“Why and how can I describe Saint Vincent as a Mystic of Charity?” – Superior General, Fr. Tomaž Mavrič, C.M.  asks members of the Congregation of the Mission in his first message for the feast of St. Vincent de Paul 

Rome, 19 September 2016

“Why and how can I describe Saint Vincent as a Mystic of Charity?” – Superior General, Fr. Tomaž Mavrič, C.M.  asks members of the Congregation of the Mission in his first message for the feast of St. Vincent de Paul 

Rome, 19 September 2016

FEAST OF SAINT VINCENT DE PAUL

Dear Confreres,

May the grace and peace of Jesus be always with us!

It is with great joy and thankfulness to each of you, my dear confreres, who are serving “our lords and masters” all around the world, that I address this letter to you for the first time as Superior General. I would like to express my deep gratitude and admiration to all of you living and serving even in the farthest corners of the globe as witnesses to Jesus’ love! We are all servants and it is wonderful to know that in this service we are never alone. It is Jesus, our Mother Mary, Saint Vincent de Paul, Saint Louise de Marillac, and all the other blessed and saints of the Vincentian Family who accompany us on the journey.

Let me take this moment to thank profoundly Father Gregory Gay, CM, our Superior General for the last twelve years, as well as Fathers Stanislav Zonták, CM, and Eli Chaves dos Santos, CM, and all the rest of the confreres, Daughters of Charity, and laity who had so tirelessly and with so much enthusiasm and dedication served in our general administration in Rome for the last six years to make possible the affective and effective proclamation of the Good News to the Poor.

I also would like to use this opportunity to thank so very much all of you who had written to me after my election as Superior General and expressed so wholeheartedly your good wishes and, in a special way, your promise of regular prayer. As it will not be possible for me to respond and thank each one of you individually, be assured that you are included personally in these words of thankfulness, as I extend to each of you my promise of daily remembrance in prayer.

We recently celebrated our 42nd General Assembly that left us with concrete goals for the next six years, which we will be addressing together in the years to come. It is a moment of “special grace” that Providence is offering us in the upcoming 400th Anniversary (1617- 2017) of our Vincentian Spirituality and Charism. Many of you already have begun intensive planning to share and encourage others to follow our Vincentian spirituality and charism on the local, national, and international levels as community, province, vice-province, or international mission together with the other branches of the Vincentian Family who are present in your specific area or territory. I encourage all of us to keep reflecting, planning, and acting together as how best to share with others this “special moment of grace.”

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 Vincent’s 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 confrere to reflect, plan, and act on the following two points:

I.  Individually respond to why and how I can describe Vincent as a Mystic of Charity. 

I asked three of our confreres, who had reflected and written on this subject in the past, to share a short personal reflection. May these thoughts help us to renew and deepen our own reflections.

1. Father Hugh O’Donnell, C.M.

We all know Vincent was a man of action, so we may be surprised to hear him also referred to as a mystic. But in fact it was his mystical experience of the Trinity and in particular the Incarnation that was the font of all his actions in favor of poor people. Henri Brémond, the distinguished historian of French spirituality, was the first to bring it to our attention. He said, “…it is (Vincent’s) mysticism which gave us the greatest of the men of action.” André Dodin and José María Ibañez later called Vincent a “mystic of action” and Giuseppe Toscani, CM, united mysticism and action and came to the heart of the matter in calling him “a mystic of Charity.” Vincent lived in a century of mystics, but he stood out as the Mystic of Charity.

Being a mystic implies experience, the experience of Mystery. For Vincent it meant a deep experience of the Mystery of God’s Love. We know that the Mysteries of the Trinity and the Incarnation were at the heart of his life. The experience of the Trinity’s inclusive love of the world and the Incarnate Word’s unconditional embrace of every human person shaped, conditioned, and fired his love of the world and everyone in it, in particular, sisters and brothers in need. He looked upon the world with the eyes of Abba and Jesus and embraced everyone with the unconditional love, warmth and energy of the Holy Spirit.

