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The motto of the whole Vincentian Family for 2017 that is going to shed light on it
all is: I was a stranger and you welcomed me (Matthew 25:35). As our sight is
directed toward our brothers and sisters, especially the most abandoned and those for
whom no one cares, in order to be sure that our reflecting, planning, and acting go in the
right direction, the path always needs to begin with us. The Feast of Saint Vincent de Paul
gives us a renewed opportunity to reflect on the reasons and ways of Vincents reflecting,
planning, and acting.
The theologian Karl Rahner, at the end of the 20th century, had pronounced these
prophetic words: The Christians of the 21st century are going to be mystics, or they will
not be. Why can we call Saint Vincent de Paul a Mystic of Charity?
I would like to invite and encourage each of us, individually and as a group, to
reflect, plan, and act on the following point:
upon the world with the eyes of Abba and Jesus and embraced everyone with the
unconditional love, warmth and energy of the Holy Spirit.
Vincents mysticism was the source of his apostolic action. The Mystery of Gods
love and the Mystery of the Poor were the two poles of Vincents dynamic love. But
Vincents Way had a third dimension, which was how he regarded time. Time was
the medium through which the Providence of God made itself known to him. He
acted according to Gods time, not his own. Do the good that presents itself to be
done, he advised. Do not tread on the heels of Providence.
Another aspect of time for Vincent was the presence of God here and now God
is here! (influence of Ruysbroek). God is here in time. God is here in persons, in
events, in circumstances, in poor people. God speaks to us now in and through
them. Vincent was a man of unfolding history in the deepest sense. He followed
the lead of Providence step by step. He had neither an ego-agenda nor an
ideology. It took him decades to arrive at such interior freedom, which is why
Vincents journey to holiness and freedom (1600-1625) is the key to understanding
the daily dynamic of the Apostle of Charity.
brothers: If we ask Our Lord, What did you come to do on earth? he answers, To
assist the poor. Anything else? To assist the poor. So, are we not very fortunate to
belong to the Mission for the same purpose that caused God to become man?
And if someone were to question a Missioner, wouldnt it be a great honor for him
to be able to say with Our Lord, He sent me to preach the good news to the poor
(CCD:XI:98). When he spoke about Christ, he could be rapturous. In 1655, he cried
out, Let us ask God to give the Company this spirit, this heart, this heart that
causes us to go everywhere, this heart of the Son of God, the heart of Our Lord,
the heart of Our Lord, the heart of Our Lord, that disposes us to go as He went
He sends us, like the apostles, to bring fire everywhere, to bring this divine fire, this
fire of love (CCD:XI:264).
For Vincent, the horizontal and the vertical dimensions of spirituality were both
indispensable. He saw love of Christ and love of the poor as inseparable. Again
and again, he urged his followers not just to act but also to pray, and not just to
pray but also to act. He heard an objection from his followers: But there are so
many things to do, so many house duties, so many ministries in town and country;
theres work everywhere; must we, then, leave all that to think only of God? And
he responded forcefully: No, but we have to sanctify those activities by seeking
God in them, and do them in order to find Him in them rather than to see that they
get done. Our Lord wills that we seek above all His glory, His kingdom, and His
justice, and, to do this, we make our primary concern the interior life, faith, trust,
love, our spiritual exercises, meditation, shame, humiliations, our work and
troubles, in the sight of God our Sovereign Lord. Once were grounded in seeking
Gods glory in this way, we can be assured that the rest will follow (CCD:XII:111).
In a ground-breaking 11-volume work written almost a century ago, Henri
Brmond described Saint Vincents era as the time of The Mystical Conquest. At
the conclusion of an eloquent chapter about Vincent, he stated: It was mysticism
that gave us the greatest of our men of works (Histoire littraire du sentiment
religieux en France, III La Conqute Mystique (Paris, 1921), p. 257).
To keep our reflecting, planning, and acting in the right direction as members of
the Vincentian Family, to help us reflect on Vincent as a Mystic of Charity, the many
Congregations that are part of the Vincentian Family or will become part in the future
have their own Constitutions as the first and most important source, and all the branches
as a whole have the writings and conferences of Saint Vincent de Paul, as well as the
writings and conferences of other blessed and saints of the Vincentian Family. May the
reading and praying of these texts be part of our daily commitments.
As we approach the Feast of Saint Vincent de Paul that we will celebrate with the
whole Vincentian Family, as well as with many other people, groups, and organizations
whom we touch and serve, may we be deeply encouraged by this moment of special
grace that Providence is putting in front of us, the birth 400 years ago of our common
spirituality and charism.
I wish each of us a wonderful celebration, as we continue our prayers for one another!
Toma Mavri, CM
Superior General