The Vest as Metaphor for Spiritual Vice

And he said to them, "Take care! Be on your guard 

against all kinds of greed; for one's life does not consist 

in the abundance of possessions." (Lk 12.15)

"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, 

what you will eat or what you will drink,  

or about your body, what you will wear. 

Is not life more than food, 

and the body more than clothing?" (Mt 6.25)  

I know what you're thinking: "You had me at vest."

I wear a vest pretty much everywhere I go (not to bed) these days. Most of the time I wear this vest:

Breaking News—No one has ever accused me of being a fashion trendsetter.  

I’m not proud. I’m not ashamed either. My mother and sisters, who had for years tried ever so gently to edge me toward what was in those days referred to as “preppy”, took one look at me after my first semester in college with my worn cargo pants and ill-fitting XXL t-shirt, and, well, they just gave up. Now I wear an awesome vest. I’m not even trying to popularize the vest, but if this does spark a new trend, far be it from me to stand in the way.

Don't tell me that I don't make this look good

I get a lot of questions about the vest. Questions like: “What’s with the vest?” And “Is that a vest?” And “You’re wearing a vest…” which isn’t really a question but the person’s voice goes up at the end which makes it an implied interrogative. There are also the haters who like to say, “Are you going fishing later?” or “Where’s your fishing pole?”—lots of fishing comments, basically. Sometimes a hunting joke. Occasionally I get a more refined photographer remark thrown my way.

Frankly, had I known how provocative a vest would be, I would have bought one a long time ago. Seriously, some of you are a little worked up about the vest. OK, OK; I'm a little worked up about the vest. Because it's awesome, and how could I not be worked up?!?!

People sometimes ask me if I wear the vest to work. I wear this business everywhere. Does it "go" with the collar, you ask? When I wear it, yeah, it goes.


But why a vest? It's a fair question. And I have two responses after some reflection:

First it's really about the stuff. The vest, in what it lacks in sartorial sense, it more than makes up for in function. As you can tell, the vest has a lot of pockets, and those pockets allow me to carry all the important stuff that I need. Wallet. Keys. Smartphone. Wee notebook to write all my important thoughts and sermon notes in. Pen. Rosary to help draw me in the Spirit's tether. Chapstick. Other stuff. In short the vest provides a convenience. Of course, many people have asked, why not a man-purse? This is a ridiculous question to ask a person wearing a righteous vest. A vest is vastly superior to a bag or purse. It's a purse that I wear about my torso. A helpful colleague did coin for me the term "murst", that is man-purse + vest. The vest keeps all my needful business in one convenient wear-around-your-torso-and-look-good-doing-it kind of place.

But the vest also does highlight something else and not unrelated to the first response: It's about the stuff. For good or ill. There is a lot of stuff that I am pretty well convinced that I need just to function on any given day as a human being. I mean, what if I didn't have all my precious stuff? Don't let's pretend that I don't use my vocation to further justify all the stuff that I need. What if I get a brilliant sermon idea, for instance? It's not like the Holy Spirit is on my schedule for inspiration. Better have a wee notebook handy--oh, and a pen, a really nice fountain pen. Or what about the smartphone in which I store further virtual stuff that I need?

It took weeks for me to refine this pocket distribution

As much as I like wearing the vest, and having all the stuff at my disposal, I recognize that, as with clothing and outward appearance, I do have an unnatural fixation on the possessions without which, I have convinced myself, I would not be able to do my job to the fullest of my abilities.

Is my vest a vice? It might seem like a bit of a stretch, but I do confess that my vest is worn in defiance of Jesus admonition to his disciples in their ministry of the gospel: "Take no gold, or silver, or copper in your belts, no bag for your journey, or two tunics, or sandals, or a staff; for laborers deserve their food" (Mt 10.9-10). Or as Paul--in the Epistle reading from the Ash Wednesday liturgy--suggests to the community in Corinth, "...As servants of God we have commended ourselves in every way: through great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities, beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger; by purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, holiness of spirit, genuine love, truthful speech, and the power of God; with the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and for the left; in honor and dishonor, in ill repute and good repute. We are treated as impostors, and yet are true; as unknown, and yet are well known; as dying, and see—we are alive; as punished, and yet not killed; as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing everything" (2Cor 6.7-10). 

There is an absurdity to this reflection, I know. I would like to pause and acknowledge that I'm writing a fairly kooky blog in general, so in the grander scheme of things we might allow for some absurdity.

But I simply cannot ignore the fact that  I do take some equipment and a spare (and literal) tunic along with me in my ministry--whether I need all that stuff or not. And sometimes (maybe even often) some of that stuff might be just a tad more important than the less tangible elements of my ministry, as Paul in the 2nd letter to the Corinthians illustrates.

I am reminded of where St. Benedict calls ownership of anything a "wicked vice." In Chapter 33 of The Rule of St. Benedict, he writes: "Let no one presume to give or receive anything...or to have anything as his own--anything whatever, whether book or tablets or pen or whatever it may be--since they are not permitted to have even their bodies or wills at their own disposal...and let no one say or assume that anything is his own." We might balk a bit at Benedict's strenuous language. But I know that sometimes the stuff gets in the way, spiritually speaking.