Vincent’s mysticism was the source of his apostolic action. The Mystery of God’s love and the Mystery of the Poor were the two poles of Vincent’s dynamic love. But Vincent’s 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 God’s 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 Vincent’s journey to holiness and freedom (1600-1625) is the key to understanding the daily dynamic of the Apostle of Charity.

2. Father Robert Maloney, C.M. 

When we speak of mystics, we usually think of people who have extraordinary religious experiences. Their quest for God moves from active search to passive presence. They pray, as Saint Paul says to the church in Rome (8:26), “with sighs and groans too deep for human words.” Mystics have ecstatic moments when they are completely lost in God, “whether in the body or out of the body, I do not know,” as Saint Paul recounts his experience in 2 Corinthians 12:3. At times, they have visions and receive private revelations. They attempt, with difficulty, to describe for others their moments of intense light and painful darkness. Saint Vincent knew the writings of mystics like Teresa of Avila and John of the Cross. Though generally cautious about unusual spiritual phenomena, he admired Madame Acarie, one of the renowned mystics of his day, who lived in Paris during his early years there.

Vincent’s brand of mysticism was strikingly different. He found God in the people and events around him. His “visions” were deeply Christological. He saw Christ in the face of the poor. To use a phrase from the Jesuit tradition that has become popular in Vincentian documents, he was a “contemplative in action.” Christ led him to the poor and the poor led him to Christ. When he spoke of the poor and when he spoke of Christ, his words were often ecstatic. He told his priests and 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, wouldn’t 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; there’s 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 we’re grounded in seeking God’s glory in this way, we can be assured that the rest will follow” (CCD:XII:111-112).

In a ground-breaking 11-volume work written almost a century ago, Henri Brémond described Saint Vincent’s 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 littéraire du sentiment religieux en France, III « La Conquête Mystique » (Paris, 1921), p. 257).

3.  Father Thomas McKenna, C.M. 

For this title to serve well, the word “mystic” has to be understood in its most general sense. The more popular connotation is that of a person who has more or less “direct” experience of God (visions, voices, leanings, sounds), more unmediated than not. The literature of mysticism describes experiences like ecstasies, being taken up into “a third heaven,” taken out of oneself and “sinking into” the Mystery (e.g., into the Abyss, Ocean, Ground) who is God. Its vocabulary is distinctive; e.g., progressively deeper inner mansions, active and passive contemplation, purgative/illuminative/unitive stages, passing beyond oneself, dark nights and dazzling darkness. By contrast, Vincent’s language for religious experience was quite simple and direct, and neither did he testify to these kinds of occurrences in his own life.

But the word mystic can be applied in a wider sense. That is to say, it might refer to someone who has a lived and felt contact with the sacred in life, and who responds to that encounter in service to the neighbor. Under this broader meaning, Vincent can be thought of as a mystic.

The more inclusive sense might be something like this. A mystic is one who listens to and gets caught up into God’s love for creation, and who then commits himself both to recognizing that love in the world and also bringing it there. For Vincent, this love (better, “loving”) of God revealed itself especially in people who were poor and marginalized. He came to recognize them both as privileged bearers of God’s love and as particularly deserving recipients of it. And he followed up on this by actively bringing the Good News of that love to those poor ones.

Much like the way the right lyrics can draw out the deeper beauty of a melody, the words from Isaiah that Jesus spoke in Luke chapter 4 gave a particularly resonant expression to Vincent’s experience of God. Here was Jesus announcing not only His own mission from His Father, but also His own experience of His Abba as Love for the world, especially for the downcast: “I have been sent to bring the Good News to the poor.” To paraphrase, “The fire of my Father’s love (“loving”) is burning within me, and it drives me to bring just that love to the world, most especially to the poor ones in it.” To follow the analogy, Vincent recognized these words as the lyrics to a melody that had been playing deeper and deeper within him. It was as if on hearing this text at a particular juncture in his life, Vincent said something like “Aha! That’s it! Those words catch just how I’m experiencing God’s love – and just how I want to spend my life in responding and spreading it.”

