St. Vincent de Paul's openness to involving the laity in the charitable activity of the Church. Based on "The Laity and M. Vincent," by J.-P. Renouard, C.M., Vincentiana: Vol. 39 : No. 4 , Article 4.
Available at: https://via.library.depaul.edu/vincentiana/vol39/iss4/4
10. Women, in particular,
were great
ambassadresses of
this charity because
of their availability,
know-how, sensitivity,
experience in caring
for the sick, and
capacity to give.
12. For it is
necessary to
give oneself,
to consecrate
oneself in
some way to
charity.
13. The verb most
often used by
St. Vincent is
“se donner”
(to give oneself).
It is the gift which
leads to service.
14. The priority of the members of
his institutions, including
priests, religious, and laity,
must be to serve.
15. All receive a mandate to be
representatives of the
goodness of God among
those who suffer.
16. Giving and service reach their
highest form in the Eucharist,
the ideal “center of devotion
and place of charity”…
17. … a place towards which we
must strive with all our might,
in keeping with our Baptism
18. We must die like Jesus Christ
to live in Jesus Christ.
19. Such is the burning
imperative of everyone, the
call to holiness to which
“all Christians are obligated”.
20. In Vincent’s way of
thinking, you didn’t
need a cloister to be
holy! Day after day, one
could sanctify oneself in
normal events and even
in mundane physical
labor or administration.
21. God Himself takes
care of the world
through His
Providence! Who
could not embrace
this way of living?
22. In addition to
charity and service,
St. Vincent’s other
main emphasis is
the Announcement
of Salvation.
23. It is a question of
saving humankind,
and especially the
poor.
25. We must, with all our
strength, struggle against
the miseries of poverty.
Yet it is no less urgent to
announce Jesus Christ.
26. The preaching of the
Gospel to the poor is the
obsession of St. Vincent. In
no way will he allow the
poor to miss salvation and
die of hunger.
27. His great plan is the
proclamation of the
Good News, as
Christ the
Evangelizer did, in
the synagogue of
Nazareth (Luke 4:18).
28. To catechize is the
responsibility of each lay
person. The idea is to do it
in a quite natural way
without being afraid to take
part in the lives of the
people.
29. It is necessary to spread the
Gospel and to tell people
that God loves them. Jesus
himself came “to set the
earth on fire and how I wish
it were already blazing”
(Luke 12:49)
34. Passion for
humankind,
passion for God.
Such is the mission
of the laity in the
time of St. Vincent
as well as in our
own time.
Photo: facebook/AIC International
35. “There is nothing more
consistent with the Gospel
than to amass insights and
strengths for one’s soul
through prayer, reading and
solitude, and then to go and
share this spiritual nourishment
with women and men…”
36. “
…It is to imitate the dove, which
digests half the food it has caught
and then, with its beak, nourishes
its little ones. That is how we
should do, that is how we must
witness to God, by our works, that
we love Him. All our work is in
action.”
- St. Vincent de Paul (XI,41).
37. Source:
"The Laity and M. Vincent," by J.-P. Renouard, C.M.
Vincentiana: Vol. 39 : No. 4 , Article 4.
Available at: https://via.library.depaul.edu/vincentiana/vol39/iss4/4