THE PERFECTION OF CHARITY

Memorial of St. Vincent de Paul, Priest

Mt 9:35-38

We remember today the blessed memory of St. Vincent de Paul. The Gospel on which this reflection is based is taken from the Mass of St. Vincent de Paul.

St. Vincent de Paul was born in Gascony, France in 1581. He began his adult life as an opportunist. He entered the seminary, and when he completed his priestly studies, his first parish assignment was in Paris. As a newly ordained priest, however, Vincent was captured by Turkish pirates and was sold to an alchemist who traded him to a plantation owner who was a former priest with three wives. Vincent converted the ex-priest and went with him to Avignon, Rome and back to Paris where they gained some friends. As he spent a year caring for the poor in Chatillons, Vincent was changed. He gathered volunteers to provide food and clothing for the poor he was serving. Many also came to actually serve the poor with him. He spent the next forty years of his life serving the poor. He founded the Congregation of the Mission (commonly known today as the “Vincentians”) to form priests and to support the poor. Later on, with the help of St. Louise de Marillac, he founded the Congregation of the Daughters of Charity. After serving the poor for more than forty years of his life, Vincent de Paul passed away at Paris in 1660.

Holiness is the perfection of charity. The more loving we are the holier we are. Holiness is not developed simply by spending the whole day before the Blessed Sacrament inside a church. Holiness is loving Jesus in the tabernacle of the hearts of the people inside and outside the church, most especially the poor. Holiness is charity-in-action, a contemplation of the face of God in the distressing disguise of the poor. St. Vincent was the Bl. Teresa of Calcutta in his time while Bl. Teresa of Calcutta was St. Vincent in her time. Yet both Vincent and Teresa were another Jesus to the poor of their times.

Jesus, the holiest man who ever walked the earth, was often found absorbed in prayer. But He was also always found touring all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the Good News of the Kingdom and curing all kinds of diseases and sickness. His heart belonged to God but the same heart was deeply moved with pity at the sight of the crowds that looked like sheep without a shepherd. When He asked His disciples to pray that the Lord of the harvest to send more laborers to His harvest, He did so not with a grand vacation for Him in mind. He wanted more co-workers in His own vineyard. He needed more men and women who would labor with Him for God’s Kingdom. This need persisted in the age of St. Vincent de Paul and Bl. Teresa of Calcutta. It remains a need in our age as well. Will we stand idle, praying for holiness inside a church only?

Let us work in the harvest of the Lord. Let us labor with Him in His vineyard. Let us be hearts for Jesus. But let us not forget to be the heart of Jesus today.