The mystery of the Incarnation is an essential element and the great novelty of the Christian faith. Through it the ancient prophecies are fulfilled: “God is among us to save”; He is “God with us”. And the Christian community has admirably and incontestably expressed it in the writings of the New Testament, in the writings of the early Fathers of the Church and in the formulation of Nicea: “for us and for our salvation…”. Throughout the centuries, this faith has been manifested not only through theological reflections, but also through popular devotions: the Nativity Scene, the Way of the Cross, the representation of the Crucified, the Passion processions….

In the 17th century, a deeply Christocentric movement was born, by the hand of Pierre Bérulle, Jean-Jacques Olier, St. Vincent de Paul, St. John Eudes and others (1), which gave rise to a stream of reforms in France and which later (in 1920) was called the “French School of Spirituality”. It consisted in the creation and development of a profound awareness of the greatness of God, who manifests the full strength of his love in the Incarnation of his Son (the Incarnate Word); it is carried out and extended in the Church through an intense apostolic work that makes this mystery of the Incarnation present in every time and place through the priestly ministry. Hence the great concern for the priestly formation and the contemplation of the Incarnate Word.

St. Vincent de Paul, deeply influenced by this spirituality that makes the Incarnate Word the center of reflection and contemplation of Christians, has his own way of expressing it, starting especially from chapter XXV of the Gospel of St. Matthew: “I was hungry, I was thirsty, I was in prison…. and you came to visit me and helped me… whenever you did it or failed to do it to one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did it to me”. For Fr. Vincent de Paul, Christ is incarnated in the poor, in the needy. For him, Fr. Vincent, there is no doubt: Jesus Christ is in the poor; the poor are Jesus Christ. To those who expressed their annoyance at having to deal with the human and social misery of poverty, he replied: “Turn the medal, and you will see by the light of faith that the Son of God, who willed to be poor is represented by these poor people… How beautiful it is to see poor people if we consider them in God and with the the esteem in which Jesus Christ held them!” (CCD:XI:26).

This very identification of Christ with the poor was stated to the Daughters of Charity when he told them: “your chief concern, after the love of God and the desire to make yourselves pleasing to his divine majesty, must be to serve the sick poor with great gentleness and cordiality, sympathizing with them in their sufferings and listening to their little complaints … you are destined to represent the goodness of God to those poor people … they are your lords and masters … that is what obliges you to serve them with respect as your masters, and with devotion because they represent for you the person of Our Lord” (CCD:X:267-268).

And lest there should be any doubt, on another occasion he insisted: «Someone will come to your door at prayer time and ask a Sister to go see a poor, sick person who needs her». Vincent spoke to those who expressed certain reservations about urgent but inopportune calls that interrupted their prayer. He stated: «this is leaving God (in prayer) for God (in the poor)» (CCD:X:478).

It is interesting to see the progression of a Christ contemplated in the manner of Pierre de Berulle, which can be seen in a letter written in 1635: «Remember, Father, we live in Jesus Christ through the death of Jesus Christ, and we must die in Jesus Christ through the life of Jesus Christ, and our life must be hidden in Jesus Christ and filled with Jesus Christ, and in order to die as Jesus Christ, we must live as Jesus Christ» (CCD:I:276), to a Christ who inspired work, dedication, service and love for humanity through the announcement of the Father’s love of which he was the one who made it concrete: «During those three years what did he not do, day and night, going off to preach without a break, now in the temple, now in a village, in order to convert the world and win … to earn your living in this way, without wasting time, is to earn it as Our Lord did» (CCD:IX:386).

And he insisted that the members of his Congregation have no other inspiring model than that of Our Lord, sent by the Father to proclaim the Good News of deliverance: «our aim is to work at their [the poor’s] salvation, in imitation of Our Lord, who is the only true Redeemer and who fulfilled perfect this amiable name of Jesus, that is, Savior … While he was living on earth, he directed all his thought to our salvation, and he still has the same sentiment because that is where he finds his Father’s will» (CCD:XI:62).

These texts show us a total identification with Christ who prolongs his mystery of the Incarnation in the community of his disciples sent on mission to the humanity of yesterday and today with the purpose of dignifying, of saving; they also reveal to us the urgency of the mission that does not allow any kind of appeasement; they also reveal to us the secret of the “pastoral freshness” that, at 79 years of age, was still trying to discover the most suitable ways of announcing Jesus Christ.

Fr. José Alves, CM

—–

(1) Great reformers of the 17th century, in doctrine and ecclesiastical discipline, creators of Seminaries: Berulle, founded the Oratorians; Olier, the Sulpicians; St. Vincent de Paul, the Congregation of the Mission or Lazarists; St. John Eudes, the Eudists. All of them founded diocesan seminaries. These foundations, each in its own way, would shape the type of priest and pastor until the 20th century.