ADVENT LETTER

Love is inventive to infinity and, as a

consequence, in the Eucharist you find it all
 ADVENT LETTER
To all the members of the Vincentian Family
Love is inventive to My dear sisters and brothers,
infinity and, as a May the grace and peace of Jesus be always with us!
consequence, in the
In my letter for the feast of our Founder on 27 Septem-
Eucharist you find it all ber 2016, I encouraged us to reflect on Saint Vincent de Paul as
a Mystic of Charity. From that letter on, we started reflecting
about what made Saint Vincent de Paul a Mystic of Charity.
In the Advent letter for the year 2016, we reflected on the
Incarnation as one of the pillars of Saint Vincent de Pauls spir-
ituality. In the 2017 Lenten letter, we reflected on the second pil-
lar of our Founders spirituality, the Holy Trinity. In this years
Rome, November 28, 2017 Advent letter, we will reflect on the third pillar of Saint Vincents
spirituality, the Eucharist.
In writing about the pillars of our spirituality and talking
about the Incarnation and the Holy Trinity, Saint Vincent sug-
gests that in the Eucharist, you find it all. He writes,
There can be no better way of paying the best honor pos-
sible to these mysteries [the Holy Trinity and the Incarna-
tion] than proper devotion to, and use of, the Blessed Eu-
charist, sacrament and sacrifice. It includes, as it were, all
the other mysteries of faith and, by itself, leads those who
receive Communion respectfully or celebrate Mass proper-
ly, to holiness and ultimately to everlasting glory. In this
way God, Unity and Trinity, and the Incarnate Word, are
paid the greatest honor. For these reasons, nothing should
be more important to us than showing due honor to this
sacrament and sacrifice. We are also to make a great effort
to get everyone else to pay it similar honor and reverence.
We should try, to the best of our ability, to achieve this by
preventing, as far as we can, any lack of reverence in word
or act, and by carefully teaching others what to believe
about so great a mystery, and how they should honor it.1
In the Eucharist, you find and can reflect, meditate, con-
template, adore, and have a personal encounter with all the stag-
es of Jesuss life from the Incarnation on:
Jesus in Marys womb
Jesus in the manger

