34. FOR THIS HE HAS SENT ME

But Jesus said, 'People in other towns must hear the Good News
about God's kingdom. That's why I was sent.' So he kept on
preaching in the Jewish meeting places of Judea.

Furthermore, the members, individually and collectively, can
rightly make use of the words of Jesus: 'I must preach the Good
News of the kingdom of God, for which I have been sent.'

This paragraph of our Constitution, the object of this reflection, brings to a culmination the apostolic vocation of the Congregation, with the explicit desire that all members of the Congregation proclaim the Good News and announce the kingdom of God everywhere. According to the measure that each confrere makes the effort to preach the Gospel, the Congregation can say that it is faithful to the motto: "The Lord has sent me to preach the Gospel to the poor."

1. AS INSTRUMENTS OF THE LORD, WE HAVE DEDICATED OURSELVES TO THE TASKS OF EVANGELIZATION

In the following text, Saint Vincent pointed out, in the first place, the excellence of the missionary vocation, and in the second place, the motives which induce missionaries to continue the work of Jesus Christ:

To know God, to announce Jesus Christ to the poor, to say to them that the kingdom of heaven is near, and that the kingdom is for the poor, how great a mission! But it surpasses our under-standing when we realize that we have been called to associate ourselves with and share in the works of the Son of God. Yes, to evangelize the poor is such an exalted function because it is the very work that the Son of God carried out. And we dedicate ourselves to this activity as instruments of the Son of God. Another motive that we have for dedicating ourselves to this purpose is need. You already know well how great this need is and you know the ignorance of the poor people, an almost incredible ignorance. Now God sees this necessity and the tragedies that have occurred through the negligence of pastors and the rise of heresies, events which have caused great losses to the Church. God has willed to remedy the situation by sending missionaries to the poor and thus bringing them to salvation.

2. CHRIST AS EVANGELIZER, ANNOUNCES HIS KINGDOM ABOVE ALL THINGS

It is the responsibility of missionaries to know how to understand, as completely as possible, the meaning and the content of evangelization in the style which Jesus conceived and practiced in his saving work. For this purpose it is important to meditate on and study the example of Jesus Christ, the evangelizer.

As herald of the Gospel, Christ first of all proclaims the kingdom, that is, God's rule, which he regards as so important that everything else can be summed up as 'the other things' which also will be given to humanity. The reign of God is, thus, something absolute, and all else becomes relative to it. Christ the Lord delights in describing the many faceted happiness of belonging to this kingdom, a paradoxical happiness made up of marvelous qualities the world rejects. He also describes the demands made by the kingdom and its Magna Charta, its heralds, its mysteries, its little ones, and the watchful fidelity required of all who await his final coming.

3. THE WORD OF GOD REVEALS HIS SECRET, HIS PLAN AND HIS PROMISE

After describing for us the content of the proclamation of Jesus, the freedom his salvation gives, and having explained the great sacrifices that this announcement of the Good News involves, the document just cited goes on to explain the principal means which the Lord used in saving all people:

Christ's proclamation of the Gospel takes the form of a constant preaching of the word, a preaching unparalleled and unmatched by any other. 'A completely new teaching in a spirit of authority!' All who were present spoke favorably of him; they marveled at the appealing discourse which came from his lips.' 'No man ever spoke like that before.' For, Christ's words reveal the secrets of God, his plan and his promises, thereby transforming the hearts of all and the very meaning of every person's life. Christ also proclaims his Good News through countless signs which move the multitudes to wonder and draw them to him in the desire of serving him, hearing him and letting themselves be changed by him. This is his purpose in healing the sick, changing water to wine, multiplying bread and bringing the dead back to life. But one sign stands out to which he himself attributes great importance: the 'little ones' or the poor have the Good News preached to them, become his disciples and are gathered 'in his name' to form the first communion of those who believe in him. For the Jesus who said: 'I must announce the good news of the reign of God' is also the Jesus whom John the Evangelist tells us had come, and would die, in order 'to gather into one all the dispersed children of God.' This then, is how Jesus carries out and brings to completion his work of revelation, confirming it by words and works, signs and miracles, but especially by his death and resurrection and his sending of the Spirit of Truth.

***** Do I preach the teaching and example of Jesus, or do I prefer to expound trendy ideas?

***** What signs accompany my words? Does my life contradict what I preach?

PRAYER:

Oh Savior! You have raised up a Company for this purpose. You have sent it to the poor and you wish that they ... know you as the one true God, and Jesus Christ as the one sent to the world, so that, by this means, all people might come to eternal life. Thus we must prefer this work to all other works and duties on earth, and in the end, we can consider ourselves the most happy people on earth. My God, who would ever be able to understand this? And so we pray in your name, Lord Jesus, who live and reign with the Father and the Holy spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.