In the Common Rules of the Vincentians, St. Vincent wrote that there are five characteristic virtues or values that we should live as missionaries: simplicity, humility, meekness, mortification, and zeal for souls. He compared them to the “five stones” that the young David used to conquer the giant Goliath. These are also called the five essentials of Vincentian spirituality.
Since the terms used by St. Vincent are quite outdated, it might be helpful for us to transpose them into the language of our times: authenticity (for simplicity); gratitude (for humility); gentleness (for meekness); letting go (for mortification); and passion (for zeal).
In this article, we will reflect on “simplicity,” or authenticity.
“Jesus, the Lord, expects us to have the simplicity of the dove,” Vincent writes in the Common Rules.
He continues: “This means giving a straightforward opinion about things in the way we honestly see them, without needless reservations. It also means doing things without double-dealing or manipulation, our intention being focused solely on God.”
“Each of us, then, should take care to behave always in this spirit of simplicity, remembering that God likes to deal with the simple, and that he conceals the secrets of heaven from the wise and the prudent of this world and reveals them to little ones” (CR, II.4).
Simplicity is so crucial that St. Vincent says: “It is my gospel.” The Bible says: “Let your word be ‘Yes, Yes’ or ‘No, No’; anything more than this comes from the evil one” (Mt. 5:37).
In the language of the young, we call this “authenticity” or “transparency.” Today, we appreciate people who are real, genuine, transparent, and authentic.
In Vincentian spirituality, simplicity first means honesty in speech. No double meanings. Second, it also means transparency in relationships. No double-dealing. For this, we need to cultivate purity of intention. Our outward character needs to match what is inside our hearts. No superficiality. In Tagalog, to live sustainable lives, “bawal ang plastik.”
As missionaries, people can only trust us when we are transparent and authentic, when they see that what we say matches what we do.
I know it is quite a challenge to live authentically when we are all surrounded by fake images and the loud pretensions of society. The great poet Ralph Waldo Emerson writes: “To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.”
Fr. Bob Maloney, CM, the former Superior General of the Congregation of the Mission, simplifies the value of “simplicity” into these four phrases: (1) speaking the truth; (2) witnessing to the truth; (3) seeking the truth; and (4) being in the truth.
First, “to speak the truth” is a challenge when we are surrounded by lies or when we are discouraged from speaking it at the expense of our personal security and well-being. Despite our conviction in something — like justice, dignity, or compassion — we are tempted to keep quiet for fear of being attacked by trolls or reprimanded by our families and friends who believe otherwise. To maintain peace, we keep quiet. In the process, we compromise the truth. During Duterte’s regime, people were so caught up in fear — church leaders and religious included — that the truth of the Christian message was also buried with them. As a result, thousands were killed in our complicit silence.
Second, “to witness to the truth” refers to a genuine lifestyle, to one’s personal integrity. “Modern person listens more willingly to witnesses than to teachers, and if s/he does listen to teachers, it is because they are witnesses,” writes Pope Paul VI in Evangelii Nuntiandi (41). Young people, they say, have highly developed “BS detector” skills. They easily recognize someone who is just acting or performing. The young prefer the “genuine over perfect” and “actions over words.” For them, the less filtered, the more real.
Third, “to seek the truth” is the utmost challenge of our times. When digital technology blurs or captures the truth, all the more should we search for it. In the recent encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas, Pope Leo XIV has to assert that the “truth is a common good” because, in reality, it has become “the property of those in power and influence.”
Truth is now hijacked by algorithms, influencers, and trolls. The louder they are and the greater their reach, the more “truthful” they appear to become. In this context, we should promote transparency and honesty in the pursuit of facts. “School is a privileged place,” the pope continues, “where new generation can learn to see and love the truth” (HM, 147).
A famous phrase from journalist Maria Ressa, the Filipino Nobel Peace Prize laureate, is worth quoting: “Without facts, you can’t have truth. Without truth, you can’t have trust. Without all three, we have no shared reality, and democracy as we know it—and all meaningful human endeavors—are dead.”
Fourth, “to be in the truth” means to seek simplicity in our intentions, purity of heart, and to immerse our life’s direction in God. This means a single-hearted devotion to God’s will. This means that we are doing what we do not for our own benefit but for God and his kingdom.
Of course, we also recognize that as we travel on this long journey, there are other competing values — popularity, wealth, power, comfort, privilege, security. These are powerful values that often conflict with kingdom values. How to grow in the purity of our intentions is thus a lifetime task. “The privilege of a lifetime is to become who you truly are,” says psychologist Carl Jung. Authenticity can be a lifetime project.
In the famous book The Velveteen Rabbit, the Skin Horse tells the Rabbit:
“Real isn’t how you are made,” said the Skin Horse. “It’s a thing that happens to you. When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but REALLY loves you, then you become Real.”
“Does it hurt?” asked the Rabbit.
“Sometimes,” said the Skin Horse, for he was always truthful. “When you are Real you don’t mind being hurt.”
“Does it happen all at once, like being wound up,” he asked, “or bit by bit?”
“It doesn’t happen all at once,” said the Skin Horse. “You become. It takes a long time. That’s why it doesn’t happen often to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don’t matter at all, because once you are Real you can’t be ugly, except to people who don’t understand.”
This progress toward being Real is described by St. Vincent in his own life. Seldom does he describe his own inner movements, but this he did. Notice the extra care and simplicity with which he talks about it.
On November 6, 1634, St. Vincent wrote to his priest Francois du Courdray: “Simplicity is the virtue I love most, the one to which in all my actions I pay most heed, so it seems to me: and if it were lawful to say so, the one, I may say, in which I have, by God’s mercy, made some progress.”
Father Daniel Franklin Pilario, C.M., is the President of Adamson University in Manila. He is a theologian, professor, and pastor of an urban poor community on the outskirts of the Philippine capital. He is also the Vincentian Chair for Social Justice at St. John’s University in New York.
