3. With a completely new interpretation of charity.

Neither Vincent nor Father Triest invented charity, but they both gave it a completely new interpretation.  They refined charity into a pure reflection of divine love, which is unconditional, universal, personal, and never aimed at reciprocity.   All impure motives in helping one’s fellow human beings had to be radically eliminated in the way they approached the sick and the poor.

Vincent developed charity as a dynamic process that begins with a loving attitude and, through compassion, transitions into concrete works of mercy and is expressed outwardly.  “The Lord’s compassion must be abundantly present in us.  We must therefore, first and foremost, feel deeply moved by the suffering of our fellow human beings.  Then that compassion must also become visible to the outside world.  Next, our words to those who suffer must express that we can empathize with their misery.  Finally, you must help them as best you can and try to lift them out of their misery.  That helping hand must be inspired by our love.”  “Love makes it impossible for us to see anyone suffering without suffering with them.  Love opens one person’s heart to another and allows them to sense what the other is experiencing.”  For Vincent, charity is always a triad of love, compassion, and concrete care.  Consequently, in caring for our sick fellow human beings, we must pay close attention to details.  In the ryles for the charitable societies, Vincent describes in detail how the sick should be cared for.  “The person on duty will prepare the lunch and bring it to the sick person.  She will first greet him warmly, place the small table on the bed, lay a napkin on the table, and set a cup, a spoon, and bread upon it.  She will help the sick person wash their hands and say grace with them. Then she will pour the soup into the bowl, place the meat on the plate, and set all of this on the table.  She will kindly invite the sick person to eat in the name of the Lord and of Mary.  She does all this with love, as if he were her own son.  It is God who says that what you do for the poor, you do for Him.  When someone keeps the sick person company, she goes to another sick person.  Finally, she goes to those who are alone, so that she may stay with them the longest.”  For Vincent, personal contact is very important.  Even when he himself is consumed by all sorts of organizational obligations, he clings almost desperately to maintaining direct contact with the poor and the sick.  Thus, he will always take his lunch in the company of some poor people that he invited.  And when Cardinal Richelieu offers him an important position, Vincent replies that he is afraid of it, “because he wants to continue to see the face of the poor person he serves.”

Strongly influenced by Francis of Sales, he reiterates how affective love must always flow into effective love, and that this effective love must retain the quality of affective love.  He expresses this beautifully once again in a conference to the Daughters of Charity on November 11, 1657: “Sisters, make sure to serve the sick with great warmth.  Suffer with them and listen, like a mother, even to their slightest complaints.  For the poor regard you as their mother who provides for their food, and who has been sent by God to help them.  It is your calling to let them experience God’s goodness.  And because this goodness of God always manifests itself toward those in need as loving and gentle, you too must treat the poor and sick with the same goodness we learn from God; that is, with kindness, compassion, and love. For the poor are your and my masters.”

The central point for Vincent remains to see, meet, and love Jesus himself in the poor and the sick.  “They represent Jesus Christ who says: ‘Whatever you do for the least of these, you do for Me’ (Mt. 25:40).  In fact, you are serving the Lord who is with the sick.  Take care, then, not to be surly or impatient, but make an effort to be very warm and friendly toward them, even the most troublesome and difficult ones.”

We also find the same vision and practice regarding charity in the writings of Father Triest.  “Our love must be sincere and without pretence; our affection must be filled with genuine brotherly tenderness, and we must serve the sick with reverence.  Our care must be boundless, always mindful that we are serving the Lord Jesus himself.  We must perform our service with joy, with patience, and with a generous heart.  It is through this spirit of love that we will joyfully serve the sick, assist them in all things, comfort them, and alleviate their pains, so that they truly believe they are being served by us from the depths of our hearts and with genuine zeal.”  With joy, patience, and a generous heart, this is the first piece of advice we receive.  Father Triest elaborates further on the importance of patience in caregiving.  “We will go to the sick with great patience.  It is Christ who instils in us the zeal to endure all the difficulties and aversions of our hearts toward the sick.  We must remember that it is Jesus himself who patiently suffered for us.  Therefore, we must not lose heart or become discouraged.  All the aversion, impatience, and discomfort that befall us in the care of the sick, we must offer up to Jesus Christ.”  To serve the sick well, we must be humble and meek.  “Humility is the most beautiful and pleasant virtue that can be found in a religious.  Through this, we become like God’s Son, who took on the nature of a slave to humble himself.  Thus, love for the sick , combined with humility, will lead us to love even the least; gentleness is the radiance of humility.  Therefore, treat everyone gently and kindly.  Strive to serve everyone and do them a favour as much as you can.  Attend to the sick and needy with the greatest care and attention, and strive, through your gentle manners, words, and responses, to provide for things you cannot do or give.  To properly keep the vow to serve the sick, it is not enough to serve some and not others, or to give some everything they need with love while serving others only half-heartedly.  But whether you are called to serve the sick or entrusted with the education of children, you must have the same love and the same attention for each individual and for all their ailments.”

For both Vincent and Father Triest, it is important to care for the whole person.  Today we would speak of holistic care.  Triest expresses it as follows: “We must not only care for physical illnesses, but also for their spiritual well-being.  It is precisely the intention of the founders of the convents that the religious should serve the spiritual life of the sick through spiritual assistance.  By exemplifying the virtues, they will encourage the sick to live virtuously themselves.”  And the same applies to those responsible for the education of young people: “How should I fulfil my duty as an educator?  By devoting myself to my work, taking my task to heart, working for the spiritual and temporal well-being of those children, being kind to them and, if necessary, reprimanding them, but with gentleness; showing no preference for one over another, but seeing the Child Jesus in each one individually.”

Brother René Stockman,
Brother of Charity