Motive: Serving the poor continues to make sense today. But the Vincentian soul has to ask: Does it make sense to serve the poor today? What are the demands of this service for which we are inspired by St. Vincent de Paul?
1. Introduction
Doubtlessly there are many ways of treating this topic which they have asked me to share with you. I am happy to do it, and my focus will be Vincentian. From the doctrine of Saint Vincent and from my experience of service to the poor in the mountains of Guerrero (México), I would like to offer you some reflections which might help you in your valuable service to the poor, and in your task of evangelizing families who carry out the Visits of the Virgin to the homes in your communities.
Among the many counsels of Saint Vincent to the Ladies of Charity, to the Missionaries and to the first Daughters of Charity, he often asked: What would Jesus do in my situation? Doubtlessly the techniques of communication would suggest a good number of strategies that would favor empathy with others. In our case as followers of Jesus Christ we would want to ask him also: Lord, how would you perform this service? How would you speak this message?
It is not enough to go to the poor. Today there are many people who attend them in different governmental and non-governmental offices, different religious groups who concern themselves with the needs of the poor. Lamentably all of this activity is not enough for the quantity and variety of situations in which the poor live and survive.
We would like to focus our attention on what we do that is special, distinctive, and our own. Let us begin with what we call attitude. This is an internal disposition in a given situation, that without speaking any words we manage to communicate by our gestures, postures, and inner silence much more than in our actions.
In the Gospel we see Jesus teaching in word and deed. We could also say that he taught with personal attitudes and what he expresses in his parables. Look at the story of the good Samaritan, the lost coin, the healings, the conversations with the Samaritan woman, and Nicodemus . . . In these we encounter the key for learning the typical attitudes of our Christian vocation, as did the Virgin Mary and Saint Vincent.
2. Remembering
For Saint Vincent the poor are his reason for being. He was not satisfied until he found a way to share it with those who had the same drive. They discovered it, and it impelled them to the end. Let us allow these words to resound in our hearts and minds. They are from the conference of March 16, 1642 to the Daughters of Charity about serving the sick poor.
“The first reason, said a daughter, is that the poor have the honor of representing the members of Jesus Christ, which considers the services that are done as deeds done to Him. The second is that the souls of the poor have in them the image of God, and consequently we must honor the Most Holy Trinity in them. The third is the advice that the Son of God has given us with his words and example; in order to show the disciples of Saint John that he was the Messiah, he told them that the poor had the good news preached to them and the sick were cured. The fourth is that helping to save a soul cooperates in a perfect fulfillment of the plan of God in the death of Jesus Christ”.
Motives are the seed of attitudes, hence we must pay great attention to them.
Serving the poor implies developing holistic, inclusive, and global attitudes. Attitudes of discernment, or gratitude and of unselfishness:
A Holistic Attitude
Showing that we serve the poor bodily and spiritually is to accept the commitment that we seek the whole person to be full of goodness, that we do not separate the human realities as if one were more important than another, that we respond to the needs that the poor show us.
An Inclusive and Global Attitude
To every kind of poor and in every place, there is no boundary when one is dealing with charity, with the love of God, and by the love of God.
Today, as in other times, humanity moves between the defense of the particular individual, and the inertia of the masses, the truly human is that which humanizes us, placing us in harmony either with ourselves, with the world and with others.
“…if there are some who believe that they are to evangelize the poor and not to care for them, to meet their spiritual needs and not their temporal ones, I would say to them that they need to help them and to help us and others who assist them in every way. If we would want to hear those pleasing words of the sovereign judge of the living and the dead: ‘Come, blessed of my Father; inherit the kingdom prepared for you, for I was hungry and you fed me; I was naked and you clothed me; sick and you comforted me’ To do this is to evangelize by word and deed; it is most perfect; and it is that which the Lord did.”
