We want to…

• Follow the example of Jesus and the Apostles as fully as possible. When Jesus sends His apostles to spread the Gospel, He explicitly tells them not to bring money with them (cf. Luke 9:3), when He Himself is travelling through Galilee and Judea, it is written that the pious women who traveled with Him provided for Him out of their means (cf. Luke 8:3). Money, of course, is not bad in itself. We know that even the Apostles had a money box and dealt with the funds of the young Church – but then, again, the Apostles personally were poor, as is clear when Peter tells the beggar at the gate of the Temple, “I have no silver and gold, but I give you what I have; in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk” (Acts 3:6).

• Give a radical witness to the providence of God. In poverty, we are able to witness more effectively to the constant provision of the God Who is a good Father. “But seek first the kingdom and his righteousness, and all these [material] things shall be yours as well.” (Matt 6:33)

• Speak to those who have their finger pointed at the “rich” Church. In poverty, we are able to minister more efficiently to those who, scandalized by the material wealth of the Church, reject the spiritual wealth of the truth and the Sacraments which the Church offers them. 

• Interact! Our poverty is what you might call an “evangelical excuse” to put us in contact with as many people as possible. Money easily cuts out human relationships; without it, we have to ask people for help at every turn. From there, a conversation is born, and evangelization naturally comes about; to those who offer us physical necessities we are able, in turn, to offer the spiritual sustenance of the message of Christ. (Cf. Jesus and the woman at the well - John 4:1-42)

We ask!
 
On our summer pilgrimages, we beg for food along the way. In day-to-day life, we ask for basic necessities on an as-needed basis – always trying to avoid being a burden to anyone (cf. 2Cor 10:9) – or people might spontaneously bring by extra food, leftovers from the soup kitchen, etc.

For basic, day-to-day necessities, we ask on an as-needed basis. For recurring or excessive expenses (electricity, medical emergencies, further education, etc.), a lay group of friends of the community (The Allies of the Little Ones) has opened a non-profit account which can receive donations on our behalf. We cannot personally manage those funds, but we can ask the Allies to help us on an as-needed basis.

Never! (We do get this question a lot, though!) Different religious orders have different habits. Some are black, some are white, some are both, some are blue, some are brown…the list goes on!

• The habits are meant to remind us of sackcloth, which in the Bible is often worn as a symbol of repentance (cf. Jonah 3:6; Matt 11:21).

• The color also reminds us of Jesus’ parable about putting new wine in new wineskins (cf. Matt 9:17), lest the old wineskin burst and the wine be ruined! – Whenever an interior change comes about in a person, his or her exterior behavior (dare we say, “habits?”) should reflect that difference. For our community, the religious habit is meant to be a “new wineskin,” outwardly symbolizing the inward conversion of our spirit.

• Quite simply, it’s functional! As much of our apostolate is spent on the streets, the sturdy tan fabric deals well with dust, sun, and daily wear and tear.

• A Bible! “Gird your sword upon your thigh,” the Psalm advises (Ps 45:3), and St. Paul tells us that the “sword” is the “sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God” (Eph 6:17)! – so we always have our “sword” at hand to help us slay the doubts and devils that prevent people from coming to Christ.

• But every sword needs a hilt if it is to be used accurately…so we have a little book called a “Handle” which is a simple concordance of various topics (Baptism, Buddhism, Confession, Faith, Mary, Salvation, etc…) where we write Scripture verses and phrases from Church teaching which help us answer questions that people might ask us in our ministry.

The members of the community who have positions of responsibility (servant superiors, priests, those responsible for cultivating our ADP-VV groups of prayer, etc.) use phones which are lent to them by a benefactor.