The missionary vocation, in the charism of St. Vincent, does not arise from private initiative but from the eternal will of God who calls and destines. God is the “eternal caller” who summons us to follow Christ, evangeliser of the poor; therefore, the place of fidelity is not an idea but a sense of belonging: the Mission is “where God wants us” and in it we will seek consolation and perseverance, provided that the call is genuine and not self-serving.
This theological perspective guides the entire hermeneutics of vocational culture: the primacy of God’s will and discernment to recognise His signs in concrete history; not recruitment, but listening to the Spirit who configures us to Christ and sends us forth.
In the Gospel proclaimed at Nazareth (Lk 4:18), Christ manifests himself as sent to the poor; Vincent takes this passage as the programme and ‘form’ of his own existence and of the works born of his charism. All Vincentian ministries – popular missions, reform of the clergy, service of charity – are intelligible only from this starting point: following Jesus Christ, evangeliser of the poor.
The events of 1617 (Folleville and Châtillon) are the paradigm of a vocational pedagogy: ‘go out, see, call’ – an Easter dynamic that frees us from withdrawal and makes the Church a people reaching out to the little ones.
The missionary vocation is ecclesial: it is born in the Church and for the Church, it is nourished in communion and is expressed in a broad synergy of charisms and states of life (confreres, Daughters of Charity, lay people of the Vincentian Family). The Statutes reaffirm co-responsibility in the missions ad gentes, preparation for cultural contexts, dialogue with clergy and laity, and care for theological-spiritual formation for a service appropriate to the times.
At the heart of this ecclesiology is the vow/resolution of stability: to give oneself totally to following Christ, evangeliser of the poor, and to remain in the Congregation for life; it is a liturgical-ecclesial act that seals the mission as a spiritual worship pleasing to God.
The Vincentian tradition delivers a practicable spirituality in five virtues – simplicity, humility, meekness, mortification, zeal for souls – which constitute the habitus of the evangelical minister. The Common Rules outline its profile: simple and transparent speech, evangelical prudence, meekness that wins hearts to Christ, humility that lifts up to heaven. This is how the missionary becomes a sacramental sign of God’s love among the poor.
In this light, we can understand the famous maxim: ‘Let us love God… at the expense of our arms.’ Charity – theological and practical – is the criterion of truth: thoughts and affections are verified in the passage to action, in instructing the poor, in seeking the lost sheep, in accepting shortcomings and infirmities for love’s sake. It is a Eucharistic spirituality, which is consumed in service.
The Statutes remind us that prayer (Scripture, Eucharist, meditation, examination, exercises, spiritual direction) is not incidental but a formal principle of the mission: action springs from the altar and returns to it. The liturgy of the Church generates a ‘liturgy of daily life’ in which the missionary offers his body, his hours, his efforts as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God.
Thus, ecclesial action – popular missions, social reconciliation, education of the clergy – becomes an epiclesis on the world: the Spirit of the Risen One transforms the human fabric into works of justice, peace and mercy. History itself attests to how simple preaching and Vincentian meekness have reconciled enmities and opened paths of peace.
A theology of vocation that allows itself to be guided by the Spirit rejects both sterile pessimism and soulless activism. The present season is not a “post-something” to be endured, but a favourable time to give reason for hope and to exercise “inventive love to infinity”. Fidelity to our missionary vocation today requires evangelical imagination and communion.
Father, who in Christ revealed the Evangeliser of the poor,
send your Spirit upon your Church, that it may raise up men and women
conformed to the Son, poor and for the poor.
Renew in us the stability of love,
the simplicity of truth, the gentleness that heals,
the humility that uplifts, the zeal that burns.
Make our lives a missionary liturgy,
so that the world may believe and the poor may be evangelised. Amen.
