Guide 4
Reflection 4 - Vincentian Political engagement
Goal of the fourth session
To unpack what it means to address the systems that cause poverty
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 11:37-46
Introduction:
In this Gospel text Jesus angrily attacks the officials of his day for their misuse of power and their preoccupation with protocol. Their unthinking actions lay unbearable burdens upon people. The role of authority is to prioritise the well-being of others.
Our lives as Christians cannot be separated from politics. Love for others is not efficient if we don’t intend to modify the causes of the situations in which they find themselves.
On many occasions, St Vincent had to intervene in political issues in order to alleviate the sufferings of the poor. He became a public figure with great influence. During his life he was in contact with kings, queens, ministers, public authorities, noblemen, members of the highest church hierarchy, but also national and international figures. He called upon the powerful in order to be able to help the poorest. He knew that decisions made by the great affect the small. He took advantage of circumstances which enabled him to belong to the Council of Conscience of the Regent Queen Anne of Austria, mother of Louis XIV.
Moved by the misery he witnessed, he decided to act upon decision makers, because, just like today, political decisions cause hunger, wars and calamities.
In his time, much poverty in France was generated by the ambitious policies of its prime ministers, Cardinal Richelieu, and later Cardinal Mazarin. Vincent was never afraid to speak to the powerful. During the Fronde conflict, Paris was in a state of siege for 6 months by the royal army, which waited for famine to cause surrender. St Vincent witnessed such despair and decided to ACT politically to avoid this humanitarian catastrophe. He tried to convince Queen Anne to give up such a cruel siege and to fire Cardinal Mazarin. Doing this, he risked his own life, because he could have been considered a traitor and executed.
On many occasions, and in the face of the terrible situation of prisoners turned into slaves by the Algiers authorities, he tried to act. He appealed for their liberation to a French admiral. Another time, he went to a high state employee so that the Congregation’s missionaries would be nominated chaplains of the French consuls in Tunis and Algiers, in order to assist the prisoners better.
St Vincent labored so that the authorities of his time would understand that they must support charitable work. He sensitized politicians to their moral duty toward the poor. Thus he was able to found and operate hospitals with public monies.
On the tracks of St Vincent, the Vincentian Christian must meet the individual needs of the poor, our brothers in Jesus Christ, and at the same time, in the light of gospel principles, he must try to reform social structures that are unjust, so as not to perpetuate or hide the causes of poverty. This means we must have “a charitable heart together with a social conscience”. (P. Corera, C.M.)
Finally we can say that St Vincent de Paul was not a politician, but a Saint with all the qualities of a statesman.
For her part, St. Louise invites the early Sisters to address themselves to the authorities to make known and defend the needs of the poor if and when necessary. The Sisters should not fear to inform and to urge those who make the decisions, to reflect on the consequences of their acts on the poorest. On one occasion, Barbe Angiboust, a country girl, goes to Queen Anne of Austria. (A Way to Holiness, P. 134 – see the quotation from Louise to Barbe below)
Individual reflection, Sharing & Listening
When we look at his actions, we see that St Vincent:
- tackled causes that produced poverty
- never took sides in political rivalries; but that did not mean he did not intervene
- when justice, charity and compassion for the poor’s suffering demanded it, “his personal vocation of evangelization of the poor, and nothing else, made him intervene in affairs of a political nature” (P. Corera, C.M.)
- practiced Christian charity while having a strong social conscience.
Can you think of a similar situation in which you have acted politically on behalf of the poor?
How does this speak to your Vincentian heart?
Reflect together on your own service
Systemic change involves:
• Using political processes to advocate for the poor
• Recognising and building awareness of current social issues
Family wisdom
“The problem today is whether society will go for ever-increasing enjoyment and profit, or for everyone devoting themselves to the common good … Many people have too much and still want more. Others do not have enough, or do not have anything at all, and they want to take by force what is not being given to them. A war is threatening between these two groups: on one side, the power of wealth; on the other, the force of desperation. We must get in between these two groups, at least to reduce the impact if we cannot stop it.” (Frederic Ozanam)
“I believe my dear Sister, that you have the happiness of having our good Queen at Fontainebleu. If Her Majesty wishes to speak to you, don’t make any difficulties, although the respect which you owe to her person causes you to fear to approach her. Her virtue and her charity give confidence to the lowliest so that they tell her of their needs. Above all, do not fail to tell her truthfully of the needs of the poor”. (Louise to Barbe Angiboust, about 1648, Letter 432)
Sample strategies
==> Promote social co-responsibility and networking, sensitizing society at all levels — local, national and international — about changing the unjust conditions that affect the lives of the poor
==> Struggle to transform unjust situations and to have a positive impact, through political action, on public policy and laws
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
