25 March 1985
Paris, France

Mother Rogé, Father Lloret and my dear Sisters,

There was once a very wealthy man who had a large family and, because he was wealthy and loved his family greatly, he gave them all that they needed to make them happy and content. When his wife was giving birth to their last child, she died. The child was born severely handicapped. Because the father was a loving man, he gave his handicapped child much time and attention. He would care personally for this, the youngest of his family, an autistic child. The other members of the family, however, were not in the main greatly interested in their youngest brother. Some wanted him put away in a State institution, while others, on growing up, left the home, became preoccupied with their affairs and lost interest in the child. The father continued to love his handicapped child, giving generously of his time so that he might penetrate into the closed world of his autistic son. One of the man's daughters, beautiful and talented, admired so much the loving devotion of her father that she decided to give her life to help him in looking after the needs of her youngest brother. Time passed and the father grew old. In his latter years he would repeatedly seek assurance from his daughter that, when he was gone, she would continue to do as he did, loving and caring for that child who could make little or no response to love and care. For years after her father's death the daughter continued to do exactly as he had done, attending the needs of the helpless child who was her brother.

That, my dear Sisters, is a parable. The father in the parable is your heavenly Father, and you are the daughter who promised Him to take care, even at great cost to yourselves, of the handicapped child who is for you the poor. It is your heavenly Father Who through the Community has entrusted the poor to your care.

In the parable only one of the family could share their father's vision of the condition and need of his youngest child. It is only a tiny minority of the world's population who share the vision which Christ had of the poor, and you are privileged to be among them. The father in the parable repeatedly asked his daughter for assurance that she would continue for the rest of her life to give the same devoted care as he did to the handicapped member of the family. This morning your heavenly Father asked a similar assurance from you and, thanks be to God, you gave it to Him with all the generosity of your heart. This morning you renewed your desire and intention to devote yourself to serving the poor, handicapped children of God. You did so because of the vision of the poor which God has given you, the vision of the poor which He has already shared with St. Vincent and St. Louise. That vision has been communicated to us through the traditions of the Community and through the Constitutions and Statutes of the Company. Once again this morning you have responded to your caring Father in heaven, promising to dedicate yourself to the service of the poor through your vows of chastity, poverty and obedience. Just as the daughter in the parable loved and admired her father and wished to follow his example in caring for his son, so, too, your vows are firstly an expression of love and admiration for your caring Father in heaven, Who has manifested Himself through His Son, Jesus Christ.

In the parable the father asked his daughter to continue to love and care for the handicapped child in the way that he did. It is so with us. God has given us through the Community a particular vision of how the poor should be served. In the care of the handicapped child love had to be structured by regularity. Feeding and bathing had its regular hours. For us, too, in our vocation structures, however much at times we may like to abandon them, are necessary if we are to mediate the particular love which our heavenly Father wishes to show the poor He asks us to serve. In pronouncing our vows we freely accept a structured way of life. Our vows could be said to throw up a wall around us, but it is like the wall of which Zechariah, the prophet, wrote: "I will be to her a wall of fire round about, says the Lord, and I will be the glory within her." (Zec 2:9). Our vows are a wall of fire and the fire has its origin in the love which God has for us and for the poor whom He wishes us to serve. Ask often from God the grace of keeping alive His love in your heart so that you may be faithful to your vows. Reflect often on the joy of your heavenly Father as He sees you caring for the handicapped child He has entrusted to you.