Another angle. You might describe Vincent as a “bi-spectacled” mystic. That is to say, he was (seeing) experiencing the same God through two different lenses, both at much the same time. One lens was his own prayer; the other was the person who was poor as well as the world he or she lived in. Each angle of view influenced the other, the one deepening and sharpening the perception of its opposite. Vincent “saw” (and felt) God’s love through both these perspectives at the same time and acted vigorously to respond to what he was seeing.

To keep our reflecting, planning, and acting in the right direction as members of the Congregation of the Mission, as missionaries who follow Jesus Christ the Evangelizer of the Poor in the steps of Saint Vincent, to help us reflect on Vincent as a Mystic of Charity, we have our Constitutions and our Common Rules, which are the compendium and synthesis of all our spirituality and the base for our life as members of the Congregation of the Mission.

II. Each confrere should carry, together with the breviary and Holy Bible, in the chapel, on the road, on vacation, the Constitutions and the Common Rules. If for any reason a confrere does not have a copy of the Constitutions and our Common Rules, he should ask his provincial or superior to help him get one. 

I suggest, and wish with my whole heart, that each one of us, from the youngest to the oldest confrere, follow and respond to Saint Vincent’s call in our first Constitutions, the Common Rules, as written by him in the last paragraph, “Each one is to have his own copy … and should read them through, or hear them read, every three months” (CR 12, 14).

In this regard I suggest you take into consideration both: our present Constitutions and the Common Rules and read and pray them alternatively: the first three months, the Common Rules, followed the next three months by the Constitutions and so on and that this become a lifelong commitment. As we pray the breviary and read and pray the Bible on a daily basis, we will make sure to do the same with our Common Rules and Constitutions.

To assist us in the reflection of what it means to me to see Vincent as a Mystic of Charity, his other writings and conferences certainly will accompany us, as well as the writings and conferences of other blessed and saints of the Vincentian Family.

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.

I wish each of us a wonderful celebration, as we continue our prayers for one another!

Your brother in Saint Vincent,

Tomaž Mavrič, C.M.
Superior General

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Father Gregory Gay is addressing Vincentian Family in his last Lenten Letter as Superior General of the Congregation of the Mission. He uses stories to help us reflect on Lent as a time for fasting and time for prayer telling stories from his personal journey and Jesus story. In all themes he [...]]]>

Father Gregory Gay is addressing Vincentian Family in his last Lenten Letter as Superior General of the Congregation of the Mission. He uses stories to help us reflect on Lent as a time for fasting and time for prayer telling stories from his personal journey and Jesus story. In all themes he invites us to writes new stories, our stories.

Rome, Lent 2016  

My Dear Brothers and Sisters, Members of the Vincentian Family,

Lent: a time for Fasting

A Story: During a visit to Venezuela where I met with members of the various branches of the Vincentian Family, people spoke about the country’s social and economic crisis and its impact on everyday life. People have to wait in long lines to buy basic foodstuffs such as bread, milk, rice, beans, etc.; people have to wait in long lines to purchase soap, toothpaste, paper products; people have to wait in long lines to obtain medicine and medical supplies; people have to wait in long lines at bus stations because of reduced schedules resulting from fewer spare parts and no new tires for those vehicles used in public transportation; people have to wait in long lines in order to obtain travel visas and again they have to wait in even longer lines at airports. Waiting for hours, however, provides no guarantee that one will obtain the desired goods and provides no guarantee that one will not hear those dreaded words: we have run out of bread (or whatever one is looking for). That declaration means that one will have to wait until the following week since one can only become part of “long line” when the last number of one’s personal identity card corresponds to a specific day of the week. At the same time, however, people have spoken about positive effects of this crisis, pointing out the fact that the bonds of solidarity have been strengthened. One of our confreres stated that the present situation has led them to adopt a simpler lifestyle and has brought the community closer to the reality of the poor. This social, economic, and political situation and its negative and positive elements can be viewed as a movement from the cross (the crisis) to the resurrection (solidarity and greater identification with the situation of those who are poor).

