We read in Sacred Scripture that our Lord, Jesus Christ, sent on earth for the salvation of the human race, did not begin by teaching; he began by doing. And what he did was to integrate fully into his life every type of virtue. . . Now our little Congregation of the Mission wants, with God’s grace to imitate Christ, the Lord, insofar as that is possible. . . How to do this is learned mainly from what is taught in the Gospels. Christ’s poverty, his chastity and obedience, his love for the sick; his decorum; the sort of lifestyle and behavior which he inspired in his disciples; his way of getting along with people; his daily spiritual exercises; preaching missions and other ministries which he undertook on behalf of the people. . .Christ’s teaching will never let us down, while worldly wisdom always will. Christ himself said that this sort of wisdom was like a house with nothing but sand as its foundation, while his own was like a building with solid rock as its foundation. And that is why we should try to always follow the teaching of Christ himself and never that of the worldly.
– St. Vincent de Paul
