What Scripture passage underlies your consecrated life?

Sister Nancy Uhl, SNDdeN is a 2022 member of “The Life” panel, 20 sisters worldwide who answer questions about the life of women religious. The series is published in the Global Sisters Report. The article below was originally published here. Click here to learn more about Sister Nancy.

Scripture plays an outsize role in a Christian’s life. Scripture reminds us just how crazy in love with us God is. Scripture can be a guidebook, giving advice on how to live our lives faithfully. But the best of Scripture inspires. It takes us outside of ourselves. We want to be better.

In each stage of my life, as a married woman, as a mother and as a religious, different Scriptures spoke to me. When I was married, I thought about Joseph fleeing with his little family to Egypt. He demonstrated total fidelity to Mary and the role he was asked to play in the story of salvation. As a mother, I turned to the story of Jesus at the age of 12, disappearing to do his Father’s work. Mary and Joseph were frantic. I knew how that felt.

As a religious, I have been inspired by different passages. As a new sister, I took pride in myself when reading about the young rich man who couldn’t let go of his possessions. I felt attracted to being the laborer called to bring in the harvest. Now I know that we all are called to be those laborers, no matter the stage of our life. We are all called to total fidelity to our part in salvation history.

The passage in Scripture that especially inspires me today is the story of the poor widow’s mite. Jesus says, “But she, from her poverty, has contributed all she had, her whole livelihood” (Mark 12:44). My part of the story is being a member of a congregation of religious sisters, and living out my vows of poverty, chastity and obedience. Do I give all from my poverty or my abundance? Like most religious congregations, we share our material resources with the entire congregation. The vow of poverty is interpreted as living simply.

Am I living up to the example of the poor widow? Our basic needs are met by the congregation. Each of us has a responsibility to not use more than we need and in the way we use the resources of the planet. Are we keeping our carbon footprint as small as we can? This is challenging for an American. There is such abundance in our country. It is easy to fall into the pattern of acquiring.

So, I ponder the story of the poor widow who gave from her poverty. As religious women, we have a responsibility to not take more than we need. By not taking, we are giving. But it does not stop with not taking, we also have to work on solutions to the problems that overconsumption has created. We religious men and women need to be in the forefront of this.