“CONSCIOUS OF THEIR OWN FRAILTY AND WEAKNESS, [VINCENTIANS’] HEARTS BEAT WITH THE HEARTBEAT OF THE POOR.”

– THE RULE, PART I, ARTICLE 1.9

A heartbeat is an amazing sound of intimacy. Parents often speak about the unrivalled and unbridled joy of hearing the first heartbeat of their child during that memorable ultrasound appointment. We might hear the heartbeat of another person during a medical emergency. We are so unaware of our own heartbeat, except for times of heightened emotional and physical stress, or in contemplative moments of deep breathing and relaxing calm. The rhythmic working of our hearts is beyond our conscious control. We may rarely think about our heartbeat as it ticks away throughout our days and nights.

Consumed by our own concerns and worries, the needs and struggles of the people who are experiencing poverty or require assistance can also be outside of any daily mindsets. In the Society, we enter the patterns of our Companions’ lives temporarily but inevitably return to the tempos of our days. Our Christian faith challenges us to embrace a perspective where we identify people not solely by their circumstances but naturally recognise each other with equal and shared human dignity.

Solidarity with people who are experiencing poverty is more than the straightforward, albeit important, provision of financial and material resources. The invitation is one of entering and maintaining genuine relationships, where people feel listened to and respected. It is reiterated in the Gospels, where we are encouraged to recognise the stranger as part of the one human family.

Psalm 34 recognises God’s unique listening to the calls of people who are poor and those pleading for justice, “When the righteous cry for help, the Lord hears, and rescues them from all their troubles. The Lord is near to the broken-hearted and saves the crushed in spirit.” From the Christian perspective, God is not a passive observer of human suffering and injustice. God is closest to those who are experiencing hardship and strife. God intimately experiences the depths of people’s struggles with us and acts through and with others to respond to these needs.

As Vincentians, we value empathy as a key marker of our actions and relationships. An empathetic response is beyond being tokenistic or one that seeks to compartmentalise a person based on single characteristics. A person is not the worst things that they have done or the hard circumstances that they may find themselves in. By seeing the face of Christ in everyone we meet, we can discover the spirit of communion that lies at the heart of Christian fellowship. In other words, we discover that your heart and the hearts of others beat together in that great symphonic masterpiece of vulnerability and joy.

REFLECTION QUESTIONS

• What characterises a good listener?
• Where do you hear the heartbeat of the poor?

From: Firewood for the soul, vol. 2, A Reflexion Book for the Whole Vincentian Family
St. Vincent de Paul Society, Queensland, Australia.
Text by: Samantha Hill and James Hodge.