June 28th, 2017
Thank you very much to President Antonio Tajani and the members of the European Parliament for the invitation to address you. It is an honor to be here as an American Daughter of Charity to say a few words about this great son of Europe. This humble man who gives Europe so much to be proud of and grateful for.
Indeed, you can honestly claim that this European has since the 1600s influenced for good, people on every other continent in the world. You could not calculate the lives that have been helped in so many ways by men and women inspired by his profound understanding of the demands of the Gospel. What St. Vincent said of the Daughters of Charity could easily be said of every group founded or inspired by him. “They are for everyone, everywhere.”
St. Vincent de Paul is the Roman Catholic Church’s universal patron of charity with good reason. What started as a simple parish effort to help a few people struggling with illnesses in their homes has developed into a worldwide effort to try to help the most needy in every type of illness or problem. Vincent in his own lifetime modeled this, developing various groups to complement each other’s work with the sick in their homes, then the sick in institutions, abandoned children, prisoners, the very poor in the city and the countryside, the uneducated and the victims of war and violence. The amazing thing about this is that this was not a planned expansion – poverty and misery called them to respond.
St. Vincent’s great belief and reliance on Divine Providence anchored his heart and guided his response to every need he encountered.
As we reflect in awe over his life and work, it is important for us to remember and St. Vincent would be the first to remind us that he was not born a saint or with the heart especially sensitive to the suffering of people. In fact, many of his biographers and St. Vincent in some of his conferences note his ambition for economic security as a motivation for becoming a priest. St. Vincent in one conference admits that in his journey to success, he was profoundly ashamed of his poor father who came to visit him. In our imperfect efforts to live out the Gospel, this comforts many of us.
What caused such a profound conversion? While St. Vincent benefitted from some providentially wonderful relationships such as with St. Francis de Sales, there is no doubt that the experiences he had with people who suffered many kinds of poverty transformed his heart. Vincent saw not only its destructive impact on persons but how one kind of poverty often led to another. He became so sensitive to suffering that many of his works were begun because the need was so intense, not because he had identified a way to respond to it. St. Vincent not only responded himself, he motivated and enlisted the support of many others to dive in even when common sense and caution would argue against it. Some of the most audacious examples include sending young women who were Daughters of Charity into the homes of the sick to care for them and sending them into prisons for galley slaves where prisoners and guards both were often uncouth and disrespectful.
Only a saint trusts God enough to go boldly towards suffering without letting conventional thinking deter them.
This reflection on Vincent’s journey to sainthood and such incredible works of charity inspires and encourages his followers. Sins and imperfections need not be an impediment to sanctity and service of others. Allowing ourselves to be converted by our contacts and work with our brothers and sisters who are impoverished and suffering is one of the most effective ways to encounter the Lord and transform our own hearts. We can never overestimate what God can do for us and accomplish in us for people if we open ourselves. If we enroll in the school of sanctity that the service of the poor is, God will do the rest.
As a Daughter of Charity who has spent her life in health care, I am especially drawn to St. Vincent’s special love for the sick. He understood so well how difficult illness was on the person and the family. How much that suffering was compounded by poverty and homelessness.
The genius of St. Vincent was not only his love for the poor but his effective love. He recruited financial supporters, government help, Church support and effective caregivers and managers.
Today there are thousands of sisters, brothers, priests, and laypeople around the world doing the same thing for the sick following his example. They are convinced that they are called to serve our Lord by serving the sick especially the most vulnerable. In the United States, there are hundreds of hospitals and nursing homes founded by the Daughters of Charity and other religious communities founded in the United States using the rules and conferences of St. Vincent. His vision of the Gospel call to serve the sick continues to be their inspiration. In the emergency department, operating room, clinics, mental health facilities, anywhere the sick are you find them caring with special attention to the vulnerable. You might be surprised to realize that in a country as economically blessed as the United States that so many of our citizens have no health insurance or access to health care. These are also most often likely to have poor nutrition, substandard housing or be homeless. For hundreds of thousands of impoverished Americans, even when we can provide health care, the effects of homelessness and poverty negatively impact healing. Their suffering compels us to find a Vincentian solution. Lastly, as we commemorate this 400th anniversary, it is not to look back and celebrate past accomplishments but to look forward and reflect on how these can help us with today’s challenges in responding to the suffering of so many. St. Vincent had incredible poverty, wars, greed, corrupt politics, outbreaks of life-threatening diseases and a widespread lack of respect for human dignity in his time, so do we. Our world is suffering greatly and we have ever more effective methods to communicate hate, to do massive damage and to economically oppress whole nations to benefit the greed of a few.
Can we use the lessons of St. Vincent to help make our world more humane, more reflective of the kindness and love of our God for each of us? Can we be a counter-cultural instrument that helps each of us know and love each other as children of God? Can we facilitate many encounters that not only make life better for those who are suffering so unbearably but converts our hearts? We have ample proof that our guns, bombs, terrorism and exploitative economics do not work. Shouldn’t we try something else? My favorite quote of St. Vincent is “kindness is the key to hearts.” May our commemoration of this anniversary find us living that out more fully each day.
Thank you very much.
Tags: European Parliament, Famvin400, Homeless Alliance, Sr. Carol Keehan