1 CCD XIIIa, 455; Document 117a, Common Rules of the

Congregation of the Mission (17 May 1658). CCD refers to the series,
Vincent de Paul, Correspondence, Conferences, Documents, translat-
ed and edited by Jacqueline Kilar, DC; and Marie Poole, DC; et al; an-
notated by John W. Carven, CM; New City Press, Brooklyn and Hyde
Park, 1985-2014; future references to this work will use, as above, the
initials, CCD, followed by the volume number, then the page number.
 Jesus as a child in Nazareth living with his parents, Mary and Joseph
Jesus in His three-year mission proclaiming the Good News
Jesus in His suffering and death on the Cross
Jesuss Resurrection
Jesuss Ascension
The Holy Trinity
This understanding that in the Eucharist you find it all is accompanied by other prophetic and inspi-
rational words, coming from his deepest life experience, Love is inventive to infinity. One of the best known
of Vincents phrases, he used these specific words while talking about the Eucharist, trying to explain what the
Eucharist is, what the Eucharist does, what we find in the Eucharist. Jesuss imagination found this concrete
means to be with us always, to accompany us always, and to remain with us always until the end of the world.
His Love, inventive to infinity, keeps surprising us today, here and now!
Since love is inventive to infinity, after being affixed to the infamous stake of the cross to win the hearts and
souls of those by whom He wishes to be loved not to mention all the other innumerable schemes He used
for this purpose during His time spent among us foreseeing that His absence could cause some forgetful-
ness or cooling off in our hearts, He wanted to avoid this danger by instituting the Most August Sacrament,
in which He is as truly and substantially present as He is in heaven above. Furthermore, however, seeing
that, if He wanted to humble and empty himself even more than He had done in His Incarnation and could
make himself in some way more like us or at least make us more like Him He caused this venerable Sac-
rament to serve us as food and drink, intending by this means that the same union and resemblance that
exist between nature and substance should occur spiritually in each human person. Because love can do
and will everything, He willed it thus; and for fear that, if people didnt understand this incredible mystery
and scheme of love, they might neglect to approach this Sacrament, He has obliged them to do so under
pain of incurring His eternal displeasure. Nisi manducaveritis carnem Filii hominis, non habebitis vitam
(Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man, you will not have life (cf. John 6:53)).2
If we find it all in the Eucharist, then it is there that Jesus speaks to us here and now from His Mothers
womb. He speaks to us here and now from the manger as a newborn child. He speaks to us here and now as a
child in Nazareth. He speaks to us here and now as the person sent by the Father who went about doing good.
He speaks to us here and now from His suffering and death on the Cross. He speaks to us here and now from
His Resurrection. He speaks to us here and now from His Ascension. He speaks to us here and now as one of
the three Persons of the Trinity. The here-and-now reality of every human being from the time of conception
until death is ever present in the here and now of the Eucharist, as the here and now of the Eucharist is present
in the here and now of every human being.
When He instituted the Blessed Sacrament, He said to His Apostles, Desiderio desideravi hoc pascha
manducare vobiscum (cf. Luke 22:15), which means I have ardently desired to eat this pasch with you.
Now, since the Son of God, who gives himself to us in the Holy Eucharist, desired this with such an ardent
desire desiderio desideravi isnt it right that the soul who desires to receive Him, and of whom He is the
sovereign good, should desire Him with all her heart? Rest assured, Sisters, that what He said to His Apos-
tles He still says to each one of you. Thats why you must try to stir up your desire by some good thought
such as You desire to come to me, my Lord, and who am I? But I, my God, desire with all my heart to go to
you, for you are my sovereign good and my last end. The late Bishop of Geneva used to say that He always
celebrated Mass as if it were for the last time, and received Communion as if it were Viaticum. Thats an
excellent practice and I advise you, as strongly as possible, dear Sisters, to adopt it.3
Dear sisters and brothers, the time of Advent gives us a wonderful opportunity to deepen and fortify
this third pillar of our Vincentian spirituality, the Eucharist, this Love inventive to infinity, this place where
we find it all! To this end, I suggest taking the following steps to bring to life, renew, or deepen the place of the

