CHAPTER II
STABILITY: FIDELITY IN EVANGELIZING THE POOR

"We have all brought to the Company the resolution to live and die in it. We have brought it all that we are, body, soul, will, capacity, industry and the rest. Why? To do what Jesus Christ did, to save the world." (SV XII, 98)

1. INTRODUCTION
In the midst of all the changes that occurred in St. Vincent's thoughts on the vows before 1641, one element invariably appears: the need to have a specific vow to insure a lifetime commitment to the evangelization of the poor, which would also mean "living and dying in the (Congregation of the) Mission" (SV II, 137). There was even a moment when he thought that the only vow necessary for strengthening the Mission would be the vow of stability (Vincent himself gives it this name; cf. SV II, 28). In effect, the vow of stability would guarantee in the lives of the missionaries two essential elements of the Mission as an institution: (1) a lifetime permanency in the Congregation and (2) a consecration of one's entire life to the evangelization of the poor.

2. THE PRESENT SITUATION
The modern world has been marked by the yearnings of millions to be free from social and political domination. The young nations struggle to move beyond the economic and cultural oppression of the colonial past.
On every continent, groups and individuals have sprung up which promote solidarity with the poor, the struggle for a more just society and the defense of human rights. The Church has lent its support to these efforts through its social teaching. It has committed resources and personnel to a preferential option for the poor.
Nonetheless, while some sectors of society have become more conscious of the plight of the poor, the breach between rich and poor grows. The consumer mentality of having more and using more has become an acceptable lifestyle for many. Many modern economic structures produce more poverty. The media often depict those who are of little use to the economy - the poor, the old, the sick - as failures, responsible for their own suffering. In this situation, standing with the marginalized or making a vow of service to the poor requires "counter-cultural" courage.
There are other difficulties, of a different nature, which arise from trends in our changing society. The rapidity of change and the tendency to favor short-term solutions and rewards, which characterize the last decades of the twentieth century, call lifetime commitment into question. Exaggerated secularization casts doubt on what is essentially a religious consecration.
Within the Congregation, confreres who have given their lives generously to the service of the most abandoned by following Jesus, the evangelizer of the poor, are an eloquent witness to the Vincentian charism. The inherent demands and difficulties of that vocation are experienced by everyone. For some the burden is excessive. In certain instances this has led to lifestyles which are of dubious Vincentian character or to settling down comfortably in existing ministries to the detriment of our missionary vocation.

3. THE VOW OF STABILITY
The three constitutive elements of the vow of stability are clearly expressed in articles 28 and 39 of the Constitutions, as well as in the different formulas for taking vows (C 58). These three elements are:
1. Fidelity and perseverance for life
2. In the Congregation of the Mission
3. In dedication to achieving its end as defined in the Constitutions:

FOLLOWING CHRIST, THE EVANGELIZER OF THE POOR (C 1).

Concretely, the vow commits us to fulfilling the end of the Congregation "performing the works assigned to us by superiors according to our Constitutions and Statutes" (C 39). This last clause demands that all members be responsible for determining the Vincentian character of our works, but it places a special obligation on local and major superiors, since they have received the commission to make decisions about the creation or suppression of our works and ministries.

4. THE VIRTUE OF FIDELITY
Today the term "stability" might not adequately convey what St. Vincent intended. It may therefore be best to move beyond the static tone of the term and highlight the dynamic meaning that it had in St. Vincent's mind from the beginning. What our tradition has meant by "stability" might better be expressed today by the word "fidelity": fidelity for life to the Vincentian charism in the Congregation of the Mission.
This fidelity to following Jesus, the evangelizer of the poor, commits us to go beyond the juridical minimum of doing the works assigned to us by our superiors according to the Constitutions. Fidelity cannot be reduced to mere obedience, even less so if that implies something that is not active and responsible. The Evangelizer of the Poor calls us to live a life which is coherent with all the dimensions of the Vincentian charism. Consequently, fidelity, confirmed by the vow of stability, includes several elements:
- It implies a personal response to Jesus. The vow confirms our fundamental decision to accept the vocation to follow the Evangelizer of the Poor.
- On a psychological level the vow strengthens the missionary and enables him to overcome moments of crisis or difficulties.
- Since Vincentian consecration is in and for the mission, the vow gives a missionary sense to the other evangelical counsels (C 28). It focuses all of the energies of the confreres on the evangelization of the poor. It focuses our commitment beyond personal concerns to the dimension of service of others.
- Since St. Vincent called the first members to evangelize the poor together (C 19), the vow enjoins on the members a concern for the common mission of the Congregation.
- The vow performs a prophetic function in two ways: first, as a lifetime commitment, it is a sign of contradiction which transcends the instability that exists in many areas of society; second, as an option for the poor, it signifies solidarity with the weak and those who are often belittled.

