15 February 1984
Budapest, Hungary

My dear Confreres and Sisters,

On Monday I had the joy of celebrating Mass for a number of Daughters of Charity, and today I am very happy to be celebrating Mass surrounded by my own Confreres of this Province of Hungary. Let me begin by thanking you all for honoring me in this way, and welcoming the Sisters who have come again this morning to join us in offering that most efficacious of all prayers, the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.

It is only since I have come here to Hungary that the full impact of the history of your Province during the past thirty-four years has forced itself upon me. It was a very moving experience for both Father Wypych and myself to have been able to visit those places which were once the chapels of the two houses of formation for this Province. On Saturday we visited the chapel of the house at Menesio and on Sunday evening we visited the chapel of the Internal Seminary at Pipisesaba. We not only visited those two chapels, but we prayed in them. In both places the words of the "Expectatio Israel" came to my lips. "Quos autem vocasti serva eos in nomine tuo et sanctifica eos in veritate." Yes, that prayer is valid for us all today.

No matter how things have changed, no matter how men have worked against us, no matter how many obstacles men place in the way of the Church, the work of God's sanctification of us will continue to go on. No man can stop God from sanctifying those whom He has called to be members of St. Vincent's Community. Houses and property may be taken away from us, but no one can interfere with Our Lord's call to us to do His Will. No one can interfere with Our Lord's power to give us His grace in all circumstances and at every moment. That is why I say that no matter what has happened to the property or structures of our Community here in Hungary, Our Lord is continuing to sanctify you. I have seen clear proofs of that since I have come here last Friday.

When I think of you and how you have been dispersed, I think of some of those Confreres whom St. Vincent sent to Scotland and to my own country of Ireland. To be a priest or a brother in those countries at that time was to live dangerously. These men were unable to live in Community in the same way as St. Vincent and his Confreres were living in Community at St. Lazare. Yet, because they lived according to their vows and in the spirit of the five virtues, St. Vincent regarded them as very precious members of the Little Company. They wrote letters to St. Vincent, and he wrote letters to them. That is why I think it is so important for you to keep in contact, as far as is possible, with the Visitor and with each other. I am very pleased to know that you come together from time to time in order to strengthen each other in the spirit of our Vincentian vocation.

We know the past of our Community. We do not know what designs God has for the future of this Province of Hungary. St. Paul said, "When I am weak, then I am strong." (2 Cor 12:10). When the Province may feel that it is weak and its future uncertain, that may be the moment which God will use to bring about a change which we have not even dreamt of. For us all I would like to read two of my favorite pieces of St. Vincent's writings. The first is from the Common Rules, and the second is the advice St. Vincent offered to priests and a brother who were setting out in 1646 for Ireland where persecution was raging against the Church:

Christ said: `Seek first the kingdom of God and His justice, and all these things which you need will be given you as well.' That is the basis for each of us having the following set of priorities: matters involving our relationship with God are more important than temporal affairs; spiritual health is more important than physical; God's glory is more important than human approval. Each one should, moreover, be determined to prefer, like St. Paul, to do without necessities, to be slandered or tortured, or even killed, rather than lose Christ's love. In practice, then, we should not worry too much about temporal affairs. We ought to have confidence in God that He will look after us since we know for certain that as long as we are grounded in that sort of love and trust, we will be always under the protection of God in heaven, we will remain unaffected by evil and never lack what we need even when everything we possess seems headed for disaster." (CR II, 2).

Be united...and God will bless you, but let your union be through the charity of Jesus Christ....A union not cemented by the blood of this divine Saviour cannot last. It is...in Jesus Christ, by Jesus Christ and for Jesus Christ you must be united. The spirit of Jesus Christ is a spirit of peace and union; how could you draw souls to Jesus Christ if you were not united to one another and to Him? It could not be done. So, then, be of one and the same mind, one and the same will....It would be rather as if horses were yoked to the same plough, and one started to pull in one direction and the other in another; they would spoil and ruin everything. God is calling you to labor in His vineyard; enter it then, having only one and the same heart, one and the same intention in Him, and by this means you will return with fruit from His vineyard. (Coste, The Life and Works of St. Vincent de Paul, II, pp. 30-31).