Ron Rolheiser, in his syndicated column writes, “here is a story told about
Saint Vincent de Paul. Perhaps it’s partly myth, but its challenge is real
nonetheless.

Vincent once gave an instruction to his religious community that sounded
something like this: “When the demands of life seem unfair to you, when you are
exhausted and have to pull yourself out of bed yet another time to do some act
of service, do it gladly, without counting the cost and without self-pity, for
if you persevere in serving others, in giving yourself to the poor, if you
persevere to the point of completely spending yourself, perhaps someday the poor
will find it in their hearts to forgive you. For it is more blessed to give than
to receive, and it is also a lot easier!”

That might sound curious. Why do the poor need to forgive us? To read the rest
of the column, go to
http://www.ronrolheiser.com/columnarchive/archive_display.php?rec_id=409

Thanks to Aidan Rooney for drawing attention to this.