Vincentian Mercy
By: Benito Martinez, CM
[This article was published in Vincentiana, volume 60, #1 (Janaury-March 2016), p. 123-132]]
A heartless society
On April 11, 2015 Pope Francis published the Bull, Misericordiae Vultus and promulgated an Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy which began on December 8th, 2015 and will conclude on November 20th, 2016. The Pope stated: How much I desire that the year to come will be steeped in mercy, so that we can go out to every man and woman, bringing the goodness and tenderness of God (Misericordiar Vultus, #5), There is such a great need for mercy!
The hearts of many men and women are blocked … they are heartless individuals, inhuman persons who are indifferent to the sufferings of others in a society where only the strong triumph. Technology, efficiency and bureaucracy have destroyed tenderness. In today’s society, to be compassionate toward those who suffers appears as a sign of disrespect toward those suffering, unworthy of strong and enterprising individuals in a competitive society where, as I have just stated, only the strong triumph. This society is unable to provide work to everyone who desires such work and thus, society has become a stage that forms people to overcome difficulties but does not form men and women to be compassions with those who are lost … in fact the lost are viewed as rivals. We have forgotten how to express our feelings and we are embarrassed if people should see us cry. The Roman adage has become a reality: homo homini lupus (man is a wolf to his fellow men).
If the baptized have an obligation to reveal the face of Christ in such a way that each believer will manifest certain characteristics, and do so according to their psychological disposition and the vocation to which they have been called, then Vincentians have an even greater obligation to reveal mercy to the world, to “give a heart” to the gears of modern life and individually and as a community to reach out to those individuals who suffer. During this year which Pope Francis has dedicated to mercy, the followers of Vincent de Paul and Frederic Ozanam ought to focus on that trait which Pope John Paul II placed before Most Honored Mother, Sister Juana Elizondo when he stated that [your] vocation is to be the face of the love and mercy of Christ [1]. Vincent de Paul spoke to the Sisters about the same concept [2]. These are very insightful words since Vincentians are being told not simply to serve and evangelize those who are poor, but to express to them Jesus’ love and mercy.
For centuries the world has been governed by reason. Now it is time that it be guided by the heart and by mercy. Reason is an admirable faculty, considered to be the root of all progress. Whoever uses it for the good of society attains well-being. In reality the mind and the heart need each other. In order that our aid be effective, Vincentians need to be able to discern and organize. Saint Vincent discovered this first of all in 1617 in Folleville when he took up the idea of Madame de Gondi on the need to institute a stable group of missionaries to evangelize the poor of the society living in the country towns at that time. (CCD:XI:2-4). The same thing happened in Chatillon when he reflected on the poorly organized help so many people were giving to a poor family; he deduced that charity ought to be organized in groups composed solely of women who should be autonomous but not independent and he founded the first Charity.
In the same way Vincent used his reason to reform the clergy. He began with the Exercises for ordinands, moved on to the on-going formation of the clergy with the Tuesday Conferences, and ended up by taking on the work of seminaries as an important ministry of the Congregation.
Vincent wrote to M. Bernard Codoing: such is my belief and such is my experience (CCD:II:316); that is, he was guided by faith and by reason. Reason and faith told him that the obligations of justice have priority over those of charity (CCD:VII:633), that the greatest slight that can be given to love is to give in charity what should be given in justice, and that there is no act of charity that is not accompanied by justice (CCD:II:68). Furthermore the saint insisted with firmness and clarity: God will grant you the grace of softening our hearts toward the wretched creatures and of realizing that in helping them we are doing an act of justice and not of mercy (CCD:VII:115).
Reason told him that the Daughters of Charity, as well as the Missionaries, have to care for the total person, soul and body, corporally and spiritually (CCD:VIII:277; XII:77). He used his reason to understand that one must begin by giving them the necessary means: tools, seed, materials…so that they themselves can make the effort to move out of their poverty (CCD:IV:188; VIII:27, 83).
Nevertheless, in relating to the poor he preferred the heart, going down in history as the symbol of mercy, charity and cordiality.
