“Serve the poor to the best of your ability,” St. Vincent taught, “and entrust the rest to the goodness of God.” [CCD VII:256] We understand this, correctly, as an admonition to trust in Divine Providence, and to act with humility, understanding that “we can accomplish nothing of eternal value without God’s grace.” [Rule, Part I, 2.5.1] How different this is from almost everything else we do in our lives and professions, where “results” are the only real measure of success.

Every salesman knows that it makes no difference how hard he works, how many calls he makes, or what terrific presentations and proposals he makes, if he is not closing deals and generating revenue. Sales and dollars are very easy to count, to understand, and to rank against others. It was by worldly measures such as these that 19^th Century critics of the Society of St Vincent de Paul accused it of offering the “charity of a glass of water.”

At times, we make the same accusation of ourselves. “We don’t have enough money to really help.” “We don’t have enough members to make all the visits.” “The families we feed will only be hungry again next week or next month.”

All those things are true, but none of them should be reason for despair if we truly serve the poor, in Vincent’s words, to the best of our ability. The Hippocratic Oath, honored for centuries by physicians, does not bind them to cure or to heal, but rather to treat patients ethically, tirelessly, and to the best of their ability. As Frédéric said, “the same authority which tells us that we shall always have the poor amongst us is the same that commands us to do all we can to ensure that there may cease to be any.” [O’Meara, 177] Just as a physician cannot promise to heal the sick, we cannot promise to end poverty, even for one person. We can only promise to try to the best of our ability.

So, what is the best of our ability as Vincentians? Our gifts and talents, our time and treasure, vary widely from one Vincentian to another, and from one Conference to another, but each us, and each of our neighbors, is created in the image and likeness of God, and God is love.

The best of our ability, then, is to love, and if ours is a charity of a glass of water, it is water drawn from a bottomless well, and offered to all those who thirst for God’s love. We may run out of money, we may run out of food, we may even run out of time, but we will never run out of hope because we can never run out of love. It is through our love that we serve, and through love that God acts, too. This is why Vincent teaches us that “God does not consider the outcome of the good work undertaken but the charity [the love] that accompanied it.” [CCD I:205]

Contemplate

When I feel I have fallen short in my service, have I fallen short in my love?

By Timothy Williams,
Senior Director of Formation & Leadership Development
Society of St. Vincent de Paul USA.