A Life of Promise

"As a Religious, my little book will reflect my own experience, understanding and practice of poverty, chastity and obedience. However, it appears to me that it is vital for Religious to understand that their poverty, chastity and obedience do not place them in a class of their own, outside the Christian endeavour of the mainstream of the baptised in general. We have all been called to follow the poor, chaste and obedient Christ, be we Religious or not. Thus, even though many of my remarks and reflections in the pages which follow will be aimed, in the first instance, at my fellow-Religious, they are also written as a challenge to all the baptised, called to the uniquely poor, chaste and obedient way of Jesus of Nazareth. If poverty, chastity and obedience are Gospel values, then they must challenge all of us, as the Gospels were not written for Religious. They are a word of life and hope for all who claim to be followers of Jesus." From Preface