Mercy and Compassion
Pope Francis, when he convoked the Jubilee Year of Mercy (Misericordiae Vultus, #9) presented God as the compassionate and merciful God, slow to anger and rich in mercy and fidelity (Exodus 34:6), who sent his Son to the world to tell us in parables and cures and the reception he gave to sinner that he wants mercy and not sacrifice (Matthew 9:13, 12:7) going so far as to exclaim Blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain mercy. When John the Baptist wants to find out if Jesus is the Messiah, Jesus shows him the works of mercy (Luke 7:22). For this reason, the encyclical, Rich in Mercy, affirms that to believe in God is to believe in his mercy (n.8).
Mercy means having heart in the face of the suffering of others, as seen in the parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:33-37) and in Vincent’s cry: “the poor are my burden and my sorrow” which led him to exclaim ”by the very heart of Jesus Christ” [3].
Mercy is a mountain with two aspects: on one side is compassion and on the other forgiveness, and we call cordiality the greenery which beautifies it. But we refer to a compassion without limits: “be compassionate as your heavenly Father is compassionate”, and an unconditional pardon “up to seventy times seven” [4] compassion is the root and mercy is the fruit, while cordiality is the beauty with which the Vincentian presents himself. For its part, pardon is the machine which opens the way for the three virtues.
Neither mercy nor compassion take away pain or sorrow, but they act like a balm and encourage one to struggle against evil by means of charity. Charity is more divine; compassion more humble. Compassion is a love lower than charity since it only awakens in the face of pain; but it is more accessible. Whoever does not love the person he sees suffering, only with difficulty will he love the one he sees triumphing; but both remain blurry, without cordiality or warmth. Without mercy we would live more comfortably and without charity more indifferently. But we would have killed our hearts and we would be neither Vincentians nor Christians (ved Misericordiae Vultus, #11).
Vincent used to say, mercy is the distinctive feature of God (CCD:XI:328), and he would urge (his followers): When we go to visit poor persons, we have to sympathize with them in order to suffer with them, and put ourselves in the dispositions of that great Apostle, who said, “I have made myself all to all” (1 Corinthians 9:22), so that the complaint Our Lord formerly made through one of the Prophets, “‘I waited to see if someone would sympathize with me in my sufferings, and there was none” (Psalm 69:21) doesn’t fall on us. For that purpose, we have to try to stir our hearts to pity, make them sensitive to the sufferings and miseries of our neighbor, and ask God to give us the true spirit of mercy, which is the characteristic spirit of God; for, as the Church states, it’s the distinctive feature of God to be merciful and to impart His Spirit. So let’s ask God, my dear confreres, to give us this spirit of compassion and mercy, to fill us with it, and to preserve it in us so that whoever sees a Missioner can say, “There’s a man full of mercy.” Let’s reflect a little on how much we need mercy, since we have to practice it toward others and bring it to all sorts of places, and to suffer everything for its sake (CCD:XI:308). We should explain that since the Son of God was unable to have feelings of compassion in the state of His glory, which He possesses from all eternity in heaven. He willed to become man and to be our High Priest in order to share our sufferings. To reign with Him in heaven, we must, like Him, commiserate with His members on earth. (CCD:XI:69).
Mercy does not demand that the one who feels pity should suffer. Jesus, ar the Last Supper, poured out his sadness, but he consoled and encouraged his disciples. Saint Louise felt all kinds of sufferings from her very birth and she begged St. Vincent to help her, but she never asked that others suffer with her, although she always wanted to find a compassionate and cordial person [5]. Suffering is evil and one must flee from pain, unless it is to share someone else’s pain and ease their suffering. Compassion takes on part of the pain of the one who suffers so that that person may suffer less, feeling that he is not alone and has a friend who shares his pains, looks for solutions and fills him with hope.
It is true that compassion is a human feeling that is either felt or not felt; it cannot be called forth. But it can be channeled toward divine charity. Abelly tells us that, saddened by the bad weather at harvest time, St. Vincent said to a friend: : I worry about out Company, but to tell you the truth, not so much as I do about the poor. If we need to, we could ask for help from our other houses or appeal to the vicars in the parishes. But where can the poor turn? This is my worry and my sorrow” [6] And he made it more concrete: If this good woman does not take the farm, we will have to help her, for I have great sympathy for her. Give her one écu a month for a while, whether she wants to stay with her son or go to Montmirail, either to the Daughters or some other house (CCD:V:437)
Pardon
The way to show sincere affection begins with pardon. Jesus teaches this as a condition for living together in the Sermon on the Mount and in the discourse in chapter 18 of Matthew’s gospel. St. Paul had it in mind when he wanted to correct the divisions in the church at Corinth and he wrote them the second letter. And it is one of the counsels St. Vincent wrote to a community of Daughters of Charity that was divided: The third means is that all of you embrace one another and ask pardon of one another (CCD:III:184).
