26th Week, Tuesday, Sept 27, St. Vincent de Paul
Job 3:1-3, 11-17, 20-23 / Luke9:51-56
Job speaks about his suffering; He didn't hold back on his feelings.
Joseph Stein's play Fiddler on the Roof is set in
Russia in 1905. It centers around a man named Tevye, the father of a poor
Orthodox Jewish family. One of the
delightful features of the play is the way Tevye talks to God from the heart.
He tells God exactly what is on his mind.
For example, one day his horse loses a shoe on the Sabbath.
Since
it is the Sabbath, Tevye cannot get the horse shod. And so he ends up pulling
the wagon himself. All the while he lets God know exactly how he feels about becoming
a horse. Job does the same thing in
today's reading. He lets God know exactly how he feels about the suffering that
has befallen him. Do we speak to God
frankly, from the heart? “God instructs
the heart not by ideas, but by pain and contradiction." Jean Pierre de Coussade
***
We commemorate today St. Vincent de Paul
(1581-1660), a man with a heart. All his life, he was a friend of the poor and
the suffering. To evangelize rural areas, he founded the Congregation of the
Mission or Lazarists and for the benefit of the proletarian masses the Daughters
of Charity, to whom he gave as their convents the streets of the city, the
houses of the poor and the rooms of hospitals. He did also much for improving
the education of future priests in the seminaries. The Church of France owes
very much to this man of vision for its revival in the 17th century. He is the
patron saint of works for the poor.
***
Kind of Spirit
Some of the disciples have witnessed the
Transfiguration, Peter has declared Jesus as the Messiah, and Jesus has just
spoken about his paschal destiny… but the disciples are still in a narcissistic
cocoon: they are fighting about who is the greatest among them; they stop
someone from healing people in Jesus’ name because he isn’t one of them; and
they now want fire to come down and burn the Samaritan village because it was
not hospitable to them… Jesus turns and rebukes them. Some earlier versions of
the Bible tell us that he rebuked them saying, “Ye know now what manner of
spirit ye are of. For the Son of man is not come to destroy men's lives, but to
save them” (King James Version, 9: 55b-56). This must become a daily
examination of conscience for Christians: “What kind of spirit do I have? Is it
one of tribalism, jealousy, violence, and exclusion; or is it one of humility,
fraternity, inclusive love, and delight in the other?”
***
There is only so much of setback and suffering that we can tolerate and endure. When we snap then we will let fly without reservations, our frustrations and our grievances. What we heard in the 1st reading is not just Job complaining about the tragedies that had happened to him. He was lamenting bitterly to the extent that he even cursed the day he was born. Who would not empathize with him at that point in time. What happened to him was beyond comprehension. It was only much later that Job would come to terms with God's plan and purpose for him.
In the gospel, the hotheaded disciples James and John wanted to call down fire from heaven to burn up the Samaritan village that rejected Jesus. They probably did not understand why Jesus would not allow it and He even rebuked them. Only much later would they understand and comprehend who Jesus was and what He came to do. If Jesus Himself can show understanding and tolerance, then we too must learn from Him. With understanding and tolerance, God will slowly reveal His plan and purpose for us. But when we give in to our frustrations and grievances, we might just forfeit God's revelation to us.
***
Saint Vincent de Paul, 1581-1660
Feast day September 27
St. Vincent de Paul spent the early years of his priesthood
ministering among the wealthy in the French countryside near Paris. In 1609 he
became tutor to the children of the Gondi family, an involvement that taught
him a principle for his work: evangelize the rich and direct them to serve the
poor. At that time, Vincent observed that many poorly catechized peasants were
not making good confessions. He also noticed that inadequately trained priests
did not know how to administer the sacrament of Penance. Encouraged by Madame
Gondi, in 1617, Vincent preached a parish mission that pointed to his future.
He stirred so many people to repentance that Jesuits from a nearby town had to
help hear confessions.
In 1625, Vincent founded the Congregation of the Mission, a
community of priests with a threefold commitment. Members obligated themselves
to pattern their lives on Christ, to take the gospel to the rural poor, and to
help educate priests in their practical duties. The priests mainly conducted
parish missions, preaching and hearing confessions
With the collaboration of St. Louise de Marillac, in 1633,
Vincent founded the Sisters of Charity, the first community of “unenclosed”
women dedicated to care of the sick and the poor. To support the sisters,
Vincent recruited rich women, who as Ladies of Charity gave their time and
money.
In his last years Vincent was confined to an armchair
because of his swollen and ulcerous legs. But he remained cheerful, directing
his charitable works by writing hundreds of letters. He was nearly eighty years
old when he died in 1660.
Vincent de Paul stumbled into his life’s work. Thus he is a healthful model for those who suffer stress trying “to find God’s plan” for their lives. Vincent did not start with grandiose plans. He began much more simply. When he observed a need, he figured out a Christian way to meet it. If we would do more of that, we would be better Christians with lower blood pressure.
Prayer
Lord our God, in a man of vision, St.
Vincent de Paul, we see your deep concern for the poor and for the needs of the
Church of his time. Make us too, poor and free, let us weep with those who
mourn, hunger and thirst with those who seek what is right and just, that we
may understand deeply the needs of those who are in need. Grant us this through
Christ, our Lord. Amen
