THE WORD AND THE SAINT
September 27, 2023: Celebrating St. Vincent de Paul
Look at the world today- we have enough to criticize, enough to lament and enough to detest. But that is not what a disciple of Christ would do at his or her best. The Lord invites and challenges us to 'Set out to restore the ruins'.
God has called in history, people like Moses, Ezra and Nehemiah, the other prophets like John the Baptist, Jesus himself, Francis of Assisi and many others like the saint of today, Vincent de Paul. Just as much does God call you and me today, to restore in our own way the ruins and certainly, not to add to them.
Even in and through our facebook messages, whatsapp forwards, blogposts, tweets and circulated mails we are called to restore ruins and not create more havoc. There are enough hate-spreaders, we need not add to those numbers. Our justice need not be a justice of an uncharitable self righteousness; it has to be a charitable holiness. Even when they reject you, move on shaking the dust off your sandals, the Lord suggests.
It is not so easy in a world so dominated by egoistic agenda, divisive mentality, exploitative mindset, vindictive perspectives and inhuman developmental processes! We tend to play it according to the tunes of the majority and rationalise ungodly leanings. AS a Church, can we truly found ourselves on evangelical charity and fend for the weak, stand by the oppressed and think from their grounds? Vincent de Paul stands out as a great model in that.