Reflections on the Pope Paul VI lecture

Reflections on the Pope Paul VI lecture by Anna Nowakowska

"The first question I ask myself is, what does living simply mean… what is really being asked of me?"

Sound familiar?

Addressing a 500-strong audience at the Pope Paul VI Memorial Lecture on 14 November, Dr Mona Siddiqui opened her reflection on "live simply" with the same question I think we all began with.  At the very outset, for Christians and Muslims alike, the concept of living simply, sustainably and in solidarity with the poor raises fundamental and challenging questions about the possibilities for how we could be leading our lives.

As a Muslim and Professor of Islamic Studies and Public Understanding at the University of Glasgow, Mona Siddiqui explored the themes of livesimply from an Islamic perspective.  What came across so strongly to those of us in the audience was that although the Qur'anic route of her reflective journey was to many of us unfamiliar, the reflections and conclusions arrived at found many echoes in Catholic Social Teaching. 

For me, Mona's emphasis on our need to respect God's creation and to act justly towards others and the world around us - not as an act of charity but as an obligation arising from our relationship with God - resonated particularly strongly.  And where justice is the outcome we seek, compassion is the emotion that drives it.  "The challenge", Mona admits, "is to turn compassion into action."

And so the conclusion Mona came to in the lecture was that, for her, the challenge of living simply does not 'simply' mean having or doing less, but to understand herself better in a way that enables her to act more justly and compassionately. 

What strikes me is the extent to which Mona's conclusion echoes discussions at the livesimply theological conference held in September, where, for example, the theologian Tina Beattie said that for her, "living simply is to understand our deepest desires".

I emerged from Mona's lecture even more convinced of the universality of the livesimply message. We may approach it from different routes, different faiths, but the richness and complexity of the challenge inspires us all to understand ourselves better as a prelude to making personal and spiritual changes in our lives.

Read more about the lecture and download the text here