It can be tempting, when assembling reports of our works, to try to write them to impress people. Bl. Frédéric once commented on a “rather effusive zeal” that leads some to “go about singing everywhere the praises of our infant work.” He strongly believed in regular reporting for accountability and never thought our Society should be a secret one. He recognized, though, that “inflated reports render us suspect to some and ridiculous in the eyes of others.” [160, to Lallier, 1837]

It isn’t necessarily competitiveness or ego that can lead us down this path. Rather, it is that knowing in our hearts the importance of this work, we struggle to put it into the sort of language and numbers that we hope will be easier for others to understand. Yet, as Frédéric recognized, the good of our works can’t be measured in simple counts of funds, or bundles of firewood, or numbers of families assisted. The real good, he knew, is measured in “many mothers’ tears wiped away, many blessings received from the mouths of babes, more than one prayer addressed to heaven for us from grateful voices.” [1371, Report, 1838]

To some outside of the Society, that may not sound very impressive, but our purpose is not to impress. As St. Vincent put it, “God hasn’t sent us to have honorable posts and ministries, or to act or speak pompously and authoritatively, but to serve and evangelize poor persons and to carry out the other activities of our Institute in a humble, gentle, and friendly way.” [CCD XI:51] Vincentians who have participated in these works for any amount of time know that, whether or not our community as a whole knows what good we do, we are very well known to the people we serve – the ones who need to know.

The worst thing we can do is to try to measure our success in purely material terms, as this can in turn lead us perform our works with that in mind, to be guided, in other words, by material incentives, rather than serving “for love alone.” [Rule, Part I, 2.2] Similarly, we needn’t ever worry about ranking ourselves against other organizations that serve the poor; we should instead be thankful for their work. Our original Rule went so far as to say that “although we may be fonder of our little association, we will always consider it as less excellent than others.” [Rule, 1835, Intro]

In this ministry, we are called to give as generously as we can, trusting that, like the poor widow, our generosity will be measured not by its price tag, but by the love, the selflessness, and the presence which accompanied it. In the poor, we serve Christ, who promises that the measure with which we measure will be measured out to us. And so, as we seek to grow in holiness, serving in the hope of eternal union with Christ, let’s try always to measure our works by our love for the neighbor, with confidence that God’s measure, too, is love.

Contemplate

How do I measure my works?

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