Homily for St Vincent de Paul Society Commissioning Mass 17th July 2010

The prophet Micah speaks with passion about the plight of the poor and powerless. He in turn has God speak with the same passion about God's response to those who exploit the poor. It can make uncomfortable reading for us.

The scriptures do not let us get away with much! They challenge as at every turn. The Spirit of God who we discover unexpectedly in people, places and times, catches us by surprise. We always have to ask ourselves, how do I respond? There is no one way to love each person as Christ loves.

The people you so often try to serve are not always free to choose a way of life as we might be able. They are the unemployable, the mentally ill, the addicted, the depressed and those who have been unable to manage their finances well or were the victims of a predatory consumerism, or simply bad government policy. The Prophet Micah might have been speaking about them when he said in the First Reading for today, 17th July:

"They covet fields, and seize them;
houses, and take them away;
they oppress householder and house,
people and their inheritance" (Micah 2:2 NRSV).

A concern for justice is at the heart of the Gospel. It is about the justice of God which our attempts to achieve are but shadows. It is a justice that is hungered for, and at the same time does not trample on the wounded in our midst. This is only achieved by the Spirit of God which came upon Jesus for his mission (cf Matthew 12:15-20). We have to listen for that Spirit to guide us as we work with compassion to seek justice for the poor.

A young jogger took a seat next to an old man on a park bench. The old man looked up and said, "I'm in great shape, too. Every artery is as hard as a rock!" We need the strength of God our rock to be with us as we work. But we need hearts of flesh, not stone, in our relationships with God's little ones. All of the structure we need and all the planning we do is mostly foreign language to those you serve. They only see the love or lack of it in the way we minister to them.

Whatever our plans or hopes about what we do as Christians we always do it under the judgement of the scripture. All our policies and plans find their touchstone there. We do not work from the shifting sands of popular opinion as politicians must. The Scriptures do not give us all the answers about how we respond to the poor. Rather, they are the very ground we stand on.

So we gather for this Mass to celebrate the justice and compassion of God who sustains us in all we do. We ask God's blessing on the Society of St Vincent de Paul and those who are commissioned for it's leadership today.

Fr Graham