5. LIVING STABILITY
In addition to well-known, ordinary means, such as deep and constant prayer, the sacraments, the renewal of vows at special times of the year, retreats, community gatherings and celebrations, experience teaches fidelity is nourished by:
The deep conviction that the Lord loves us as members of the Congregation of the Mission. "God loves the poor and consequently he loves those who love them" (SV XI, 392). From that conviction flows a firm but humble determination to struggle until death with the risks, sufferings, sacrifices and crises which arise.
Studying and knowing the tradition of the Congregation of the Mission. Since it is impossible to love what you do not know, there is an irreplaceable value in immersing oneself in the history and spirituality of the Congregation, studying its Constitutions, norms and directives, and knowing the lives of great missionaries. We look to our tradition to understand how our predecessors incarnated the Vincentian charism in their time and their culture. A lively interest in present-day developments, both within and outside our own provinces, will help us understand how the Vincentian spirit is lived out today.
Fostering a spirit of dialogue and friendship as brothers. This will lead us to experience the Congregation as our family, with which we identify our lives. A dynamic spirit of community gives renewed life to our mission. It also establishes an environment which enables us to express openly to our brothers the personal difficulties that we might experience in persevering in our vocation.
Maintaining and renewing the Vincentian character of our ministries. Our apostolates should truly correspond to the end of the Congregation and the characteristics described in the Constitutions (C 12). This will be the basis for an honest evaluation of our present works (S 1).
Direct contact with the poor. Every member of the Congregation of the Mission should have the opportunity to experience the joy of direct contact with the poor. They can teach us many gospel values and encourage us to continue in this vocation (C 12, 3E).
Collaboration with others committed to working with the poor. The Daughters of Charity (C 17), Vincentian lay movements (S 7) or other groups that promote human rights and work for social justice can enrich the way we live our own commitment (S 9).

STABILITY: FIDELITY IN EVANGELIZING THE POOR
- Some Texts That May Serve for Meditation -

1. "It is true that your request surprised me when I first saw it, as you guessed it would. And anyway, Father, how could it not have done so, on my seeing the doubt you have about your vocation now that you are eighteen or twenty years in the Congregation? You examined this during the retreat you made when you joined, again after the two years internal seminary, again after vowing to God to stay in the Congregation as you did several years ago. For, even though you did not renew them following the Brief, these original vows do not cease to be promises made to God, which one is bound in conscience to keep. After working so much in the Congregation, in various positions and with success, after all this, I say, you ask me if you have a vocation! Should I not be surprised at such a question? I will answer it, though, because you ask me to, and I tell you, Father, that, after all the above, God asks you to stay on till the end. All the thoughts opposed to this which occur to you are temptations from the evil spirit, who is jealous of your happiness in serving God.
But (you state) there are things I do not like; the vows and customs, as well as the spirit of the Mission, do not suit me, though I esteem them. But, Father, is there anywhere where you could be without disliking something? Does not every sort of lifestyle bring problems with it? And where can you see people who are happy about every detail of their life? Believe me, Father, that apart from the dangers to salvation which one has in the world you would find many crosses and unattractive things. And even if you were to leave and join another community, do not imagine, Father, that it would be free of problems: you would have to obey there, it would have its customs, just as we have ours, and they might not be of any greater appeal to you. When we think about some different situation we think about what would be pleasant in it, but when we are actually in it we experience what is annoying and against the grain. So, Father, relax and continue your voyage to heaven in the same ship in which God placed you. That is what I expect from his goodness, and from your wish to do his will." (SV VII, 291-293)

2. "What answer can I give, Father, to the question you ask me, other than what God himself lets you know, what learned and virtuous people have advised you, and what your own conscience tells you? Yes, Father, courage! If you give yourself readily to God he will give himself to you and fill you with his graces and choicest blessings. So, go ahead and do what you can and even, I will say, what you ought to have done in some way long ago; do, Father, what so many other senior and junior men have done, and be assured this will bring you relief. If you have stayed twenty years in the Congregation you will stay another twenty or thirty, because things will be no different in the future from what they were in the past. Apart from the fact that you will edify the others. Linking yourself to God, as they have done, our Lord will link himself to you more closely than ever and will be your strength in your weaknesses, your joy in your sadness, and your firmness in your wavering.
With regard to the matters about which you say you have doubts, these are merely temptations from the enemy of your well-being and the glory of Jesus Christ. For this vow to spend one's whole life in the service of the rural poor is to be understood according to the rules of obedience, so that if the superior does not appoint one to it one is not bound to go. How many are there who cannot do that work, yet they do not therefore cease to be real missionaries? Bursars in houses, teachers, even the superior general himself who clearly often cannot do it, are they less members of the body of the Congregation, and do they not fulfill their vow? You have been giving missions for twenty years; will you not be able to give them for another twenty? And if God helped you all that time, even though you had not fully given yourself to him, will he not certainly help you in the future when you are completely his? But, pushing the thing to extremes, if the superior thinks there is very obvious danger, will he not be able to dispense you from going?" (SV VII, 293-295)

