Mission to the Poor: Means to Make God Known, Loved and Served
I would like to be forever in hospitals … [and] jails … in order to help the miseries of the poor and the infirmities of the sick … [thereby] make all princes, sovereigns, kings, nobles, common men, and all creatures know, love and serve God, my Father … and my All. (OOCC, X, p. 114; STA, 176)
St. Vincent Pallotti believed that the greatest way to make God known, loved and served in the world is to serve the poor. The apostolate to the poor and the marginalized reveals to everyone the unconditional generosity of God. Serving the poor who cannot pay for any good done for them, implies that a person acts like God who expects nothing in return for the manifold blessings he showers on humankind. So in serving the poor, the motive of a person becomes like that of God. Thus, in one’s service to the poor, he proclaims a God who is an unconditional lover. In doing so, he makes others know, love and serve God. St. Vincent Pallotti visualized an apostolic life which would make him spend his life in the hospitals, jails and in places where the unwanted and the outcasts of society lived. He wanted to help the miseries of the poor, the illnesses of the sick, and to teach the spiritually poor the true knowledge of God. St. Vincent attempted to do all these for the purpose of announcing to the people of every walk of life, that is, the princes, sovereigns, kings, nobles, common men, and all creatures, that God is a God who loves and cares. In this manner, for St. Vincent, the apostolate to the poor and the needy becomes a special means through which God is made known, loved and served.
Do I make an option for the poor in my apostolate? Do I have the right mind-set to accept the difficulties involved in choosing the apostolate for the poor? Do I see my apostolate to the poor as a means to make known to everyone how good our God is and make him loved and served?
Do not hide your light! Let it shine for all; let your good deeds [for the poor] glow for all to see, so that they will praise your heavenly Father. (Mt. 5: 15-16)