Basis for the Presentation by Fr. Gregory Gay, CM, Superior General, Congregation of the Mission, Daughters of Charity, JMV at World Youth Day in Rio 2013.

1. The Vincentian
Missionary Spirit

2. “The secret for eternal
youth is in having an
ideal to achieve.”
Hélder Cámara, deceased Brasilian
bishop, who was committed to the
poor and affiliated with our
Vincentian Family.
“El secreto de la eterna
juventud es tener un
ideal para dedicarse."

3. Today’s catholic
church invites us
to renovate our
faith and to
proclaim it with
enthusiasm.

4. “You are the salt of the
earth, but if it loses its
taste, with what can it
be seasoned? You are
the light of the world.
(cf. Mt 5, 13-16).

5. Like the Samaritan
woman, today’s people
can feel the necessity
to come near the well
to hear Jesus, who
invites all to believe in
Him and to receive the
living water that
overflows from His
being. (cf. Jn 4, 14).”

6. “That is why it’s also necessary
today for us as church to be
committed in favor of a new
evangelization, to rediscover
the joy of believing and renew
our enthusiasm in
communicating our faith”.
(Motu Proprio Porta Fidei, 3,7).

7. Jesus was sent from the Father and under
the Holy Spirit’s action, he proclaimed the
Kingdom of God, through words and
actions. He called men and women and
communicated the new way of life, of
fraternity and love.

8. “Go out to all the world and proclaim the
Good News to all creation.” (Mk 16,15).

9. In our faith in Christ, when our sense of
belonging and cohesion grows, our desire
to communicate the Gift of this encounter
also grows.

10. Communion is missionary, and
mission desires communion.
Communion and
mission are deeply
united…

11. The missionary disciple, guided by the Holy
Spirit, wants to make manifest the merciful
love of the Father, everywhere and in everyone,
especially in those who suffer the most.

12. We’re living in a historical
moment where a true change
is happening, where there’s a
world that’s crumbling, and a
new world that is emerging.
It’s a time of crisis in a
positive and negative way, full
of enchantment and
disenchantment, with new
values, problems, possibilities:
that calls upon the disciples
and missionaries of Christ.

13. Saint Vincent lived and
acted in the 17th
century, in a society
that was marked with
great social inequality,
with a lot of poverty and
injustice. Throughout
all of his life, Saint
Vincent let reality and
events speak to him. He
knew and heard the cry
of the poor of his time.

14. “If we asked our Lord
why He came to earth,
He would say: To help
the poor! … Nothing
was more important for
Him than to work for
the poor.”

15. The encounter with
Christ in the poor
showed Vincent that the
poor are our “Lords and
Masters”. In them Jesus
reveals the true face of
the Father, “the good
God” of love, mercy, the
protector and defender
of the poor.

16. The Vincentian mission expresses and
manifests a clear presence for the apostolate
among the poor, paying special attention to
social reality, especially the causes for
unequal distribution of the world’s wealth.

17. In Christ evangelizer of the poor, Saint Vincent
found the “true model and the great invisible
outline by which we must measure all of our
actions.” “Christ is the rule of the mission” and
must be “the life of our life and the only
aspiration that our hearts desire”.

18. Saint Vincent
developed the
mission as an act
of love, which is
lived by the
generous and
integral service to
the poor.

19. It’s a “material and spiritual service”, “affective
and effective”, through words and actions and
it must lead to true love.

20. “Charity is greater than all rules
and all things must relate to it”.

21. The missionary service to the poor is made in
a spirit of communion and participation. The
work carried out by Saint Vincent was a
broad experience in solidarity, it was creative
and diversified, and it counted on the
collaboration of many people.

22. It was a communal and participative work, in
a true sense networking, as we call it today.
In communion and collaboration with
bishops and clergy, he united the rich and
poor, clerics and laity, men and women.

23. Saint Vincent’s
missionary experience
is truly a light for us all,
a guideline for our
actions today. It is a
genuine path, that
requires commitment,
generosity and helps us
to live our condition of
disciples and
missionaries of Christ.

24. Let us go to the poor!
With increased faith, let’s be true
missionaries, let’s get to work!

25. Seek to love the God
of the poor,
Proclaim Jesus Christ
with zeal.
Tell them the
kingdom of God has
come
And heaven is their
destiny.

26. Jesus Christ’s
mission
Is the same that he
gave us.
Today we continue
His salvific mystery.

27. Let’s raise our songs
to the heavens
To God who called
us to this mission
We are the
instruments
That proclaim God’s
desire.

28. What happiness, my
brethren,
Nor greater joy can
people have
The father will feel
The peace and joy
that he gives us.