St. Ignatius Loyola imagined religious life in non-conventional terms. His monastery was the world; his prayer, to find God in all things; his work, whatever helped people. In this setting, the vows of poverty, chastity and obedience become instruments to enable Jesuits to do the work of God's realm.
The vow of poverty is focussed on using one's energies, talents, time and resources for the good of others. In an age when possessing means power over others, Jesuits take a serious promise to live in a public way as Christ did, believing that people are more important than things.
Chastity centers on one's affective, sexual life. It is a vow which orients one's energies to a love that people can trust. Jesuits should be men of openness and availability. Their chastity is the willingness to be available to all, not exclusively to one person or to one family. The Society of Jesus looks for men who are capable of directing their affective life towards all people, caring for them with the integrity of Christ himself.
Obedience, the touchstone of Jesuit life, is the call to find and follow the will of God, through prayer, discernment and dialogue with one's superior. The Jesuit places his entire being at the disposal of God for the service of God's people, to do the work of God's realm as presented to him by the Society through the superior.
The spirit of freedom contained in these vows is expressed by Ignatius in the prayer with which he ends the Spiritual Exercises:
Take, Lord, and receive all my liberty,
my memory, my understanding,
You have given all to me,
now I return it to you, Lord.
All is yours; do with it what you will.
Give me only your love and your grace,
that is enough for me.