6 July 1985
Eefde, Holland

My dear Friends in Jesus Christ,

Let me begin by saying how happy I am to be celebrating Mass with you here in this Vincentian center this evening. When this building was constructed some twenty-seven years ago, it was built with a view to the education of missionaries for St. Vincent de Paul's Congregation. I like to think that, although the work of educating Vincentian missionaries is no longer carried on in it, it retains its missionary character.

That word mission was a word very dear to St. Vincent. It was a word which, from his conferences and correspondence, we know to have been very often on his lips. He called the Congregation which he founded, the Congregation of the Mission. He wished that his priests would move from parish to parish, preaching missions to the people. He also wished that his priests would be missionaries in countries where the good news of Christ had not yet been preached. He sent priests to Madagascar and also to Scotland and Ireland where during his lifetime priests were few on account of religious persecution. When I think of St. Vincent and his strong desire to help the missions, I would like here to pay tribute to the large number of Vincentian priests who are presently working in missionary territories in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. There are close to ninety Dutch Vincentian priests working at the present time in various mission countries of the world. For that, I give thanks to God and express the hope that in the future (and who can say that this will not be so?) many more priests from Holland will go forth to share the riches of the Catholic Faith with peoples who have not yet heard of Jesus Christ and His Church.

Listening to the first reading of this evening's Mass, I wonder if you felt mildly shocked or scandalized. Jacob is one of the great figures of the Old Testament, but he does not appear in a very favorable light in this evening's reading. To put it bluntly, this evening's reading shows him up to be a man of deceit and sharp practice. He deceived his aged and blind father about his identity. He pretended to be his brother, Esau, in order to obtain that special blessing which the father reserved for his eldest son, a blessing which, when once given, was considered to be irrevocable.

We are somewhat shocked to see this corruption in the character of a man whom the Israelite people of subsequent centuries and Christian peoples today look upon as one of the great characters of the Old Testament. Perhaps we should ask ourselves if we should be surprised, when we see the sort of men Jesus Christ chose to be His Apostles when He came on earth. Who would choose St. Peter today to be Pope? We would say that, while he was a very generous man, yet we would not consider him to have the strength of character necessary in a Pope. Yet Jesus Christ chose him, notwithstanding his glaring weaknesses of character. So it was with the rest of the Apostles. They were ordinary men with the ordinary weaknesses of character that characterize Bishops and priests today. Yet it was on such a foundation that God chose to build His Church. It is through such ordinary men that Jesus Christ continues to guide His Church today.

The truth is that God is greater than the limitations of our human characters. He can achieve His purposes, despite the obstacles we place in front of Him. God's plan for the coming of Jesus Christ amongst the Israelite people was not stopped because of the dishonesty of Jacob. The Church, which Jesus Christ founded, survives today, notwithstanding the infidelities, the mistakes, the imprudences of Popes, Bishops, priests and laity. That does not mean that we should not strive to cooperate with Jesus Christ and with His Church. Our vocation is to establish the Kingdom of God within ourselves first, and after that to work humbly and patiently with others for the coming of the Kingdom of God in their souls and in the world. In all that we do with others and for others, the ideal of St. Paul, which he expressed in his letter to the Romans, will always be relevant: "Do not be conquered by evil, but conquer evil with good." (Rom 12:21). That is the way of God. He did not reject Jacob because of his deceit. He did not write him off, and that is often what we do when others fail or deceive us. We allow ourselves to be conquered by evil instead of starting afresh to conquer evil with good.

"We should help and support one another," wrote St. Vincent to a missionary, "and strive for peace and union among ourselves. This is the wine which cheers and strengthens travelers along this narrow path of Jesus Christ. I recommend this to you with all the tenderness of my heart." (Coste IV, Eng. ed., ltr. 1414, p. 265).