By Timothy Williams, Senior Director of Formation and Leadership Development
The Lord loves a cheerful giver, we are taught, and yet, when a friend needs a favor that seems inconvenient, when a call to the Conference helpline disrupts our plans for the evening, or whenever the needs of others call us to give not only our time, but to give the time we had reserved for something else, our good cheer can sometimes fade a little bit. Not that we would fail to help, but perhaps we do so at times with more of a grim determination borne of our sense of duty, rather than cheerful gratitude for having been called.
St. Vincent reminds us that it is not the poor whom we serve, but Christ Himself who holds out His hand for food, for comfort, and for understanding. We “are serving Jesus Christ in the person of the poor. And that is as true as that we are here…Go to visit a chain gang, you’ll find God there. Look after those little children, you’ll find God there. How delightful…! You go into poor homes, but you find God there. Again…how delightful!” [CCD IX:199]
It should be a delight, shouldn’t it? Since everything we have belongs to God, including our time, our works of charity can never truly be interruptions. If this is, as we believe, truly a vocation – a calling – then we have the great joy to be directly called by Christ Himself time and time again!
We do not visit the poor in order to earn God’s grace, which is always unmerited and freely given. But we do receive His grace, and one very important dimension of it is joy. Imagine a small child who has just cleaned his room without being asked, and he cannot wait to run to tell his parents what he has done. He is bursting with joy, because he knows that he has pleased them! In a similar way, when we serve for love alone, knowing that we serve is our Lord and Savior, knowing that He considers all we have done as done to Himself, we, like that small child, feel a deep joy within our hearts, a joy that we cannot help but share.
Perhaps the most common advice St. Vincent gave, which appears hundreds of times in his letters, is to “be quite cheerful” in the face of difficulties, when suffering illness, when doing unpleasant work, when in need, and especially when serving the poor. “Be quite cheerful, I beg you,” he said, “Oh, what great reason people of good will have to be cheerful!” [CCD I:145]
We can’t but be cheerful givers when we let the joy of God enter our hearts along with His will, and in return, our joy and our cheer will only grow. As Blessed Frédéric once put it: “He who brings a loaf of bread to the home of a poor man often brings back a joyful and comforted heart. Thus, in this sweet business of charity, the expenses are low, but the returns are high.” [1361, to the Society, 1837]
Contemplate
Do I perform my works of charity as an obligation, or an occasion for joy?
Recommended Reading
500 More Little Prayers for Vincentians
Contemplación : Sé muy alegre
Se nos enseña que El Señor ama al que da con alegría, y sin embargo, cuando un amigo necesita un favor que parece inconveniente, cuando una llamada a la línea de ayuda de la Conferencia interrumpe nuestros planes para la noche. o cuando las necesidades de los demás nos llaman a dar no solo nuestro tiempo, sino también el tiempo que habiamos reservado para otra cosa, nuestro buen ánimo a veces puede desvanecerse un poco. No es que dejemos de ayudar, pero quizás lo hacemos en ocaciones con una determinación seria nacida de nuestro sentido del deber, en lugar de una gratitud alegre por haber sido llamados.
San Vicente nos recuerda que no son a los pobres a quienes servimos, sino a Cristo mismo, quién extiende su mano para pedir comida, consuelo y comprensión. Estamos sirviendo a Jesucristo en la persona de los pobres. Y eso es tan cierto como que estamos aquí…. Ve a visitar a un grupo de prisioneros, encontrarás a Dios allí. Mira a esos niños pequeños, encontrarás a Dios allí ¡ Que delicia! Vas a casas pobres, pero encuentras a Dios allí de nuevo. ¡ Que delicia! ( CCD IX 199)
Debe ser una delicia ¿ verdad? Dado que todo lo que tenemos pertenece a Dios incluido nuestro tiempo, nuestras obras de caridad nunca pueden ser realmente interrupciones. Si esto es, como creemos verdaderamente una vocación, una llamada ¡ entonces tenemos la gran alegría de ser llamados directamente por Cristo mismo una y otra vez!
No visitamos a los pobres para ganar la gracia de Dios, que siempre es inmerecida y dada libremente. Pero sí recibimos su gracia, y una de las dimensiones más importantes de ella es la alegría. Imagina a un niño pequeño que acaba de limpiar su cuarto sin que se lo pidan, y no puede esperar para correr a contarles a sus padres lo que ha hecho. Está lleno de alegria ¡ porque sabe que los ha complacido! De manera similar, cuando servimos sólo por amor, sabiendo que servimos a nuestro Señor y Salvador, sabiendo que él considera todo lo que hemos hecho como hecho a El mismo. Nosotros como ese niño pequeño, sentimos una profunda alegría en nuestro corazón, una alegría que no podemos evitar compartir.
Tal vez el consejo más común que San Vicente dio, que aparece cientos de veces en sus cartas, es “” ser bastante alegre”” ante las dificultades, cuando sufrimos enfermedades, cuando hacemos trabajos desagradables, cuando estamos necesitados y especialmente cuando servimos a los pobres. “” Sé bastante alegre te lo suplico dijo “” Oh, que gran razón tienen las personas de buena voluntad, para estar alegres ( CCD 1: 145)
No podemos evitar ser dadores alegres cuando dejamos que la alegría de Dios entre en nuestros corazones junto con su voluntad, y a cambio, nuestra alegría y nuestro ánimo solo crecerían. Como lo expresó el beato Frederic”” El que lleva un pan a la casa de un hombre pobre a menudo regresa con un corazón alegre y consolado. Así, en éste dulce oficio de la caridad, los gastos son bajos, pero los beneficios son altos.(1361, a la Sociedad, 1837)
Contemplar
¿ Realizo mis obras de caridad como una obligación, o como una ocasión de alegría?
Thank you for sending this. Your central idea will help our conference. It really needs home visit teams. We only have two teams right now. I keep appealing to our need. I should be mentioning our joy instead. So many times I will be walking away from a concluded home visit with my team member and I will say “I can’t believe more people in our church wouldn’t want to do this.” Because we’ve had our neighbors and friends that we visit shed tears after our little 30-second prayers, and are so grateful for the usual good SVdP material things and helpful information we provide. And we in turn are so grateful for the friendships that are made. They may be only short-term, but nevertheless these are legitimate friendships.
Not every visit is joyful, especially the (very rare) ones where our neighbors don’t want to hear our prayer for them. But most of the time there is joy, and it’s possible that they all can be joyful. I’m not at that stage yet, but I feel like it’s getting closer as time goes on. Some days no one will answer their phone, or we can’t work out a really good plan, or there will be all these annoying little background details, and I will hang up the phone, look up at the kitchen ceiling and say “Why would ANYONE want to do this?” The very next day, everybody answers the phone, we plan something together, and everything works out, so I hang up the phone, say thanks to God, look up at the ceiling again and say “Why doesn’t EVERYBODY want to do this?”
As you say, ” . . . we have the great joy to be directly called by Christ Himself. . . ” Christ puts new names on our computer screen every week and is saying “I am going to heal all these people. But does your conference want to get in on it too?” Yes Lord, we do! Thank you! We’ve been waiting our whole lives for something like this!”
Yes, our conference “needs'” more members. But appealing to a sense of need is wrong. “It should be a delight, shouldn’t it?” Absolutely, and even if everything doesn’t work out the way we want (although most of the time, it does), it’s always a delight to answer God’s direct call. Again, thanks.