Respecting Members of the Community

[Members of the community] will all have the greatest respect for one another. They will converse among themselves with every affability and cordiality. (OOCC, VIII, p. 326; SD, p. 70)

Life in the community is one of the themes that St. Vincent constantly talks about in his instructions to his followers. For St. Vincent, one important element that builds the community is cultivating genuine respect for each other as members living together in the community. The foundation for mutual respect is the fact that the human person is created in God’s image. Since the human person is created in the image and likeness of God, he has an inherent dignity which God places on him. Therefore, it is the duty of every person to honor the image of God as it manifests in the world through other human persons. As every human person is an image of God, in respecting the other we honor God himself in whose image he is created. According to St. Vincent, this respect for the other must be found in a special way in the religious community, because by a person’s religious consecration, he professes to live the commandment of love in a fuller and deeper way. The deeper living of the commandment of love calls for true respect for one’s neighbor. If no genuine respect for the other is present, one cannot truly love the other. An affable and cordial relationship of communication in a community can be built up only on the foundation of true respect for each other. Hence, respecting each other is the foundation of a genuine community. It is a demand God places on the human person by creating every person in his own image and likeness.

Do I respect the members of my community? Do I respect the members of my community as the image of God? Do I realize that in respecting my neighbor, I respect God, whose image he is? Do I acknowledge that without this basic respect for my neighbor, it is impossible to live the commandment of love within the community?

Live in harmony with one another; do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly; never be conceited. (Rom. 12:16)