An Attitude of Discernment
The situations and contexts which surround the task of those who serve the poor are many. Whoever accepts the call to engage in the service of the poor constantly needs to exercise themselves in distinguishing the will of God. Saint Vincent expresses it when he warns us not to rush or lose sight of Providence.
The criterion which directs this discernment is the priority of service to the poor affectively and effectively, before the range of commitments that blend personal life, family life, group life, and the life of the Association. Therefore the effort is at all levels and in the spirit of communion.
A Grateful and Unselfish Attitude
Philanthropy is a level of charity, love for people, love for humanity. We certainly seek to love humanity, in its most suffering members because we believe that our Lord Jesus Christ is present in them. We want to love and serve the poor as a sign that the Kingdom of God proclaimed by Jesus Christ continues on.; by it the gratitude and unselfishness has profound effect on the actions which we perform for and with the poor because it is about the year of favor which continues while we live in this shared world.
Serving the Poor Is Being in Relationship With Them
Serving the poor is a gift, it is a task; we have to care for it and protect it from the occasions which threaten to reduce it to a political mode or strategy, because they are of course the beloved sons and daughters of God our Father.
The direct and personal encounter with which we respond to the poor is the seal of quality. We know their name, their history, their situation; this is what makes us interested in what happens to them and by which we strive or at least we are striving to go to meet them being prepared humanly and professionally.
“See, my brothers, how the priority of our Lord was to work for the poor. What directed others to do, he would hastily do. Poor us, if we are remiss in fulfilling our obligation!”
A Certain Professional Competency Is Needed
Serving the poor effectively implies developing the aptitudes which puts us in a position to offer them responses to their problems; it is not only about good intentions or desires to do good. The poor also have the right to receive the best of all and especially of those who claim unworthily to be Vincentians.
Let us remember some advice from Saint Vincent that refers to academic preparation:
- To study temperately, seeking to know only the things which concern us according to our situation.
- To study humbly, that is, without wanting to know anything that makes us say that we are wise; not wanting to be above others, but yielding to everyone. Ah, Fathers! Tell us, who would give us this humility which is what sustains us!
- One has to study how love relates to knowledge
Knowing How to Listen
Listening is the virtue which allows us to accept another as he is. Saint Vincent was a master of listening, because he put above all humility which considers others as a gift and instruments of the salvation of God for himself.
The needs of the poor, their sufferings joined to our great desire to help them, must refine our hearing, our listening. It is about serving effectively and this does not mean doing good things, but responding with fidelity and respect to those who ask. It means doing the will of God for the sake of each and every one, it is that which is at stake, in it is true happiness.
Our time is marked by the noise which brings about the haste, the urgency of phone calls, the slowness of procedures, the bombardment of telemarketing which at times makes it difficult for us to listen and to patiently wait. We need to learn to overcome these obstacles because on it depends our fidelity to Jesus Christ. Prayer and particular and general examinations of conscience would benefit our attitude toward God, ourselves, and the poor.
Maintaining Discretion and Objectivity
The suffering of the poor is the sacrament of the passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ. The delicacy in the use we make of that which others confide in us many times, builds their trust as a sign that we are truly witnesses of the love of God for them.
In the Book of Exodus we read the words the Lord directs to Moses when he wants him to approach the burning bush “…remove your sandals because the place where you stand is holy” (Ex 3, 5)
Serving From Communion
Vincent de Paul distinguished himself for his ability and his art of uniting strengths and hearts on behalf of the poor. Today we call it coordination or networking. It is unthinkable to offer the poor a service that has within it envy and rivalries, in a word, disunity. In the Gospel according to John our Lord asks the Father that his disciples live united, this unity is composed of three dimensions: in ourselves, among ourselves and God. This is the sign that the world may believe in Jesus Christ, who knows it and loves it. (Cf. Jn 17, 21)
Read, reflect and share:
We want to serve the poor—Why?
Which of the attitudes mentioned present a serious challenge for us?
What would we do to live out in a more Vincentian way our service to the poor?
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