But, what is pardon? Pardon does not suppose that one consider a fault as not committed or non-existent; what has been done, is done. Neither is pardon just forgetting. Sometimes we will be able to forget and other times we may have to struggle to forget. There will also be times when it is impossible for us to wipe the past from our memory. Punishment, then, is not at odds with pardon. Punishment can be justified as education or correction that is useful either publicly or privately. Rancor or resentment is what can never be justified. Pardon comes from the heart; it is ceasing to hate, abandoning rancor, resentment, vengeance or the desire to punish.
Pardon is understanding
In order to forgive, it is necessary to understand. If one understands that we all have defects, that we all fall, one is already forgiving (Let him who has no sin cast the first stone [John 8:1-11]). If one understands that the other is as he is and accepts him, one is already forgiving, even though one must condemn his behavior. Mercy is founded on humility. Vincentians can never forget that the recognition of our own limitations and faults aids the feelings of mercy and forgiveness. It is the attitude Jesus prescribes on the Mountain: that we do not judge nor look at the splinter in the eye of the other (Matthew 7:1-5). Understanding opens the way to examine the circumstances in others’ lives. One almost does not need pardon: whoever understands does not judge; and if one does not judge, he does not consider said individual guilty. He pardons the other. In community life as well we need to be understanding. Things that are tolerable for some are unbearable for others. We can read a model of compassion in the letters St. Vincent wrote to St. Louise when her aunt and uncle suffered misfortune (CCD:I:147, 150, 155, 156-157).
One must forgive as Christ did on the cross, even the person who does not repent. For pardon is a gift offered gratuitously to the offender out of mercy for him, not an exchange of forgiveness for repentance. Pardon is unconditional, with no personal gain; otherwise it is not pardon ... pardon must be considered in relation not just to the offender, but also in relation to the one who pardons.
It is the mentality St. Vincent had in reference to the galley slaves: It is the distinctive duty of priests to procure mercy and to be merciful to criminals, so you must not always refuse to help those who seek your intervention, especially when there is more misfortune than malice in their crime. There is a letter in Saint Augustine on this topic (I forget which one it is), which points out that to free sinners and prisoners by way of intervention and leniency is not promoting or condoning vice; it also points out that it is part of the propriety and charity of priests to plead for them. Therefore, you may do so whenever you see that the case merits it, and you can prepare the minds of the judges by telling them that it is not your intention to defend crime but rather to practice mercy, by seeking it for the guilty and demanding it for the innocent, according to the obligation of your state (CCD:VII:443). He says something similar to the Daughters of Charity: Who takes pity on those poor criminals, abandoned by everyone? The poor Daughters of Charity. Isn't that doing what we've said: to honor the great charity of Our Lord, who assisted all the most wretched sinners, without taking their crimes into consideration? (CCD:X:93) … Ah! Sisters, what a happiness to serve those poor convicts abandoned into the hands of persons who have no pity for them! I've seen those poor men treated like animals; that caused God to be moved with compassion. They inspired pity in Him; as a result, His Goodness did two things on their behalf: first, He had a house bought for them; second, He willed to arrange matters in such a way as to have them served by His own daughters, because to say a Daughter of Charity is to say a daughter of God (CCD:X:103).
Christian love is always in relation to forgiveness: the more one loves, the more he pardons; and the more one feels pardoned, the more he loves (Luke 7:47). Human forgiveness can serve as love when this love seems impossible for us; at the same time as it prepares us to love. We must always be aware that pardon is on a lower level compared with love, but it is essential for living together. That person you find difficult to love…at least begin by pardoning him.
Compassionate cordiality
Frequently society preserves certain civil relationships that are referred to as manifestations of education. Manners and cordiality are demanded of good officials. Present day society wants cordiality if it is a manifestation of education, but is disturbed if such cordiality is a manifestation of compassion. Such displays are often referred to as paternalism. Nevertheless, cordiality in the family and in community is like the silk and velvet that is used to cover walls or chairs in order to soften the edges and lower the noise.