2 CCD XI, 131-132; Conference 102, Exhortation to a Dying Brother, 1645.

3 CCD IX, 265; Conference 31, Holy Communion, 18 August 1647.
Eucharist in our lives:
1) Before the celebration of the Holy Mass, take time in silence to prepare to accompany Jesus on His way
to Calvary, the Cross, His death, and the Resurrection.
2) After the celebration of the Holy Mass, take time in silence to thank Jesus for being able to witness and
take part over and over again in His Sacrifice, Death, and Resurrection.
3) Once a week, have at least half an hour of Adoration before the Blessed Sacrament for the whole com-
munity, or participate at the Adoration in the parish or where Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament is
available.
4) Every time we leave the house to go somewhere, stop at the house chapel or passing by a church enter
for a moment to ask Jesus in the Tabernacle to accompany us where we plan to go, in the service we are
called to deliver, in the task we would like to accomplish.
After adoring the Blessed Sacrament there and offering God the work they are about to do, they will ask
Him for the grace of telling the sick poor what He wants said to them on His behalf for their salvation.4
5) Every time we come back from somewhere, stop at the house chapel or church to thank Jesus for all His
blessings.
We should also keep up other worthwhile practices customary in the Congregation, such as to visit the
chapel immediately before going out and after coming in, greeting Christ in the Blessed Sacrament.5
6) During the day, make some short visit to Jesus in the Tabernacle to help renew our inner peace, to rec-
ollect our thoughts, to receive a sign or response to questions and doubts that are present in our minds
at a particular moment.
Now, when someone says something rude to you that you find hard to bear, dont answer back, but raise
your heart to God to ask Him for the grace to put up with that for love of Him, and go before the Blessed
Sacrament to tell your troubles to Our Lord.6
I asked our confrere, Emeric Amyot dInville a missionary in Madagascar, to share a personal reflection
on the Eucharist. May his thoughts inspire your own contemplation.
Saint Vincent accorded a very special importance to the Eucharist, both in the spiritual life of his spiri-
tual sons and daughters and in missionary preaching. It must continue to hold this central place for us
today. Allow me to share with you some points that seem to me to be of particular importance for our
spiritual life and our apostolate today.
This first reflection is directed specifically to priests. I would like to highlight an important and some-
times neglected fact: when we, ministers of the Eucharist, celebrate Mass, we become one with Christ,
because of our ministerial priesthood: Acting in the name and in the person of Christ the head, we enter
into the I of the only high priest, Jesus. We lend Him our voice, our hands, and our heart so that, say-
ing Jesuss very words in the first person, This is my body This is my blood, He changes the bread
into His Body and the wine into His Blood. A greater intimacy with Christ then occurs for us, priests,
which we must savor every day and which gives a very profound meaning to our priestly identity.
By virtue of our Baptism, all of us, Vincentian priests, brothers, sisters, and laity, are the faithful of
Christ, to use the Councils expression. Therefore, because of the common priesthood of the faithful that
we share, it is up to us all, without distinction, to offer to the Father our life and that of all those around
us in union with the Eucharistic offering of Christ. During Mass, at the offertory or even during the
elevation, let us take time to unite our life and that of the world and the Church to the offering of Jesus
to his Father in order to give Him glory and to receive graces and blessings from Him. This is how our
Mass takes on a special human density that is offered to God the Father through Christ.

4 CCD XIIIb, 382; Document 186, Preparing the Sick of the Htel-Dieu for General Confession (1636).
5 CCD XIIIa, 460; Document 117a, Common Rules of the Congregation of the Mission, (17 May 1658).
6 CCD X, 150; Conference 74, Love of Physical and Moral Sufferings (Common Rules, Article 6), 23 July 1656.
 Without distinction, we, who are the faithful, all receive Communion, the culmination of the Mass. The
words of Jesus in Saint Johns Gospel, Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and
I in him (6:56), must nourish and guide our thanksgiving after communion to make of it a silent and
contemplative moment of loving intimacy with the Christ of whom John said, in his introduction to
the account of the Passover meal, He loved his own in the world and he loved them to the end (13:1b).
Christ, who loved [us] to the end in His passion as in His Eucharist, which is the memorial of that pas-
sion, awaits our love in response to His. This is the time, after communion, to express it to Him in a
silent and fervent prayer. Our communion will be as good as our thanksgiving.
Finally, after Mass, far from saying goodbye to Jesus whom we would leave in the silence of the taberna-
cle, we set off with Him, remaining in Him and He in us, to live with Him and in Him our day with its
encounters, joys, sorrows, and responsibilities. We go forth with Him to those with whom we live and
who are entrusted to our care. We, Vincentians, go out to evangelize the poor, to serve them corporally
and spiritually, to proclaim to them the word of life, and to be at the service of their human promotion
following Christ, the evangelizer of the poor and in union with Him.
Whoever remains in me and I in him will bear much fruit (John 15:5). This is the objective of the
Eucharist and the secret of the spiritual fruitfulness of our life and our apostolate.

May the reflection, meditation, contemplation, adoration, and personal encounter with Jesus in the
Eucharist and Blessed Sacrament, Jesuss inventive love to infinity, where we find it all, help us to prepare for
the coming Christmas celebrations as well as for the lifelong mission we are called to fulfill!

Your brother in Saint Vincent,

Toma Mavri, CM
Superior General