Thomas Griffin 9/28/24
Join Our Email List
Get new content delivered directly to your inbox.
The Empty Tomb Project is a non-profit organization – 501(c)(3) – please support our mission by making a tax-deductible donation. DONATE HERE
Read “Empty Tomb Project: The Magazine”
The feast of St. Vincent de Paul (1580-1660) is on September 27th. Vinent was a priest who became convinced that the poor deserved to be given the necessities of life and that the poor were a way to encounter the living Christ.
Below is a quote that best summarizes his life and the mission of his existence. Dissecting its different parts can give us a pathway to become like Vincent, and ultimately, to become more like Jesus Christ.
He once said:
“Since God surely loves the poor, he also loves those who love the poor. For when one person holds another dear, he also includes in his affection anyone who loves or serves the one he loves. That is why we hope that God will love us for the sake of the poor. So when we visit the poor and needy, we try to understand the poor and weak. We sympathize with them so fully that we can echo Paul’s words: I have become all things to all men. Therefore, we must try to be stirred by our neighbors’ worries and distress. We must beg God to pour into our hearts sentiments of pity and compassion and to fill them again and again with these dispositions.”
We know that God loves the poor because he became poor for our sake. God became one of us and took on the form of human nature. He was subject to experiencing the limitations of human nature, except for son, even dying for us on the cross. The frailty of humanity is not something that God is afraid of nor embarrassed by.
For this reason, He holds a special place in His heart for the material poor. We are all dependent on God for life. He holds existence in the balance through His divine love. The material poor have access to dependence on God and others for everything. From shelter and clothing to food and warmth, they need help for the basics of human existence.
When we serve the poor and make contact with them in our service, we are able to see Jesus Christ. Giving money to the poor is great. Donating time to organizations that help the less fortunate is a beautiful thing. However, it is the actual encounter with the poor man or woman that can truly change us.
In their weakness and dependence we can see our own as well. We might have nice houses and comfortable beds, But are we aware of the broken relationships that we have left untended? We may be able to purchase anything we’d like, but are we in acknowledgment of the fact that we are not in control of the illness that is ravaging a loved one or that we are not in control of when we ourselves may die?
The poor experience their need for the help of others at each and every moment. When was the last time you felt like you were in need? Whether we realize it or not, we are all dependent on others, and on God, in so many ways. The more we accept this fact, the more we can become aware of the distress of others as well.
This is how St. Vincent lived.
He knew he could do no good deed without the grace of God empowering him to do so. He was aware of his own sinfulness and how that was a radical type of poverty in his own heart. Unfortunately, if you are like me, we mostly operate from the position that pretends like we have it all together and we don’t need anyone’s help. Service to the poor is a requirement of every Christian because Christ commanded it (Matthew 25) but also because it reminds us of our own poverty.
Sinfulness is the greatest equalizer. It is the ultimate way that we can acknowledge our poverty (the need for Someone’s help to fix something that we cannot do on our own). So, next time you are given the chance to help someone in need remember your own dependence on God. Give to the poor from that place.
Whether that is found in our giving of a sandwich, a water, a few bucks, or simply a quick conversation – may it be an act of compassion that brings us into a face-to-face meeting with Jesus. The one who became poor for our sake.
Thomas Griffin is the chairperson of the religion department at a Catholic high school on Long Island where he lives with his wife and two sons. He has a masters degree in theology and is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Empty Tomb Project: The Magazine. He is the author of Let Us Begin: Saint Francis’s Way of Becoming Like Christ and Renewing the World.
Join Our Email List
Get new content delivered directly to your inbox.
Empty Tomb Project 