Quotations from Vincent de Paul
We must love our
neighbor as being made in the image of God and as an object of His love.
The Church
teaches us that mercy belongs to God. Let us implore Him to bestow on us the
spirit of mercy and compassion, so that we are filled with it and may never
lose it. Only consider how much we ourselves are in need of mercy.
Extend your mercy
towards others, so that there can be no one in need whom you meet without
helping. For what hope is there for us if God should withdraw His Mercy from
us?
Free your mind
from all that troubles you; God will take care of things. You will be unable to
make haste in this (choice) without, so to speak, grieving the heart of God,
because he sees that you do not honor him sufficiently with holy trust. Trust
in him, I beg you, and you will have the fulfillment of what your heart
desires.
We should strive
to keep our hearts open to the sufferings and wretchedness of other people, and
pray continually that God may grant us that spirit of compassion which is truly
the spirit of God.
As it is most
certain that the teaching of Christ cannot deceive, if we would walk securely,
we ought to attach ourselves to it with greatest confidence and to profess
openly that we live according to it, and not to the maxims of the world, which
are all deceitful. This is the fundamental maxim of all Christian perfection.
Even though the
poor are often rough and unrefined, we must not judge them from external
appearances nor from the mental gifts they seem to
have received. On the contrary, if you consider the poor in the light of faith,
then you will observe that they are taking the place of the Son of God who
chose to be poor. Although in his passion he almost lost the appearance of a
man and was considered a fool by the Gentiles and a stumbling block by the
Jews, he showed them that his mission was to preach to the poor: "He sent
me to preach the good news to the poor." We also ought to have this same
spirit and imitate Christ's actions, that is, we must take care of the poor,
console them, help them, support their cause.
Since Christ willed to be born poor, he chose for himself disciples who were
poor. He made himself the servant of the poor and shared their poverty. He went
so far as to say that he would consider every deed which either helps or harms
the poor as done for or against himself. Since God surely loves the poor, he
also love whose who love the poor. For when on person
holds another dear, he also includes in his affection anyone who loves or serves
the one he loves. That is why we hope that God will love us for the sake of the
poor. So when we visit the poor and needy, we try to be
understanding where they are concerned. We sympathize with them so fully
that we can echo Paul's words: "I have become all things to all men."
Therefore, we must try to be stirred by our neighbors' worries and distress.
It is our duty to prefer the service of the poor to everything else and to
offer such service as quickly as possible. Charity is certainly greater than
any rule. Moreover, all rules must lead to charity. With renewed devotion,
then, we must serve the poor, especially outcasts and beggars. They have been
given to us as our masters and patrons.