A Jesus Story:  And the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us (John 1:14). God, all loving, all merciful, all compassionate, never abandoned humankind. In times past, God spoke in partial and various ways to our ancestors through the prophets; in these last days, he spoke to us through a son (Hebrews 1:1-2). Jesus mingled among the people who formed the long lines of outcasts, waiting and hoping to participate as active members of society. Jesus fed the multitudes and not only was no one turned away but baskets and baskets of leftovers were gathered up (Mark 6:34-44). Jesus extended unconditional forgiveness to sinners, seventy times seven (Matthew 18:22) and exhorted his followers to be as compassionate toward their brothers and sisters as God was compassionate toward them (Luke 6:36). As a result of the Incarnation, Jesus today can be found in all those long lines that are found in countless cities throughout the world, long lines of men and women who cry out every hour of every day, demanding to be included as equal members of society.

A New Story: Yes, Lent is a time for fasting, but during this Year of Mercy our fasting must take on a new form, one that leads to personal and community conversion. Our fast should mean that we can never be accused of passivity, indulgence or culpable complicity regarding the intolerable situations of injustice and the political regimes which prolong them (Evangelii Gaudium, #194). Our fasting must penetrate our very being, must pain us to the very depths so that we can hear and understand anew the cries of our brothers and sisters. Then, as we listen to those cries, let us run to serve them as if we were running to a fire [note]Vincent de Paul, Correspondence, Conferences, Documents, translated and edited by Jaqueline Kilar, DC; and Marie Poole, DC; et al; annotated by John W. Carven, CM; New City Press, Brooklyn and Hyde Park, 1985-2014; volume XI, p. 25; future references to this work will be inserted into the text using the initials [CCD] followed by the volume number, then the page number, for example, CCD:XI:25.[/note] . Let us remember, however, that as we establish relationships with those on the peripheries, we have to sympathize with them in order to suffer with them … we have to … make them [our hearts] sensitive to the sufferings and the miseries of our neighbor, and ask God to give us the true spirit of mercy, which is the characteristic spirit of God (CCD XI:308). May our fast during this Lenten season give us, members of the Vincentian Family, a new heart, a heart of flesh, a heart that enables us to establish ever stronger bonds with our lords and masters, with the countless men and women who are forgotten and abandoned throughout the world. May our Lenten fast reflect that same movement that our brothers and sisters in Venezuela experience, a movement from the cross (our own situation of crisis) to the resurrection (solidarity and greater identification with the situation of those who are poor).

Lent: a time for Prayer

A Story: Last month, on the Feast of the Epiphany, I traveled to Notre Dame de Prime-Combe, a shrine that is administered by the confreres from the Province of Toulouse and by a well-prepared lay pastoral team. At one time as many as 50,000 people would gather together to celebrate the feast. Today, perhaps 300 people come to commemorate the Feast of Our Lady, but each Sunday, whenever possible, a confrere celebrates the Eucharist there. I was deeply impressed by the simple faith of the some 50 members of the congregation who had gathered there to celebrate the Eucharist. They were, all of them, 60 years of age or older (no young people were present). Sharing life with this community of faith is a group of Benedictine monks who, since the 1990s, have lived in one of the buildings on the grounds of our property. This group of monks, however, is a very special community. Each member lives with some handicap. Yet, these men lead their lives in a joyful and simple manner and provide the surrounding community with a powerful example of the manner in which work and prayer can be interwoven with one another.

A Jesus Story: Jesus often withdrew from the crowds and from his disciples in order to spend some time in prayer. He told his followers: pray for those who persecute you (Matthew 5:44) and he himself prayed that they may all be one, as you, Father, are in me and I in you (John 17:21). We are all familiar with the account of Jesus’ anguished prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane (Mark 14:32-42). At the same time Jesus extoled the humble prayer of the tax collector: O God, be merciful to me a sinner and stated that it was the tax collector who went home justified because those who humble themselves will be exalted (Luke 18:9-14). Jesus also praised the generous offering of the poor widow who went up to Jerusalem to pray (Mark 12:43-44). Before he departed this world, Jesus left his followers the legacy of a prayer that combines two great desires centered on God, with three cries of petition centered on the urgent basic needs of humanity. Jesus tells the Father the two desires of his heart: hallowed be your name and your kingdom come. That is followed by the three cries of petition: give us bread, forgive our debts, and do not bring us to the time of trial [note]José Antonio Pagola, Jesus: An Historical Approximation, translated: Margaret Wilde, Convivium Press, Miami, 2014, p. 313-316. [/note] . As a result of the Incarnation, God understands our needs, understands that we are broken and wounded, and in the person of Jesus all those realities are raised up to the Father!

A New Story: Yes, Lent is a time for prayer, and our prayer, like our fasting, must also take on a new form during this Year of Mercy, one that leads to personal community conversion. Without prolonged moments of adoration, of prayerful encounter with the word, of sincere conversation with the Lord, our work easily becomes meaningless; we lose energy as a result of weariness and difficulties, and our fervour dies out. The Church urgently needs the deep breath of prayer (Evangelii Gaudium, #262). Our prayer and fasting give meaning to our ministry/service and our ministry/service gives meaning to our prayer and fasting. My hope is that during these 40 days of Lent we might take time not only to listen to the cries of the poor, not only to serve and minister on behalf of the poor, but to pray with the poor. Furthermore, are not all of us like the members of the Benedictine community at Notre Dame de Prime-Combe, that is, are we not in some way broken and in need of healing, in need of the prayers of others? Therefore, like the Benedictine monks, our “handicaps” should not prevent us from contributing to the building up of our community, the association, the Congregation.

Finally, what would it be like to ask people, as Pope Francis continually does, please pray for me?  What would it be like to invite the poor into our homes to share with them a time of prayer? I would encourage you to do this and then during the Easter Season we could share with one another our experience of sharing prayer in such a manner with our lords and masters.

May our prayer and fasting enable us to die with Christ during this Lenten Season of 2016 so that we might rise with Christ on Easter Sunday and sing our song of Alleluia.

Your brother in Saint Vincent,

G. Gregory Gay, C.M.
Superior General

You may read and/or download the Lenten Letter
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Preparing the way for the Lord, as Father Gregory Gay, Superior General of the Congregation of the Mission reminds us in his Advent Letter  that we are  getting on the path that will make us mediators who bring God’s promises to fulfillment. Continue to read his message here, download it, get it on your [...]]]>

Preparing the way for the Lord, as Father Gregory Gay, Superior General of the Congregation of the Mission reminds us in his Advent Letter  that we are  getting on the path that will make us mediators who bring God’s promises to fulfillment. Continue to read his message here, download it, get it on your mobile device as eBook or read in other languages. 

 A path that will make us
effective mediators of

God’s promises

I will be your God and you will be my people! (Leviticus 26:12).
My love shall never leave you! (Isaiah 54:10).
I rescued the poor who cried out for help, the orphans, and the unassisted! (Job 29:12).
Behold, I am doing something new … do you not perceive it? (Isaiah 43:19).
Everyone who lives and believes in me will never die! (John 11:26).
Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood remain in me and I in them! (John 6:56).
I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you (John 14:18).
Behold, I am with you always until the end of the age (Matthew 28:20).

Rome, Advent 2015

My Dear Brothers and Sisters, Members of the Vincentian Family,

Those biblical texts embody and express the covenant relationship that God established with humankind. All the promises that I have referenced above require a form of presence in order for those words to be fulfilled. Let me place before you some examples to explain what I mean.

When the people cried out against their oppressors who had enslaved them in Egypt [God was present, listening to their cries], God called Moses: Come, now! I will send you to Pharaoh to lead my people out of Egypt (Exodus 3:10) [God was present, initiating a solution to the situation]. After a bitter struggle Pharaoh relented and the people crossed the Red Sea to begin their journey through the wasteland [God was present, saving the people]. When the people were hungry, God provided them with manna; when they were thirsty, water flowed from the rocks [God was present accompanying the people in their time of need]. Indeed, God became present in the midst of the people’s struggles through Moses’s leadership. Centuries later, when people gathered in another deserted place to listen to the teachings of the Master, they witnessed the multiplication of the loaves and the fish and their hunger was satisfied [God was present, this time physically in the person of Jesus, as teacher and healer and comforter]. The Master, however, desired to satisfy not only their physical hunger, but also their spiritual hunger: I am the bread of life; those who come to me will never hunger and those who believe in me will never thirst (John 6:35). The following words from the letter to the Hebrews sum up what I am attempting to say: In times past, God spoke in partial and various ways to our ancestors through the prophets; in these last days he spoke to us through a son (Hebrews 1:1-2).

What has any of this to do with the liturgical season of Advent? We, as Vincentians, are called to continue the mission of Jesus Christ by proclaiming the Good News to those people who are marginalized and living on the peripheries of society: Yes, Our Lord asks us to evangelize the poor; that’s what He did, and what He wants to continue to do through us⁵. As we engage in this process of evangelization, we are preparing the way for the Lord and, at the same time, we become mediators who bring to fulfillment God’s promises. Through our various ministries/services, we unite ourselves with John the Baptist’s desire: he must increase, but I must decrease (John 3:30).

A Missionary Experience

Let me use one of my missionary experiences to illustrate this point. During my visit to the Province of Madagascar in 2011, at the time of its centennial celebration, our confrere, Father Anton Kerin, shared with me some of his experiences as he engaged in ministry in a very remote part of that country. He spoke about the joy that he experienced as he saw the ways in which the Good News of Jesus was becoming rooted in the people. Father also spoke about the difficulties that he encountered as he attempted to give witness to people who had never before heard the name of Jesus. I desired to see this mission for myself and so I promised Father Anton that I would visit him on a subsequent trip. It was not until April 2015 that I was able to fulfill that promise. In order to do so I had to travel for two days over some of the worst roads I have seen during my eleven years as superior general. Obviously, I was unable to travel this distance by myself since I had no familiarity with the roads. This meant, then, that others had to accompany me. In this specific instance, the Visitor, a layman, and Father Anton (who drove the last nine hours, the most difficult part of the trip) became my companions on the journey. When we finally arrived at our destination, Father Anton led us to the chapel where we were welcomed by local government and church officials. The next day I had the privilege to celebrate the Eucharist with the people of that community. It was Vocation Sunday and I preached my homily in English, which was then translated into Malagasy. I was also able to visit and celebrate the Eucharist at one of the newer missions, established some four years ago and now flourishing. Yes, I fulfilled my promise to Father Anton and, at the same time, I discovered that Father Anton and those who ministered with him were mediators in bringing to fulfillment the promises that God and our Founders had made to the people of Madagascar.

During this season of Advent, we recall the fact that God has been faithful to the promises that were made to our ancestors and that have been extended to us as the people of God living in the midst of the world during this year of 2015. As we reflect on those promises, we also realize that our cooperation is necessary for these promises to become reality. Therefore, I would like to reflect with you on my missionary experience in Madagascar and, hopefully, outline a path that will make us effective mediators of God’s promises.

Collaboration

First, I, all alone and by myself, was unable to do what I had said I would do. In order to fulfill my promise I needed the help and the collaboration of many other people, namely, guides and drivers, who were familiar with the roads and who knew where we were going. Our Founders made a promise to our lords and masters that we would proclaim the Good News of Jesus Christ. No one of us, alone, can fulfill that promise. From the beginning, Vincent realized that he had to involve others in his ministry in order to be effective. Therefore, after having seen proof of the virtue and ability of François de Coudray, Antoine Portail, and Jean de la Salle, Vincent invited those individuals to join him in preaching popular missions (cf., CCD:XIIIa:222). Within a short period of time the Missionaries realized that they, too, needed collaborators since it became clear that the poor suffer more from a lack of organization than from a lack of generosity (cf., CCD:XIIIb:8) and so the Confraternities of Charity came into existence. Later, during the 19^th century, when Frédéric Ozanam founded the Vincent de Paul Society, he called upon one of the Daughters of Charity to advise and accompany the members of this newly formed group of university students: Sister Rosalie [Rendu] … gave them invaluable advice, drew up for them a list of poor families to visit, furnished them with bread and meat tickets until such time as the Conference would be able to issue its own ⁶. During that same period of time, Catherine Labouré called upon Father Jean-Marie Aladel to collaborate in the establishment of a group of young men and women that today is known as the Vincentian Marian Youth Association.

Collaboration is fundamental to our being as Vincentians. No one alone can proclaim the Good News in an effective manner; no one alone can put in place the structures that will unite the world in a network of charity; no one alone and no one branch of the Vincentian Family possess the only path, or the privileged path, that enables its members to follow Jesus Christ, the evangelizer and the servant of the poor. When, however, we share our gifts and talents, when we join together in a common project, when “we” and “our” become more important than “me” and “mine,” then we, together in Christ and as Vincentians, can and do make a difference; then we, together in Christ and as Vincentians, make it possible for the promises of yesterday to be fulfilled today.

Being uncomfortable and taking risks

Second, in order to fulfill my promise to Father Anton Kerin, I had to travel along some difficult roads, which involved taking risks and allowing myself to feel uncomfortable. The same can be said about us as a Vincentian Family if we are to remain faithful to our promise to be the servants of those who are forgotten and abandoned and cast aside, the servants of our brothers and sisters who live in the midst of poverty and misery. If we are honest, I believe the majority of us would have to admit that we are not very comfortable with the reality of collaboration. A collaborative approach to ministry/service is more demanding than a lone-ranger approach. Because it is more demanding, we will naturally feel uncomfortable and might even attempt to avoid engaging in such an approach.

Let us take a minute to look at some of those demands that we might find threatening: collaborative ministry/service implies a willingness to surrender control and power, a willingness to join with others as equal partners in the decision-making process, a willingness to invite the poor to sit with us around the table where those decisions are made (decisions that affect them and their families). That style of ministry/service demands open and honest dialogue, as well as a willingness to compromise – a word that, in recent years, has taken on negative meanings, such as weakness, a betrayal of ideals, and a surrender of moral principles. All of that may make us uncomfortable because there is an implied risk, namely, at the very heart of the matter is the true and certain reality that today, you and I are being invited to change (and we will always feel uncomfortable and insecure when confronted with the need to change). You and I are being invited to change the ways in which we interact with one another, to change the ways in which we minister/serve, to change the ways in which we express our solidarity with the less fortunate members of society. The degree to which we are willing to engage in this process of conversion will determine the manner in which we, together in Christ and as Vincentians, make a difference today and tomorrow. It will determine the manner in which the promises of yesterday become a reality today.

Elements that will enhance our collaboration

Certain elements should characterize all of our joint efforts to make a difference in the world today and to bring to fulfillment the promises of yesterday. I know that if we were to make a list of those necessary elements, we would include prayer (in all its different forms), the practice of virtue, reading and reflection on the scriptures, attentive listening, etc. You know the list of elements. Here, however, I would like to refer to some other elements that do not always find a place on our lists, but elements that I believe are necessary if we are to be effective and influential mediators of God’s promises. My list, in addition to the elements mentioned above, would also include:

• Curiosity: As we engage in joint ministry/service with the other branches and members of the Vincentian Family, we necessarily become involved in a constant search for order in the midst of chaos and for meaning in the midst of turmoil and suffering. That search leads us to ask the question, “why?” and as we continue our search, we discover another question, another “why?”, and then another question and another “why?” This curiosity, however, should give us the courage to walk along new roads even if that means becoming bruised, hurting, and dirty because we have opted to journey along roads that are still under construction (cf. Evangelii Gaudium, # 49). 

• Critical analysis: Curiosity and critical analysis go hand in hand. Curiosity asks, “is this true?”, while critical analysis enables us to look behind such statements as, “this is the way we have always done things! This is the way we have always acted!” This element of critical analysis is especially noteworthy since we are called to participate in the process of the New Evangelization, a process that is new in its ardor, new in its methods, and new in its expression.

• Creative imaging: Love is inventive to infinity (CCD:XI:131). Your community [your group or your branch of the Vincentian Family] was not yesterday what it is now and there is reason to believe that it is still not what it will be when God has perfected it as he wants (cf., CCD:IX:194). Curiosity leads to creative forms of imagination, which in turn sustain us in our efforts to proclaim the Good News as a present reality that is both “good” and “news” for those who are poor.

• Earthen vessels: an awareness of which enables us to maintain our perspective and see ourselves for what we are: remember, you are dust, and unto dust you shall return (Liturgy for Ash Wednesday); I praise you because you made me in such a wonderful way. I know how amazing that was! (Psalm 139:14). Listen to some of the words that Vincent used when speaking about himself: I am a farmer’s son who tended swine and cows, and … that is nothing compared to my ignorance and malice (CCD:IV:219); wretched man that I am, I preach to others but I’m so full of cursed thoughts (CCD:X:10); O Savior, forgive this wretched sinner, who spoils all Your plans (CCD:XI:247); I intend to be steadfast in the good I have begun, because that will be pleasing to God (cf., CCD:X:159). Each of us has gifts and talents and strengths; each of us has limitations and blind spots and weaknesses. We are both great and small!

• An ability to dream of a better world: As members of a large extended Family we have dreams and visions of a new day: we dream of a new heaven and a new earth in which every tear will be wiped from the eyes of all our brothers and sisters … we dream of a new heaven and a new earth where there will be no more death or mourning wailing or pain, for the old order has passed away (cf. Revelation 21:1, 4); we dream of justice rolling down the mountain side like surging waters and we dream of righteousness as an ever-flowing stream (cf., Amos 5:24). Nevertheless, we minister in one small area of the world and we can be tempted to think that our ministry/service is inconsequential in the overall scheme of reality. But that is not true. We should imagine that we are all part of a large jigsaw puzzle, a puzzle that is composed of hundreds of pieces. While we are just one piece, that piece is, nevertheless, essential and has great value; that piece, our piece of the puzzle, along with all the other pieces, does in fact contribute to changing the world. Together we make a difference ⁷.

Conclusion

We live in a world where people make promises of one kind or another every day and then forget that such promises were ever made. People, however, expect us to act differently; they expect us to be courageous and to keep our promises, to keep God’s promises and the promises of our Founders. In 19^th-century France, people were discouraged and disheartened. Promises had been made to them and yet the majority of people continued to live in poverty. Frédéric Ozanam understood that situation and challenged the members of the Vincent de Paul Society with words that continue to challenge us in the 21^st century. I would like to conclude this reflection with Frédéric’s words: The earth has become a chilly place. It is up to us Catholics [as Vincentians] to rekindle the flame of human warmth which is going out. It is up to us to recommence the great work of regeneration even if it means another era of martyrs. Can we remain passive in the midst of a world which is suffering and groaning? And as for us … are we going to make no attempt to be like those saints whom we love? If we do not know how to love God, for it seems that we need to see in order to love and we can only see God with the eyes of faith, and our faith is so weak! But … we do see them [the poor] with our eyes of flesh! They are there before us and we can place our finger and hand in their wounds and the marks of the crown of thorns are visible on their foreheads. Thus there is no possible room for unbelief and we should fall at their feet and say to them with the Apostle: “My Lord and my God! You are our master and we will be your servants. You are for us the sacred image of the God we cannot see. Since we know not how to love him otherwise, we will love him in your persons. ⁸.”

May God bless us all as we celebrate this season of Advent, a time in which God fulfills the promises that were made to our ancestors and that are renewed in this present era; a time in which God fulfills those promises by using us as humble instruments and zealous ministers.

Your brother in Saint Vincent,

G. Gregory Gay, C.M.
Superior General

On the occasion of the Feast of St. Vincent de Paul and in the context of the Year of Vincentian Collaboration Fr. Gregory Gay, Superior General of the Congregation of the Mission addresses Confreres of Little Company in the letter below:

Feast of Saint Vincent de Paul September 27, 2015