Living Simply: Faithful Discernment!


Writing this week for Marianist PULSE Spectacle of Saints is Brother Bob Donovan, SM, MD. Brother Bob serves as a physician at the Center for Respite Care, a nonprofit he helped found 15 years ago that provides quality, holistic medical care and respite services for people experiencing homelessness in Cincinnati. Brother Bob lives in the Over the Rhine neighborhood of Cincinnati; an area that has historically been a high poverty and high crime region. We asked Brother Bob to share his thoughts on living simply, Marianist-style.


Way back when I was a Novice in the SM (1986-87), one of the more contentious discussions we had that year was “Should we get a microwave?” (I know: Hard to believe there was a time when getting a microwave would be such a difficult question!) It was a good and important discernment for us to have that year because it enabled us to begin to see how communities can work through a touchy problem without leaving the community in shambles. (We ended up getting the microwave, by the way.)

On a personal level, I think that what’s simple for me may be different from what’s simple for you. No one else can make that decision for each of us, although a spiritual director, getting input from others in your Community and reading about the subject are all things that can perhaps give some help.
In this, I think it’s good to consider what I “need” versus what I “want” but that’s not to say that I should only get what I absolutely need. Some of us may be called to an ascetic lifestyle perhaps, but most not (and I guess I’d say that’s not what I see as Marianist simplicity) but I would say that all are called to simplicity.

In the Health Care for the Homeless Clinicians’ Network we often talk about “self care.” In order to do this difficult ministry, not getting burned out is critical. What does that take? We need to be sure we don’t expect too much of ourselves, but we must discern what’s going to get us through the work week otherwise we can become a grumpy minister (and Community member) or end up opting out completely. At the same time as we contemplate "wants," we can’t be too easy on ourselves about what we “need!”

Some of what it takes for me costs nothing! Community, (works both ways!) friends, prayer, family, alone time, silence….But sometimes it can mean the cost of getting away for a vacation or retreat, going to dinner with community or a friend, or going to a concert. (I guess you can tell what lifts me up!)

Brother Bob with members of his Novitiate class—with whom he discerned a microwave purchase!

After a while, these kinds of discernment come more naturally (and quickly), but it’s important to make sure it doesn’t come too easily and isn’t overly influenced by our consumer culture. However, spending as much time as we spent on the decision about a microwave in the Novitiate is too much for a simple concern! We have to know that God still loves us no matter what our decision, so we shouldn’t get overly hung up about it as long as we’re faithful to the discernment.

In solidarity and simplicity,

Bob Donovan, SM

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