Jesus Christ, the Evangelizer of the Poor
"The best way of assuring our own eternal happiness is to live and die in the service of the poor, in the arms of Providence and to follow in the footsteps of Jesus Christ"
Every Christian spirituality begins with an understanding of Christ. Vincent's spirituality stands out that the Son of God not only became a man, he became a poor man. He chose to be counted among the poor in order to enrich us by his poverty.
This theological foundation supports a vivid image of Jesus taken from the Gospel. The concrete picture of Jesus is that of the Fourth chapter of Luke. Here, Jesus stands up in the synagogue of Nazareth and declares himself sent to preach Good News to the poor. The Good News, quite simply, is that the Kingdom of God is for the poor. Salvation is at hand for them.
Vincent came to see that his charism, the gift given him by the Spirit for the building up of the Church, was to make the love of God a reality in the lives of the poor. The love he experienced in his relationship with the Lord moved him to all of the great works he accomplished in his life.
St. Vincent saw clearly that Jesus did not only preach a beautiful message about an abstract kingdom. What he proclaimed by word, he concretely put into practice by his actions. He made the love of God a reality in the lives of the poor by healing the sick, feeding the hungry, raising the dead, and treating sinners with compassion.
Present day Vincentian spirituality has to be centered on a particular image of Jesus—that of the evangelizer of the poor. It is in light of this image that we interpret the Gospel and historical realities.
If Jesus stands at the center of Vincentian spirituality, the poor person stands there beside him. St. Vincent experienced that he could not separate Jesus from the poor. In his own life, he only came to know Jesus when he came to know the poor.
Vincent's view of the poor was not a romantic vision. Rather, it was a faith vision. When he speaks of the poor, he means those who are on the economic and social fringes of society. Wherever the poor are treated with justice and charity, wherever an oppressive situation is made more human, there is the presence of God.
Vincent's approach to the life of the spirit clearly stands in the line of active spiritualities. Charity towards the neighbor brings union with God. It is not love God and then the neighbor—it is love God in the neighbor. This love can never remain in the heart; it has to be expressed in action.
Vincent's revolutionary approach to consecrated life is seen in his 1659 conference to the Daughters:
"Having only for a convent the houses of the sickhttps://www.scvvincentgiri.org/index.php/public. for a cell a hired room, for a chapel the parish church, for a cloister the streets of the cityhttps://www.scvvincentgiri.org/index.php/public. they shall have an abiding confidence in divine providence and be a continual holocaust for God."
Vincentian spirituality is more a lifestyle in which to be engaged than it is a subject to be studied. A true renewal will result only through the lives of good men and women who are willing to seek God in the service of the poor.
Affective and Effective compassion • A distinctive way of prayer • Devotion to Providence • Love for the Mission and Community