The Works of Mercy

In a society in which science and technology advance at dizzying speeds, and notwithstanding the social and industrial development that permeates large sectors of society, there still remain poverty, pain, sickness, physical and moral suffering, lack of meaning, and loneliness, thus begetting new poor people; the whole Institute, as another prolongation of the Incarnation of the Word,[1] wishes to give “testimony that the world can neither be transfigured nor offered to God without the spirit of the beatitudes.”[2]

In “imitation of the Incarnate Word, ‘the Missionary of the Father, sent to the poor,’”[3] our Institute desires to “continue revealing to men God’s merciful love toward the human race, and to keep incarnating it through all types of charitable works, and with this to alleviate many of the evils that afflict modern man,”[4] because we understand that “to love God by manifesting it in concrete love to our brothers is the only possible way to love God, according to what Jesus Christ Himself taught us.”[5]

Therefore, and in accordance with the marvelous charism that has been bequeathed to us to work “so that Jesus Christ will be the Lord of all that is truly human,”[6] the works of charity become for each one of the members of the Institute a most fitting and effective means of evangelization. Because of this, and because the love of Christ urges us on,[7] it is our task to “give privileged attention to the poor, sick, and all those in need … practicing concrete charity,”[8] as a testimony. In this sense, the works of mercy—corporal and spiritual—and, among them, above all those that put us in direct contact with disabled people, are one of the non-negotiable elements adjoined to the Institute’s charism, and we desire that they always continue to be. For “this continues to be the high road for evangelization.”[9] In fact, so convinced are we of this that we consider the members who are dedicated to the works of mercy, together with the beneficiaries themselves of said works, as “cornerstones of the apostolic endeavor of our Institute.”[10]

For this reason, within the great variety of apostolates that our Institute might embrace, it is our firm and definitive decision to “reserve a preferential place for charitable work since it is an essential component of the evangelizing mission of the Church and an indispensable element for the evangelization of the culture.”[11]

Even more, the works of mercy “are in the heart of the Institute”[12]:

• Because they have an irreplaceable testimonial value in every culture and circumstance. In fact, in those countries where the explicit proclamation of the Gospel is prohibited and the only way of doing it is through the silent witness of religious, the works of mercy may become the only means of evangelization.
• But also because, in those countries where we can preach with words, the works of mercy allow us to corroborate with works that which we announce.[13] For many people, although they may be conditioned by the various charms of a society that is often affluent and inclined to selfishness, are more sensible than ever to the signs of disinterested love, as tireless testify many people who visit or are taken care of in the numerous homes that our religious look after.
• Because the works of charity allow the religious and, therefore, the whole Institute, to manifest the predilection of Jesus Christ for the poor and the small, in such a way that the experience of work with the poor, with children abandoned by their parents, with the elderly who are not self-sufficient, with the sick who are terminally ill and unassisted, with youth addicts, etc., becomes a school of life in faith for the religious. With them and in the houses of the Institute dedicated specifically to their attention, the presence and action of Divine Providence is experienced in a palpable way, in the material and principally in the spiritual.
• Furthermore, this apostolate is a generous source of vocations. Because God infinitely provident must always send those who will take care of his poor and most needy, if they are taken care of as He wants.[14]

Aware of this, and knowing that “the priest is a man of charity,”[15] the Institute strives to cultivate in its candidates “a preferential love for the poor, in whom in a special way Christ is found present,[16] and a love that is merciful and full of compassion for sinners.”[17] For that is what truly allows us to be credible witnesses to Christ’s love.[18]

Our task is to be like the Good Samaritan, who stops at the suffering of another man, whoever he may be, and to be compassionate; not only when it is emotionally comforting or convenient, but also when it is demanding and inconvenient.[19]

The Incarnate Word said to us: you always have the poor with you.[20] Therefore, the works of charity will always be necessary. And within the Mystical Body of Christ, we, the members of the Institute of the Incarnate Word, want to stand out by the exquisite and extensive charity with which we seek to transform the world according to the spirit of the beatitudes, being in the world what Christ was: “the face of the Father’s mercy.”[21]

[1] Directorio de Obras de Misericordia, 15.

[2] Constitutions, 1, quoting Lumen Gentium, 31.

[3] Saint John Paul II, “Address to Participants of the General Assembly of the Vincentian Fathers” (June 30, 1986), 2.

[4] Directorio de Obras de Misericordia, 15; our translation.

[5] Ibid.

[6] Constitutions, 31.

[7] 2 Cor 5:14.

[8] Constitutions, 174.

[9] Directorio de Evangelización de la Cultura, 157, quoting Pope Benedict XVI, “Address to the Participants in the Fourth National Ecclesial Convention,” Verona Exhibition Centre (October 19, 2006).

[10] Constitutions, 194.

[11] Directorio de Evangelización de la Cultura, 156; our translation.

[12] “Notes from the VII General Chapter,” 106.

[13] Directorio de Obras de Misericordia, 70.

[14] Ibid.

[15] Constitutions, 206, quoting Saint John Paul II, Pastores dabo vobis, 49.

[16] Mt 25:40.

[17] Directorio de Seminarios Mayores, 238; our translation.

[18] Directorio de Obras de Misericordia, 8, citing Saint John Paul II, “Message for the Eleventh World Day of the Sick” (Washington, D.C., February 11, 2003).

[19] Saint John Paul II, “Homily for the Faithful of the Ecclesiastical Province of Los Angeles” (September 15, 1987).

[20] Mt 26:11.

[21] Pope Francis, Misericordiae Vultus, 1.