The life and mission of St. Vincent De Paul, a French Catholic clergyman of the 17th century, has inspired tens of thousands of Catholic institutions and more than a hundred thousand men and women across the globe. September 27th marks his day of remembrance in the Catholic community. Historians, hagiographers, and scholars have pointed out how his life shaped the then French Church and Society and have brought out the very outstanding virtues of his life, mainly centred on three dimensions, such as a) Vincent, a Great Evangelizer; b) Vincent, an Activist of Charitable Justice; and c) Vincent, a Reformer of Catholic Structures and Life.
Vincent’s method of ministering is virtuously contextual, as he witnessed the need for it. He has not developed any pastoral actions or plans in the laboratory but in the field, where he encountered the miserable situations of human sufferings.
From the life and model of Vincent, we can safely arrive at this conclusion that the people’s cry and the signs of the times are the methodological criteria for launching any new pastoral plans or initiatives, rather than institutional motives, religious expansion, or financial gains.
The Poor Evangelize Us
Vincent’s maxim is to bring the good news to the poor, which he has done through many and various ways. The spiritual empathy for the people made him into a great evangelizer of all times. Today while revisiting Vincent, we understand that our call is not merely bringing the gospel to the poor; rather, being evangelized by them must be our priority.
Yes, the poor evangelize us, the vulnerable evangelize us, the marginalized evangelize us, the weak and the outcast evangelize us, the sexual minorities evangelize us, etc. How do these people evangelize us?
They evangelize us with their life, complexities, and conflicts, adding their personal stories to the gospel narratives, helping us to reread the gospel in the eyes of the poor, of the weak, of the outcast, of the sexual minorities, etc. For Vincent, ‘the poor’ is an umbrella term for all people who are in some way deprived of human care, dignity, and wellbeing. Therefore, a Vincentian way of evangelizing is actually to be evangelized by the poor who are our masters.
The Poor Cries for a Charitable Justice
Being evangelized by the poor, the call then further accelerates us to move forward from the limits of ‘what is due to others’ to merciful love. The recent developments in the concept of social justice are well projected in the social teaching of the Catholic Church.
Whereas the Vincentian mission is to extend further the concept of social justice to the vision of accommodating an extra mile of love, concern, and mercy, and thereby to act not only in a socially justifiable way but rather to act with love and charity.
Vincent devised confraternities and religious orders in view of this movement, calling for the dignity of orphans, abandoned refugees, slaves, etc. Thus, a Vincentian method of delivering justice is peculiar with its dimension of charity, i.e., love transcending justice.
The Poor Calls for Structural Reform in the Church and Ministries
Being evangelized and having been initiated into acts of charitable justice, we find at odds with many structures in society and the Church that hampers the dignified living of people of all classes, castes, creeds, races, and genders. Vincent has bequeathed us the responsibility of renewing our own structures, laws, and regulations in favor of the poor of the Lord. In the secular society, Vincent’s model forces us to be a corrective force against all structures of oppression, fundamentalism, and fascist tendencies, thereby protecting the weakest in the society.
In the ecclesial circles, his model is to bring baptismal equality and dignity to all in the church life, structures, and ministries.
Vincent has radically redefined the conventional cloistered lives of early modern Christianity and founded numerous confraternities to carry forward his mission of reform. Hence, a Vincentian style of reform is not a choice but a constitutive imperative in shaping the future Church to be more synodal, missionary, and participatory.
A church Vincentified is a church that is a Lazarus Hospice, a home welcoming all without distinctions and differences of power, money, or nobility. So, the call to be a Vincentified Church is a call to be deeply evangelized by the poor, to transcend social justice through charity, and to continually renew its structures to embrace the bruises and wounds of the people.
Now the three questions that transformed Vincent’s life are clear: 1) how do the poor evangelize me, and 2) how does the plight of the poor call me to act in justice with charity? and finally, 3) how does the cry of the poor call for renewing Catholic structures and ministries? When he found a vibgyor of human experiences and responded to his call, we have him as St. Vincent.
