"The Poor in the heart of St. Vincent"

John Freund, CM
November 30, 2012

Celestino Fernandez writes… “I simply ask the listener or the reader to imagine for a moment Vincent de Paul, an elderly man, speaking to us about the memories of his heart and doing so as a type of indelible witness. Once again then he opens his heart to us like a father who brings from his storeroom both the new and the old (Matthew 13:52).

“I am going to explore the heart of Vincent de Paul, in light of its broadest meaning and symbolism, … I am going to reflect on Vincent’s existential relationship with the poor.

Jesus of Nazareth has told us: from the fullness of the heart, the mouth speaks(Matthew 12:34). In other words, the heart is the source, the strength, and the cement of the human person. This is clearly evident in Vincent de Paul.

  • A heart that organizes, plans, discerns and denounces… A heart for the poor that has an exclusive option, a special sensitivity,  sees sacramentality of the poor, the poor as our “lords” and a heart that interprets and analyzes events from the underside of history

The following outline traces his path.


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