Compassion is a sentiment that springs forth from human beings and forgiveness is a virtue that is acquired as the result of a struggle, but cordiality flows naturally from the heart and is an art that ought to be learned and should not be confused with feigned or forced affability. When individuals learn cordiality as an art, and nothing more, they can be educated, but to be Christian, to be Vincentian, requires that such individuals possess cordiality as a virtue.
Family life, community life and life in society is in fact composed of a network of personal relationships, men and women who meet and greet one another face to face. If cordiality does not fill that air that people breathe, then coldness and chill prevails and people become alienated from one another. On the other hand, if cordiality arises from the hearts of people and is expressed in their facial expressions and their gestures, thrn human relationships become more familiar and people become united with one heart. Cordiality is the face that expresses love. Saint Vincent stated: we should be the first to show respect to the other. Why? Because otherwise it seem that we are avoiding one another, acting the gentleman or the nobleman, or being aloof. This closes a person’s heart, whereas the contrary open and expands it. Humility is a genuine effect of charity; when we meet someone, it causes us to be the first to show the person honor and respect and, by means of this, wins his affection (CCD:XII:223). Humility enables us to us to view the poor as our lords and masters [7] and thus we see ourselves as their servants.
Who takes pity on those poor criminals, abandoned by everyone? The poor Daughters of Charity. Is not that doing what we have said: to honor the great charity of Our Lord, who assisted all the most wretched sinners, without taking their crimes into consideration (CCD:X:93). What a happiness to serve those poor convicts abandoned into the hands of persons who have no pity for them! I have seen those poor men treated like animals; that caused God to be moved with compassion. They inspired pit in him; as a result, his goodness did two things on their behalf: first, he had a house bought for them; second, he willed to arrange matters in such a way as to have them served by his own daughters, because to say a Daughter of Charity is to say a daughter of God (CCD:X:103). This was a proper and necessary expression during the seventeenth century and useful today if we also understand the need to be at the service of those who are poor, to be helpful to them because they are our friends. With this understanding we affirm their dignity and promote their future. Friendship creates mutual cordiality.
We must reveal such cordiality not only with those who are poor but among those who are poor: Do you love the poor? Then you will show them that you are glad to see them. Is a Sister has love for her Sister, she expresses it in words … so it is important for you to show this to one another by a certain joy that you have in your heart and that appears on your face …when a Sister approaches you, let your friendship for her be seen from your expression that you are pleased to see her … that is called cordiality, and it is an effect of charity; so that, if charity were an apple, cordiality would be its color … we might also say that, if charity were a tree, cordiality would be its leaves and fruit; if it were a fire, cordiality would be the flame (CCD:X:390, 391). Such expressions can be manifested by an embrace at the time of departure, a smile toward someone who may have offended us, a loving question addressed to someone who is suffering, interrupting what we are doing in order to make eye contact with someone who asks us a question will unite us more closely than expressing our ideas.
Mercy has been clothed with tenderness. It is the light and the fresh air that makes our relationships with another pleasing. Mercy without cordiality contaminates the air and eventually chokes us Mercy must be clothed with cordiality in order to not offend the sensitivities of those who suffer … it is the garment of choice for Vincentians (cf. Misericordiae Vultus, #10).
The poverty of fear
At the present time, compassion is shown mostly to those persons who are afraid and who are part of the vast multitude of persons who experience the poverty of fear. Fear of soldiers, of epidemics and bad harvests were the expressions of poverty that characterized the poor of the seventeenth century. Today, the poor men and women of our society experience fear. Parents are fearful with regard to the future of their children, drugs, HIV, sexual abuse. Children are fearful of being bullied, the elderly fear loneliness, women are afraid of their former spouse or partner and seek an escort so as not travel alone. Middle class workers are afraid of losing their job which would result in being unable to provide for their family, while young people are afraid of not being able to find satisfying work (they view the future with uncertainty and do not know if their studies and preparation will enable them to obtain employment in their desired field … they are also aware of the fact that people succeed because they have a relationship with some politically or financially well-connected “godfather” or because their own family has influence). The poor remain marginalized and no one is compassionate toward them and more recently the poor have become fearful of radical Islamic jihadists.