3. "Do you not remember the lights God has so often given you in your prayer, causing you to take the resolution before his Divine Majesty and to testify publicly to the whole Company that you would rather die than leave it? And now, on the slightest pretext, when it is a question of neither death, nor blood, nor threats, you are surrendering without the resistance merited by such a promise made to God, who is constant and jealous of his honor, and who wishes to be served as he wills. He has called you to the Company; you have no doubt of that. He has even preserved you in it despite the efforts of your own father, who wanted to have you near him; and you preferred to follow the gospel rather than please him." (SV III, 482-483)

4. "As for your asking me if you might remain with the Missionaries without being a member, to work with them and still remain free, we will not do that. We have never granted this to anyone; it would encourage others to leave and to hope for the same thing. Naturally, everyone loves his freedom, but we must beware of this as of a broad road that leads to perdition.
So, then, Monsieur, please do not expect that, but give yourself to God to serve him all your life in the manner and in the state in which he has placed you." (SV V, 106-107)

5. "On the one hand, your letter consoled me greatly, when I saw how candidly you explained what is going on with you. On the other hand, it caused me the same distress St. Bernard once felt when one of his monks, under pretext of greater regularity, wanted to leave his vocation to transfer to another Order. That Father told him that this was a temptation and that the evil spirit would like nothing better than this change. The devil was well aware that, if he could lure him away from the first state, it would be easy for him to make him leave the second, and then to plunge him into a disorderly life, which is exactly what happened. What I can tell you, dear Brother, is that, if you do not practice continence in the Mission, you will not do so anywhere in the world; of that I can assure you.
So be careful that there is no fickleness in your desire for a change. If this is the case, the remedy, after prayer, which is necessary in all our needs, would be to consider that no state on earth does not experience times of repugnance and sometimes of desires to transfer to another. After reflecting on this, consider that, since God has called you to your present state, the grace of your salvation is attached to it, which he might deny you in another place where he does not want you to be." (SV IV, 592)

6. "That is why, Father, I most humbly beg you to act in this way and not to delay because of this matter, nor for the proposal you received to work on the translation of the Syriac Bible into Latin. Well do I know that the translation would be useful to the curiosity of some preachers, but not, to my mind, to the winning of the souls of the poor for whom the providence of God has destined you from all eternity. It must be enough for you, Father, that by the grace of God, you have devoted three or four years to learning Hebrew and know enough to uphold the cause of the Son of God in his original language and to confound his enemies in this kingdom. Imagine then, Father, that there are millions of souls stretching out their hands to you and speaking in this way: `Alas! Fr. du Coudray, you who have been chosen from all eternity by the providence of God to be our second redeemer, have pity on us. We are wallowing in ignorance of the things necessary for our salvation and in the sins we have never dared to confess, and for want of your help we will certainly be damned.' Imagine further, Father, the Company telling you that for three or four years it has been deprived of your presence and is beginning to miss you. You are one of the first members of the Company and, as such, it needs your advice and example." (SV I, 251-252)

7. "I want to draw attention to these problems before they actually happen, because it may turn out that they will crop up. I cannot be around much longer; I will pass on soon; my age, the state of my health, the abominations of my life, will not allow God to put up with me on earth much longer. So, it may perhaps happen that after my death troublemakers and people lacking nerve will come along and say: `What is the point in being saddled with looking after these hospitals? How can we possibly help so many people ruined by the wars, searching them out in their own areas? What is the use of taking on so many things and so many poor people? Why be involved with the Daughters who serve the sick, and why waste time with madmen?' There will be some, have no doubt about it, who will speak out against such work. And others will say it is too much to send men to far-off places, to India, to Barbary. But my God, O Lord, did you not send St. Thomas to India and the other apostles all over the world? Did you not give them charge and care of all people in general, as well as many individual persons and families? No matter, our vocation is evangelizare pauperibus." (SV XII, 89-90)

Chapter III

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