The year 2025 marks an important milestone for the Congregation of the Mission, which celebrates its 400th anniversary in conjunction with the Holy Year called by Pope Francis. This double jubilee, rich in spirituality and renewal, represents a unique opportunity for Vincentian missionaries to clothe themselves with the Spirit of Christ and embark on a pilgrimage of hope.
400 years jubilee during the jubilee: Put on the spirit of Christ as hope-filled pilgrims
Jubilee celebrations during the Jubilee period
The last words of Saint Vincent de Paul, three hours before his beatific last breath, remain the source of hope in this fourth centenary of the founding of the Little Company. “Grace”[1] . This word suffices to explain the particular coincidence of a jubilee being celebrated during a jubilee. From 1625 to 2025, as the Congregation of the Mission prepares to celebrate 400 years of its administrative institution, the universal Church is in turmoil for the jubilee commemoration of the Holy Year announced by Pope Francis, with the theme “pilgrims of hope”. The year 2025 is intended to be a year of grace for both the universal Church and the Congregation of the Mission. So this is the true springtime that ushers in a marvellous hope, bringing light where darkness seemed to have influence, like the bioenergetic process that turns plants green where their branches seemed sticky. We can see in this providentially spectacular and marvellous event in the Congregation the harbinger of a reassured future for the mission. This is an opportunity for all Vincentian missionaries to clothe themselves in the Spirit of Christ[2] , so as to obtain the grace to be true and authentic pilgrims of hope, inspired by the Spirit who makes us free to serve and free to be synodically free.
The Spirit of Christ reassures hope in the service of the poor
“Remember, Sir, that we live in Jesus Christ through the death of Jesus Christ, and that we must die in Jesus Christ through the life of Jesus Christ, and that our life must be hidden in Jesus Christ and full of Jesus Christ, and that, to die like Jesus Christ, we must live like Jesus Christ”[3] . This Christocentric exhortation from Vincent de Paul to Monsieur Portal explains why every Vincentian missionary must seize the opportunity to undertake his pilgrimage of hope on this fourth centenary of the Congregation. For, if we understand and consider that the Son of God is himself the author of the mission, the requirement to clothe ourselves in the Spirit of Christ will be welcomed as a blessing, or rather as a journey full of hope, whose point of reference is the Master himself, as expressed by Pope Francis: “hope, in fact, is born of love and is founded on the love that springs from the Heart of Jesus”.[4]
The days leading up to the Jubilee are already days of bold and active hope. Because the jubilee celebration also has a catalytic impact on the missionary action of Vincentians, who are called to the courage and compassion to see the presence of the suffering Christ in the transparency of the tears of all the newly crucified (the poor). All missionaries and pilgrims must allow themselves to be contaminated by the attitude of the Master who sows a smile, making new hope blossom on the faces of the poor and the most destitute. So the Spirit of Christ, embodied by missionaries, gives us the possibility of hoping for the impossible in this Jubilee Year, and gives us new strength to face up to the unforeseen events of mission.
The Spirit of Christ sets us free to serve
The Congregation’s jubilee year is a year of freedom, because all the members are animated by a spirit that makes them free to be of service. This spirit that animates the Congregation is that of Christ, sent to serve and liberate. “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because the Lord has anointed me. He has sent me to bring the Good News to the poor, to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim a favourable year granted by the Lord” Lk 4, 18-19. It is good to reread this Lucan excerpt with the spectacles of Vincentian spirituality, especially in this Jubilee Year, which presents itself as a providential opportunity for the mission. For the Congregation’s Jubilee is a favourable moment granted to us by the Lord to make our charity towards our lords and masters more and more effective. To be more precise, we can borrow the words of Pope Francis, who reminds us that during the Jubilee Year, we are called to be tangible signs of hope for many brothers and sisters who live in conditions of distress[5] , the most abandoned of this world. It is undoubtedly true that the Spirit of Christ reassures our freedom to be compassionate towards those who weep, to stand alongside those who suffer, to reassure those who walk without a clear vital compass, to nourish the faith of those who doubt because of suffering, to inspire confidence in those who fear an uncertain future. This Spirit of freedom warms the content of our Christian virtues and encourages every Vincentian to cultivate feelings of tenderness, kindness, compassion, humility, gentleness and patience, and above all love, which is the most perfect and practical disposition that leads to good. This is the free attitude of charity that brings hope to the heart of this wounded humanity.
The Spirit of Christ gives us synodal freedom
Under the influence of the Spirit who animates the whole Congregation of the Mission and each of its members, each one of us, in this Jubilee Year, benefits from a freedom that makes us capable of openness and collaboration, by adopting a synodal missionary style. We are well aware that this is an invitation from the Magisterium to Christians to adopt a synodal style, to walk together, and this is indeed what we are called to do as pilgrims of hope, we who follow Christ, evangelising the poor. Our evangelisation, in this Jubilee Year, will have to take on a community style of mission that consists of walking with others, adapting to the steps of others, paying attention to others, listening to others. In one of his talks, Saint Vincent de Paul evokes this synodal missionary style as an effective way of exercising charity: “Why do you think, Sirs, that Our Lord wanted his disciples to go two by two? Because he recommended that each one of them show charity towards his neighbour, and because that neighbour implies a second person, that is why he sent them out two by two, so that both would continually show charity towards each other, and that if one of them fell, he would have someone to lift him up, or to encourage him in his work, if he found himself tired and weary. My Lords and Brothers, how admirable is the conduct of the Son of God!”[6] . This is why, in this jubilee year, we must adopt the new style, looking together at the future of the Congregation with full hope, because hope does not deceive.
F. André Ngombo, cm
______
[1] SV XIII, 189.
[2] RC 1, 3.
[3] SV I, 295.
[4] Spes non confundit, 3.
[5] Cf. Spes non confundit, 10.
[6] SV XI, 359.