Vincentians must reach out to the poor described above. Yes in imitation of Saint Vincent we should say that the poor are our worry and our sorrow (Abelly III:117) … true Vincentians will embrace and take on the sufferings of the poor as their own. Today there is an urgency to struggle against the fear that is experienced by those who are poor … and this is not difficult. This is not difficult because of the changes that have occurred in our society: various institutions serve the poor and labor unions and labor law defend the rights of workers. At the same, many wise Vincentians have stated in one way or another that the best possible manner to assist the poor is to instill in them hope and confidence as they struggle with their fear. Here we refer to the same trust and confidence that Jesus asked of his disciples when the boat in which he and the apostles was battered about by a storm. When Jesus was awakened, he encouraged the Apostles: why are you terrified … do you not yet have faith? (Mark 4:40)
Footnotes
[1] To Reverend Mother Juana Elizondo, Echo, 1997, #6-7, p. 305.
[2] Cf., VINCENT DE PAUL, Correspondence, Conferences, Documents, translators: Helen Marie Law, DC (Vol. 1), Marie Poole, DC (Vol. 1-14), James King, CM (Vol. 1-2), Francis Germovnik, CM (Vol. 1-8, 13a-13b [Latin]), Esther Cavanagh, DC (Vol. 2), Ann Mary Dougherty, DC (Vol. 12); Evelyne Franc, DC (Vol. 13a-13b), Thomas Davitt, CM (Vol. 13a-13b [Latin]), Glennon E. Figge, CM (Vol. 13a-13b [Latin]), John G. Nugent, CM (Vol. 13a-13b [Latin]), Andrew Spellman, CM (Vol. 13a-13b [Latin]); edited: Jacqueline Kilar, DC (Vol. 1-2), Marie Poole, DC (Vol. 2-14), Julia Denton, DC [editor-in-chief] (Vol. 3-10, 13a-13b), Paule Freeburg, DC (Vol. 3), Mirian Hamway, DC (Vol. 3), Elinor Hartman, DC (Vol. 4-10, 13a-13b), Ellen Van Zandt, DC (Vol. 9-13b), Ann Mary Dougherty (Vol. 11, 12 and 14); annotated: John W. Carven, CM (Vol. 1-14); New City Press, Brooklyn and Hyde Park, 1985-2014; volume X, p. 268; future references to this work will be inserted into the text using the initials [CCD] followed by the volume number, followed by the page number, for example, CCD:X:268.
[3] I explained how St. Vincent used his mind in the foundations and institutions he set up in a Vincentian Week in Salamanca (“St. Vincent de Paul, a discerner of spirits” in The Spiritual Experience of of St. Vincent de Paul. Week 35 of Vincentian Studies. CEME, Salamanca 2010, pp. 187-223).
[4] It is not the same expression as “by the mercy of Jesus Christ” which Vincent used hundreds of times which only means what we would say today with the expression “by the grace of God.”
[5] Luke 6:36, Matthew. 8:22; John 3:16; 16. Cfr. Galatians 4:4; Ephesians 2:4; Matthew 9:13; 12:7; Luke 7:22.
[6] Cf. Louise de Marillac, Spiritual Writings of Louise de Marillac, Edited and Translated from the French by Sister Louise Sullivan, DC, New City Press, Brooklyn, New York, 1991, p. 122-123 [L.113], p. 251-252 [L.88], p. 710-711 [A.29]; future references to this work will be inserted into the text using the initials [SWLM] followed by the page number, followed by the number of the letter or the number of the writing and/or manuscript, for example, SWLM:122-123 [L.113].
[7] L. ABELLY, The Life of the Venerable Servant of God Vincent de Paul: Founder and First Superior General of the Congregation of the Mission, 3 vol., edited by John E. Rybolt, CM, translated by William Quinn, FSC, notes by Edward R. Udovic, CM and John E. Rybolt, CM, introduction by Stafford Poole, CM, New City Press, New Rochelle, New York, 1993, vol. III, p. 117.
[8] Signori e perdroni was a common phrase that indicated total possession of something or total domain over someone, something similar to our phrase, “they became lords and masters of the house”. This phrase, however, was especially used when referring to “the Lords of a town” or of some particular place or “the Lords of the hospital. In was in this sense that Saint Vincent used the phrase(cf. CCD:IX:97; X:215, 268); Louise de Marillac only used the word Ma?tres dueños/lords (SWLM:12 [L.143], 36 [L.426] and man
Translated: Joseph Cummins CM and Charles T. Plock CM
