Gratitude of Saint Vincent

Ingratitude, although a very common vice, is none the less an offence against the Divinity, the Principle of all Good, and against men, whom God makes use of to dispense His gifts. Saint Vincent had all the horror for this detestable vice which every honest man should have. He would have wished, if possible, to have such a gratitude towards God as to thank Him not only for all the goods which he had received from Him, but for all those also which every creature has received and was receiving every day. He thanked Him for all the favours He had granted to mankind since the beginning of the world, and for those He continues to lavish on us; and especially for all good deeds, of which His Grace has ever been the source. The protection with which Our Lord shields His Holy Church, His pastors and all those who work for His spiritual children; the good fruits produced by well-directed Communities; the success of Retreats, of Conferences, of Seminaries and Missions; the prosperity of kings and Christian princes; the humiliation of the enemies of Religion; in a word, all events which give Glory to God and promote the good of the Catholic Religion, such were his usual objects of gratitude towards God.

He was heard saying that one should spend as much time in thanking God for a benefit as in asking for it. Gratitude, he said, is a debt which God exacts from the creature; it was to facilitate the means of fulfilling this duty that He established in the Old Law sacrifices of thanksgiving, and in the New Law that of the Eucharist, meant to remind us of the marvels operated by Him for the love of us. Ingratitude is a sin which dries up the source of Grace; Jesus complained of it when of the ten lepers he saw only one return to express his gratitude.

If we pass on from the gratitude which the Saint showed towards God, to that which he had for men, this will reveal all the excellence of his heart. All will admit that he was worthy of great respect, but he never thought he deserved any at all, and therefore the least service rendered to him touched him deeply. If a child pointed out the way to him, if a Brother lit his lamp or did something even less troublesome for him, they were sure to be thanked heartily. It was considered a great privilege to be admitted to converse with him, yet it was always he who expressed the gratitude. "I thank you," he said sometimes, "that you did not despise my old age." And again: "I thank you for having had the patience to bear with me and to listen to me.

Gratitude was the only thing which could make him forget the rules he had laid down for himself. One day he fell into a river and would have been drowned if a priest who accompanied him had not jumped into the water and saved him. This young Missioner, who was then full of fervour, lost it little by little, and in spite of all the efforts of Saint Vincent he even gave . up his vocation and went home. However, there he found many unexpected contradictions; also documents which overwhelmed him with worry and bitterness for abandoning the state to which God had called him. The example of the Prodigal Son inspired him with the thought of returning to his Saintly Father and asking his pardon, which he did in several letters, in which he also asked to be readmitted into one of his Houses. Saint Vincent did not answer. Afflicted at this rebuff, the unfortunate priest redoubled his entreaties and pleaded that he would be lost eternally if the Saint refused to hold out a helping hand. Saint Vincent, who had small confidence in the conversion of such a fickle man, represented to him all the patience that had been shown him and the little account he had made of it; then he pointed out his fear that he would soon repent of his very repentance, and in conclusion he declared that he could not take him back. This stiff letter acted like a thunderclap on the priest, who, with one last effort, attacked Saint Vincent on his tenderest side - that is to say, through gratitude - and wrote to him: "Sir, I once saved your body, now save my soul." Saint Vincent could not refuse; his indebtedness to the young Missioner, the intense desire to practise virtue and the signs of repentance which the young man had shown were sufficient; his decision was quickly made. He replied: "Come, sir, you will be received with open arms." Just at the moment in which the priest was starting back to the Mission house he fell seriously ill and died, happy, however, at having done all he could to repair his fault, and glad of having listened to the stings of remorse, which are often scorned during life, but which later afflict the soul with gloomy thoughts of despair at the hour of death.

Sometimes Saint Vincent seemed to go beyond the limits of his great generosity. One day he made a present of two thousand francs to a man who was in need, and who had rendered a service to one of his Houses. He took special care of a poor woman who had served two plague-stricken persons in the House of Saint Lazare at the time the Missioners settled there. He provided her with food and paid her rent for thirty years.

Not content with always showing his own personal gratitude in the best way he could, he wished that each one of his sons should consider as done to himself whatever was done to one of the Community. He heard one day that some Religious (Jesuits, from Bar) had, with tender brotherly spirit, buried one of his priests who died in their midst. At once he gave his Community a Spiritual Conference on the necessity of gratitude and urged his children to pray to God for these Religious that He might recompense them for their kindness.

The Saint evidently possessed the spirit of gratitude in an eminent degree.

Practice - Three acts of charity to show our gratitude towards God, and when we receive some service from our neighbour let us be grateful, especially if the service is a spiritual one.

- text taken from Virtue and Christian Refinement According to the Spirit of Saint Vincent de Paul, by Saint John Bosco