Our heart is revealed in its attachments. There is something striking about a person who lives simply and happily. Their heart seems to be at home with God; purpose seem to shine more than possessions. For Marists, living simply is also a genuine marker of being close to ordinary people and the poor; not seeking status above them but rather living among them. Possessions can create walls.

A popular Marist Book called ‘Bearings’ offers some thoughtful ideas on the Marist Way of looking at and living life.

Living Simply

When Fr Maxime Petit arrived in New Zealand in 1839 he found some believed that “authority should be surrounded by trappings that demand respect.” He disagreed: “This doesn't seem to be the way the apostles acted… a noble simplicity would equally gain this respect.” Colin agreed entirely. “The spirit of the Society,” he wrote to the first missionaries, “is the spirit of poverty, humility and simplicity.”

The early Marists lived astonishingly close to the people they served. A visitor described a missionary's house in New Zealand: a little hut of swamp reeds “like those of the natives,” with three chairs, two little tables and windows of calico. In Tonga, Joseph Chevron wrote, “We live like them, contenting ourselves with what they bring us… we sleep as they do on a mat on the ground.” The people were won over not by resources but by nearness.

Simplicity also guards the heart. When a man offered Colin a share of treasure supposedly worth 400,000 francs hidden under the Marist house, his theologian said it was permissible and his bursar was keen. Colin refused: “Dependence on the help of God and the protection of Mary is of more value to the Society than any 400,000 francs.” Bishops noticed the difference: “I like you a lot,” one said, “because you don't love money.”

The Constitutions warn that poverty is unreal if we are “always concerned for our own comfort and wish to be lacking in nothing.” For those of us in comfortable societies, this bearing asks honest questions about lifestyle: does the way I live bring me closer to people who are poor, or quietly wall me off from them?

Marist Reflection Question

What one thing in my lifestyle draws me closer to those who are poor — and what one thing most walls me off from them?

Marist Practice

Choose one concrete simplification this week — a purchase not made, a subscription cancelled, a possession passed on — and give what it frees, in money or time, directly to someone in need.

Living Simply

Living Simply

Tasting God

Communion Produces Joy