"So we live in a culture where shopping is virtuous and where greed is the hidden agenda. How can we overcome such overwhelming cultural forces and restore the purity of heart that we desire? We must first of all acknowledge that just as greed will always be present in our hearts in some form or other so consumer culture is going to be the place where we live even as we try to change that culture. We will need to shop at supermarkets and our children will need to buy trainers. Monks too will read the newspapers and use computers, travel by car and be tempted by the latest gadget. Yet this need not completely overwhelm our freedom of spirit and there are some simple ways that we can resist the consumer culture's takeover of our lives.

"Once a year in Lent, we English Benedictine monks have the custom of writing out what we call 'a poverty bill.' We write down an inventory of everything we have for our personal use and hand it to the abbot. It's a very revealing exercise and enables us to ask: do I need all this? I have the following rule of thumb: if I haven't used an item in the last twelve months since the last poverty bill then I probably don't need it, so I give it away. I recommend this practice to everybody; it is a wonderful way to heighten self-awareness about material possessions, is quite liberating and you may be amazed to discover what you don't need."