challenge. In all these things, trust that God will help you along this path, because it’s a path to freedom, which God desires for you.
First, get rid of whatever you don’t need. It’s the obvious first step to simplifying. What should you do with all that stuff? Well, once again, the extra coat you’re not using doesn’t belong to you; it belongs to the poor. Call a local church, shelter, or clothing distribution center.
But some friendly advice: don’t give your junky stuff to the poor—toss that out. During the novitiate, I worked in a homeless shelter in Boston for several months. One day I handed one fellow a tattered orange corduroy jacket. “Ugh,” he said, “I wouldn’t wear that!” Initially I thought, He should be grateful. Then, as if reading my mind, he said, “Wouldyou want to wear it?” No, I wouldn’t. The poor deserve decent clothes, just like you do.
Second, distinguish between wants and needs. Is it “nice to have” or “need to have”? Do you “need” a bigger television or the latest phone or the newest computer? Or is it something you want because your friends just bought one or because you’ve seen it advertised? It’s difficult to resist the desire to have what friends have and what marketers say you need, but again, turning these things down leads to freedom.
Think of it like a diet. Hard as it is, you feel better if you avoid unnecessary calories. You’ll also feel better if you avoid unnecessary purchases—lighter, healthier, freer. Go on a buying diet.
Third, get rid of things you think you need, but can actually live without. This goes beyond things