Homily: Father McKenna
[This homily was given during the First International Gathering of the Advisors for the Vincentian Marian Youth Association (Paris, July 15-20, 2014)]
People who write biographies sometime use the technique of “the backdrop figure” to convey an understanding of the person they are writing about. For instance, a recent book about Pope Francis sets him against the background personality of St. Ignatius. The wager is we will get a deeper appreciation of who Francis is if we stand him in front of the light shed by Ignatius.
That is what the writer of Matthew’s gospel is doing when he puts Jesus up against this key figure in the Book of Isaiah, the Servant of Yahweh. With the comparison, we come to a wider appreciation of Jesus as the “Beloved of God,” the one favored by Yahweh, the servant who does anything his Master asks no matter the cost, even until death. We also get insight into Jesus gentle ways with others, especially so the sick and the outcasts. Like the Servant, he is powerful but at the same time so gentle as not to blow out the flame of a flickering candle, or break off the last piece of a broken branch. The point? This mysterious Servant of Yahweh shines a light for us on Jesus of Nazareth.
Today, I’d like to stand Vincent under the light of that same Servant, both Isaiah’s and even more so of Jesus himself, The Father’s Faithful – and Suffering -- Servant. It’s a way to pull out one particular trait people saw in Vincent, to highlight a characteristic in him we might miss without the backlight shining on it.
I’m referring to the considerateness and even delicateness of the Servant who won’t blow out that last little bit of the candle’s wick. This is someone in God’s service who handles people and situations with gentility, with sensitivity to their fears and failings, with what the Book of Genesis calls a compassion that is womb-like.
Vincent speaks of this as “meekness,” though this word in English does not convey the full meaning. More adequate might be “firm gentleness,” meaning the right balance between being gently strong and strongly gentle. This is a trait Vincent sees in Jesus and often advises his followers to put into practice.
But characteristic of Vincent’s notion of virtue in general, it has importance not only because he thinks God (in Jesus) possesses it, but also because it’s a prerequisite for serving people who are poor. Many individuals at the bottom of the economic ladder are fearful of those who propose to offer help, especially ones with position and title. For them to warm up to an authority figure, if we could so put it, they would have to feel comfortable in her presence, have to be trusting and at ease with his personality. In other words, a servant who would gain the confidence of the poor would have to be very approachable, genuinely welcoming and non-threatening.
Vincent is this kind of servant. Though he was what we would call today a “professional,” (ordained, with degrees, at the head of organizations), and though he was known to move in the highest circles of power, his contemporaries noted how easy he was to meet, no matter the station of the person in front of him.
Not that patience and gentility came naturally to him; he admits he had to work for years at moderating what he knew was an angry temperament within himself. And like advance in any virtue, this meant the both learning from experience and the hard follow-up of putting what he learned into practice. Looking back on his days or ministering to prisoners, he once remarked: “Whenever I happened to speak abruptly to the convicts, I spoiled everything. But whenever I praised them for their acceptance and showed them compassion, whenever I sympathized with them rather than scold them, when I kissed their chains and showed how upset I was when they were punished, then they always listened to me and even turned to God.” (Abelly, p 183). In another place, he compared people who let their anger get out of control to “torrents which are strong and impulsive only when in full flood, but which dry up immediately afterwards.” By contrast there were the strongly gentle ones who were like “rivers, which stand for what is gentle and gracious, which flow on serenely, peacefully and unfailingly.” (Vol 11, 65).
Though in some ways a faulty word, meekness conveys a signature trait in someone who would be Yahweh’s good servant, especially of the poor.
A final thought on this Servant. In Isaiah and in the gospels, the reason such individuals can give such compassionate and selfless service is because they know themselves to be on the receiving end of compassion themselves. St. Paul echoes this with his teaching that “we console others with the consolation we ourselves have received.” Both Isaiah’s servant and The Servant, Jesus, hear themselves called “the Beloved of God.” And it’s from out of this deep sense of their being loved that they can serve in the strong and gentle way of The Father.
Vincent is cut from this same cloth. He can give himself to others in this in this “meek” way because he is convinced that he himself is being cherished by Jesus’ Abba, that he too is “The Beloved” of God.
