Something I’ve always admired but have not been especially good at is practicality, being commonsensical about what to do and realistic about what actually can be done. This opposed to mere theorizing, of getting adrift in the clouds of grand ideas which can’t find a place on this earth to land.

The parable of the crafty steward Jesus tells in Luke’s 16th chapter might well be taken as a lesson in practicality. The farmhand in trouble is faced with figuring out concrete options and not just theorizing possibilities. Admittedly he’s not totally above board in the way he tries to gain favor with his neighbors by affording them discounts on what they owe his Master.

In the parable, the surprise is that the Master, instead of calling his servant a crook, commends him for his practicality. The Owner praises him for the creative way he arrived at a solution that was eminently do-able and not just a nice idea.

Why bring up this practicality talent to a Vincentian audience?  Plainly because it’s a trait in which Vincent de Paul excelled, more-so than many others of his day. Yes, he intended to bring the Good News to people who were poor.  But different from many others who set out to do that same thing, he was stunning in his tangible ability to deliver.  Not only with creative ways to preach the Word and give the sacraments, but just as much with the ingenuity and originality of his methods to benefit these same poor ones.

The many associations he founded, all the politicians and wealthy people he convinced to get behind his projects, all the inventive methods he imagined and then put into actual practice — these and more give testimony to his day-to-day practicality.

All of us in the Vincentian Family are to appreciate that we live and breathe in a tradition of tangibly bringing God’s Kingdom into the here-and-now — of getting things done, and not just talking about doing them.