What Gospel Poverty Is Not

For quite a while now I have been searching for more direction as to how to live voluntary poverty in the midst of a society immersed in consumerism and individualism in which I found myself being an active and exemplary participant for many years. I have read Sacred Scriptures and the saints’ writings, but I have often been left with the question as to how to apply these principles to the twenty-first century. What does it mean to live simply? Are we to live in destitution? How can we “give everything up” when we have a family to care for? How can one be frugal in clothing, for instance, if our jobs require a certain dress code? What forms of leisure are permissible if we are to live in voluntary poverty? These are just some of the questions one faces when making the decision to live a simple life, but the answers seem to just complicate the matter even further instead of aiding us to live simply.

Michael was my little messenger from God when he showed me the following book as we were browsing through the Catholic bookstore. This is the book that I have been praying for months. This wonderful book was written by Fr. Thomas Dubay on Gospel poverty and how to interpret it and live it. The title of his work is Happy are you Poor—The Simple Life and Spiritual Freedom. I have found it life-changing and have almost finished the 170-page book in two days. It is an easy read and sometimes you need to put it down to ponder how his words affect your current decisions in life.

Fr. Dubay focuses on interpreting the passages in Sacred Scriptures that deal with gospel poverty in light of the lives of the saints and tradition. He does not sugar-coat any of the passages and he is quite harsh when it comes down to some of the frivolous decisions all of us make in our lives. He is also very critical of the watered-down interpretations of the Gospel that seek to justify the superfluous lifestyles of Christians today. Many times he warns the reader to stop reading the book if he or she finds some of the truths he brings out from the Gospel hard to swallow and invites them to immerse in serious prayer. He questions lifestyles and decisions we all make and as we know, most of us do not like it when our lifestyles are questioned and we can become very defensive. I know that a couple of years ago I could not have read this book and would have considered Fr. Dubay a literalist.

I will be writing extensively on this book, because it has affected the very core of my understanding of my own life as a Christian. I have not read anything new in the book, but as you read it you may also find that he brings more clarity to the many questions we all have as we decide to follow the Lord in this radical way. One of my favorite parts of the book is chapter five where he points what Gospel poverty is not. Fr. Dubay tells us about nine things that Gospel poverty is not: