Following the feast day of twin saints – St. Coasmas and St. Damian, September 26, today,
September 27, is the feast day of St. Vincent de Paul (and September 28 is the
feast day of St. Lorenzo Ruiz de Manila).
There is something common among the twin saints and St. Vincent
de Paul as they were all so devoted for caring for the poor, the sick, the abandoned,
and those who were not able-bodied. Their solid dedication for anawin in the name of the Lord Jesus
Christ.
As a young man, who just finished studying theology, St.
Vincent de Paul’s life had made quite a turn! It has been said that Vincent de
Paul was captured by pirates on hid trip back from Marseilles to his hometown, Toulouse. He was, then, taken to Tunis to be sold as a
slave.
Vincent de Paul has been believed to have converted his “owner”
during his time as a slave. Subsequently to the conversion of his “owner”,
Vincent de Paul became a freeman. Vincent de Paul sure knows how he can turn his
adversities into great opportunities for God.
Upon this unique experience, Vincent de Paul’s commitment to
God further evolved, as he skillfully dealt with the wealthy, while deeply
committed to caring for the poor. In fact,
he even made his way to serve as an advisor to the regency of Queen Anne of
Austria, the wife of King Louis XIII of France!
Though he had the privileged to go to a fancy palace, he courted the
imperial support for his charitable works for the poor.
In this regard, Vincent de Paul was quite skillful in
balancing the practicality in financing his ministries and the Gospel mandate
to run the ministries.
As he was able to secure support for his ministries, St.
Vincent de Paul founded two religious communities: La Congregation de la
Mission (CM), also known as the “Vincentian” and “Lazarists”, and Les Files de
la Charite (FDiC). They are known to be the first religious
congregations to live outside the cloisters, basing themselves on wherever the
poor and the sick live.
Before Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta, there was St.
Vincent de Paul, reaching out to the poor, the abandoned, the sick, and those
who are not able-bodied, and care for them wherever they were.
The Vincentian communities formed hospitals and orphanages
wherever they found the sick, the abandoned, the poor, and those who are not
able-bodied, throughout France and beyond. They also inspired and taught those
who were illiterate and offered vocational trainings, too.
In thinking of the mission of St. Vincent de Paul for the
poor, the sick, the abandoned, and those who are not able-bodied, the below
words of Jesus have come up:
For I was hungry and
you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you
welcomed me, naked and you clothed me, ill and you
cared for me, in prison and you visited me. (Matthew 25:35-36)
These words of Jesus reflect
the Corporal Works of Mercy: feeding the
hungry, sheltering the homeless, clothing the naked, visiting the sick and
imprisoned, and burying the dead (Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC),
2447). And, the mission of St. Vincent de Paul is, indeed, the Corporal Works
of Mercy in sacramental actions.
In regard to the Corporal Works of Mercy, namely, acts of
charity, CCC 2447 further states, reflecting James 2: 15-16 and 1 John 3: 17:
“Among all these, giving alms to the
poor is one of the chief witnesses to fraternal charity: it is also a work of
justice pleasing to God:
He who has two coats, let him share
with him who has none and he who has food must do likewise. But give for alms
those things which are within; and behold, everything is clean for you. If a
brother or sister is ill-clad and in lack of daily food, and one of you says to
them, "Go in peace, be warmed and filled," without giving them the
things needed for the body, what does it profit? “
These words really captures the
Vincentian spirit of charity.
The Gospel reading
designated for the feast of St. Vincent de Paul comes from Matthew
9:35-38. If you read this Gospel
narrative and further into Matthew 10, you realize Matthew 9:35-38 describes
that Jesus’ compassion for the troubled and abandoned motivated to send his
twelve apostles on mission.
In commissioning, Jesus commanded his apostles to provide
truly unmercenary care for those who are in need (Matthew 10:8). In my
yesterday’s blog in commemorating the feast of St. Cosmas and St. Damian and
honoring their truly charitable medical service, I also mentioned Matthew 10:8 in light of
these twin saints’ works as missionary works of compassion. Now, you can see that
St. Vincent de Paul comes fits in the same charitable tradition of St. Cosmas
and St. Damian, solely devoted for the poor, the sick, the abandoned, and those
who are not able-bodied and totally unmercenary.
During his time in imperial France, St. Vincent de Paul was
able to gain financial supports from the imperial family, even backed up by the
Hapsburg because of Anne of Austria, as well as many wealthy people in
France. Burt, today, because of the
constitutional separation between the state and religion, faith-based charitable organizations, like
the Vincentian charity ministries, cannot enjoy the kind of large scale
financial support as what Vincent de Paul was privileged to receive for his
ministries.
This means that we are facing a new challenge to keep the
charitable spirit of St. Vincent de Paul in today’s post-imperial secular
republic societies.
How can we keep up with growing financial costs to run the
Vincentian ministries of charities and other similar ministries without a
support from the state?
This is an important question that we must keep tackling
while we continue to move forward with our commitment to the Gospel mandate of
Jesus, especially the above-quoted words of Jesus, and the Catechism teaching
on the Corporal Works of Mercy.
Let us be as generous as we can in giving alms and whatever
else we can offer so that the poor, the sick, the dying, and those who are not
able-bodies among us won’t be in isolation.
Let’s remember that Jesus did not teach his apostles to gain financial
support for his ministry and mission from the Roman Empire.
This is a very important theme for us to keep pondering as republic
governments, like the Obama administration of the United States , are becoming
more and more paternalistic toward the Church and faith-based programs as they
are eager to advance their own secularization agendas and policies. Today, in the United States, under the Obama
administration, many faith-based charity problems are facing greater threat of
extinction.
Though we are in a much tougher social climate to maintain
charitable ministries like the Vincentian ministries of charity these days, because of the government like the Obama
administration, we, the faithful, are still hopeful because the apostles
managed to grow the Church and its ministries under the persecutory Roman
imperial administration.
All of these powerful words of Jesus, James and John, cited
above to meditate on the spirit of St. Vincent of DePaul came during the time
of Roman Empire.
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