A SAINT'S WAY

New Zealand Tablet, 4 July 1918, Page 29

A SAINT'S WAY

Cardinal Bourne, addressing the Ladies of Charity on the tercentenary of the founding of their Order, dwelt at length on a marked characteristic of St. Vincent de Paul. His Eminence said "this characteristic was the Saint's "wonderful hanging on the will of God." To-day men want to get things done because they think it is so important that such things should be done. They begin operations before they have fully surveyed the field or reckoned with possible obstacles. Often due care is not taken to ensure success. With many the great essential is to put the work through. In this they are unlike St. Vincent de Paul. He seemed, humanly speaking, to have gone "almost to the other extreme." His helpers and the devoted Ladies must have | been annoyed by the Saint's re- ! luctance to take up new work. "But the guiding principle of his life and action was that nothing should be undertaken until he had ascertained as clearly as possible the will of God. So he went on, often resisting requests to start some new enterprise, and then when he was quite certain God desired him to do \

a particular work, -he put his hand to it and never drew back." .The results of this insistent waiting on the will of God are visible before-all men to-day. His works of charity endure; his conferences are still performing the beneficent mission; his dear "Daughters" are still laboring for the orphaned, the ill, and the ' poor. Three hundred years- after their organisation they are a vital force, with a range of territory that St. Vincent never dreamed of. His inspired policy has been fully justified in the eyes of the world by the marvellous vigor and permanency of his institutions. '"One of the stratagems which the enemy makes use of with oreat success to deceive those who love God," said St. Vincent to Madame le Gras, "is to urge them to do more than they are able, in order to deprive them of the power of doing any good; whereas, the Spirit of God leads us on gently to perform, in a reasonable manner, the good we are capable of that we may be enabled to persevere in it the longer." Good- words for us all to remember when we grow impatient at what seems to us insignificant results of our labors and would push forward in feverish efforts to accomplish more.