Guide 3

Reflection 3 - The person of the Poor and transformation

Goal of the third session

To consider the individual’s role in his or her own transformation

Song: [optional]

Prayer for systemic change

We praise and thank you, O God, Creator of the Universe.
You have made all things good and have given us the earth to cultivate.
Grant that we may always use created things gratefully,
and share them generously with those in need.
Give us creativity in helping the poor meet their basic human needs.
Open our minds and hearts so that we might stand at their side
and assist them to change whatever unjust structures keep them poor.
Enable us to be brothers and sisters to them,
friends who walk with them
in their struggle for fundamental human rights.
We ask this through Christ our Lord. AMEN


Scripture Reading: Luke 8:43-48

Introduction:

In this Gospel the woman is intimately involved in her own recovery. She goes against the social convention of the day and touches Jesus. Here we see empowerment at its best. The presence of Jesus enables her to seek help actively, and her life is transformed.

There are several occasions in Vincent’s letters which indicate that his care for people was firstly about attending to their needs as individuals and secondly that the service was not only about relief but essentially about sustainable transformation in their lives and equipping them for the future.

Writing to Mark Coglée, superior in Sedan in 1656, Vincent encourages the missioners to invest in the future of the school children. He urges that, not only should books be bought so that the children who would otherwise not be educated might study, but that means be found for helping them in the long-term. He asks that they be trained in a trade so that their futures are taken care of and they can be independent and self-sufficient. He relies on the Ladies of Charity to provide funding for this and commends their achievements so far.

The full text is given in the Family Wisdom below.

Individual reflection, Sharing & Listening

Can you think of an example of transformation in your own life?
Do you involve the poor themselves in your service to them?
How does this speak to your Vincentian heart?

Reflect together on your own service

Systemic change involves:

• Engaging the individual person in his or her own transformation.
• Responding promptly to human need whilst respecting the individual’s right to determine his or her own future.

Family wisdom

“Above all, be very courteous and gentle with your poor; you know they are our masters and we must love them tenderly and have great respect for them. It is not enough for us to bear these maxims in mind: we must give proof of them by our charitable and gentle attention. By our state of life and profession we are dedicated to this.” (Louise de Marillac)

“We have not done enough for God and our neighbour when we have given just food and remedies to the sick. How did Jesus serve the poor? He went from place to place, curing the sick, giving them any money he could afford, and instructing them with a view to their salvation.” (Vincent)

“The order of society is based on two virtues: justice and charity. However, justice presupposes a lot of love already, for one needs to love a person a great deal in order to respect their rights.” (Frederic Ozanam)

“M. Florent is pressuring us to provide money to buy books for the use of those poor children who are coming to school. Please give one or two écus a month, for three or four months, for that purpose, out of the money that the Ladies send you for the poor. I hope they will approve of this modest outlay, since these children are really poor and could not study otherwise.
As for us, we are too poor to furnish these alms. I also think, Monsieur, that it is inadvisable to keep it up; ordinarily, it is not much use for young people to begin the study of Latin when they have no way of making some progress in it, as happens when the parents cannot give them what is necessary. This does not hold, perhaps, for an intelligent boy, who shows he is such by his progress, and who might give some charitable person reason to help him advance.

Apart from that, most of them will stop halfway. It is better for them to learn a trade early on; that is the benefit you should procure for those poor children of Sedan. Encourage their parents to apprentice them to a trade, or ask God to inspire the Catholic ladies of the town to do as the ladies in Reims have done. They have banded together to do a number of good works, and they meet weekly to foresee the good they can do and to take measures to do it. Now, they have undertaken the care of poor children with so much success that in less than eight months they have placed nearly 120 of the boys in trade–not to mention the girls, several of whom they have also placed in service. If you see any opportunity to persuade your ladies to do the same, a similar success should be hoped for from the goodness of God.” (Vincent)

Sample strategies

==> Involve the poor themselves, including the young and women, at all stages: the identification of needs, planning, implementation, evaluation and revision
==> Promote learning processes in which the members of the group, especially the poor themselves, speak with one another about their successes and failures, share their insights and talents, and work toward forming effective multiplying agents and visionary leaders in the local community, servant-leaders inspired by St. Vincent de Paul.”

Share any new insight or action you feel challenged to undertake.

Are these strategies part of our ordinary way of acting?

Vincentian Family Prayer

Lord Jesus, you who willed to become poor,
give us eyes and a heart directed toward the poor;
help us to recognize you in them-
in their thirst, their hunger, their loneliness, and their misfortune.
Enkindle within our Vincentian Family
unity, simplicity, humility,
and the fire of love
that burned in St. Vincent de Paul.
Strengthen us, so that, faithful to the practice of these virtues,
we may contemplate you and serve you in the person of the poor,
and may one day be united with you and them in your Kingdom. AMEN
Song: optional