The ideal of the sharing of goods in Acts of the Apostles 4:32 inspired Augustine in his Rule to say, "Call nothing your own, but let everything be ours in common."
For him, evangelical poverty is expressed in what is termed the communion (or common ownership) of goods, but goes far beyond that point.
This involves more than objectively not keeping anything as personal property.
It also demands a heart free of the desire of material things, and to practice a simplicity of life in which one is less encumbered in being available to serve others.
The following of the poverty of Christ is to imitate the profound giving of self done by Jesus (2 Corinthians 8:9 and Philippians 2:7).
The poverty of an Auguistinian should extend, therefore, also to the giving up on anything that leads to pride, vanity and the seeking of personal acclaim.
It is a poverty that is of little worth unless it is accompanied by
humility (
humilitas) in thought, word and deed.
Chapter 3 of the
Rule of Augustine advises, "It is better to want a little than to have too much." This simplicity will better equip an Augustinian to work for a more just and equitable world.
The witness to evangelical poverty is a powerful symbol in a modern world where great economic inequalities exist.
There is the sad reality of great wealth and destitution existing beside one another in some parts of the world, and examples of abundance and famine in different sections of the same society.
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