LEADING THE LIFE OF THE POOR


Community members feely choose the life forced upon the least, they do not keep for themselves that which separates them from the least. The poor people that the Lord makes them meet changes their life, upsets their sense of security and such a poor person may also ask to be part of the family, to sit at the same table.

Community members do not feel that they belong to themselves, but define themselves by the needs of the least that the Lord makes them encounter, knowing quite well that it is He who is choosing for them. They do not feel like owners but faithful administrators of the gifts that the Lord has given by bringing the poor into their life.

Similarly, they are not owners but administrators of the money that comes into their possession, taking for themselves only what is strictly necessary to live as a poor person, the rest being returned to the least in different ways, according to the context of their life, deciding together in their cell group and having it confirmed by the Community leader and with the guidance of the Lord. Some may also pool their money with each taking according to their needs, finding this a help to living in greater poverty. However they arrange it, they seek out the best ways of being truly poor.

The goods that the Community comes to have depends on those who are the least. Those members of the Community who are moved by the Holy Spirit to go out to find the poor where they are living, may also experience extreme poverty. All those who follow this path of sanctification are seeking the virtues associated with the life of poverty: frugality, simplicity, the courage to tell the truth and recognise the essential nature of things, humility and sacrifice accompanied by discomfort.

BEING GUIDED BY OBEDIENCE


Community members acknowledge the service of confirmation and guidance provided by the Community leader as a gift within the Church to live with a single heart and a soul, without running around in vain. By subjecting themselves to examination by the Community and its leadership, they live a life of poverty in its most radical and disturbing form. Within the Community, obedience is experienced as the guarantee of freedom from the self, not living life as masters, modelled on the way of Christ who was obedient until death, His death on the cross. This guidance is manifested in three different ways.

  1. In the knowledge that the Holy Spirit is present in every member of the people of God, working towards sanctification and building the Kingdom in each one of them, all their initiatives, inspiration and their whole life is subject to confirmation by the Community and its leadership.
  2. Community members who are moved by the Holy Spirit to see obedience as the very best way to live the vocation to the full, may take the vow of obedience.
  3. Community members willingly accept that its leadership takes the initiative for proposals and to request obedience.

Foundation Charter

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