Love: Alleviation of Material and Spiritual Needs
Divine Providence commands us to help our brother in his grave temporal as well as spiritual needs. (OOCC, IV, p. 131)
According to St. Vincent Pallotti, love is total self-giving and must be expressed in the context of a person’s daily living. It implies that a person’s love for his neighbor is shown in the alleviation of the material and spiritual needs of others. St. Vincent visualized the human person as a totality of body and soul. Hence, his endeavor was to care for the whole person, both in his material and spiritual aspects. St. Vincent felt that helping his neighbor both in his material and spiritual needs is an obligation placed on every human person by God. Alleviating the material needs consists of assuring that he is able to live a decent life, having basic amenities and requirements. Assuaging the spiritual needs of a person involves giving of spiritual guidance to the one in spiritual need, warning him when he is in danger, encouraging him when he is struggling on his journey towards God, and giving him timely support when he needs it. St. Vincent, during his lifetime on earth, reached out to his neighbor in love in both of these aspects. He organized a mission of universal charity to mitigate the sufferings of the poor and help them in all their needs in the best way possible. Similarly, he spent many hours at the confessional, visited the dying, consoling them and confirming them in the faith, reached out to the people of various social groups, and gave himself in every possible manner for the spiritual well being of all types of people.
Is my self-giving in love reaching out to the whole human person? Do I care for the bodily as well as the spiritual needs of a person? What do I do to mitigate the material needs of the person? What do I do to help a person in his spiritual need?
He who has compassion on the poor lends to the Lord. (Prov. 19: 17)