The Heart of the Covenant

Zech 2:5-9.14-15a, Psalm: Jer 31, Lk 9:43b-45

Memorial of Saint Vincent de Paul, Priest

Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ, on this Memorial of Saint Vincent de Paul, the great apostle of charity, the Word of God unveils the stunning, tender heart of our God. He is not a distant ruler, but a loving Father who draws near to His people, desires to dwell with them, and establishes a covenant written not on stone, but on the human heart.

The prophet Zechariah offers a glorious vision of God’s protective and intimate love for His people. Jerusalem will be so full of inhabitants that it will need no walls, for the Lord Himself will be “a wall of fire around it” and “the glory in its midst.” This is a God who does not keep His distance. He is both our divine protector and our indwelling glory. This promise finds its echo in the beautiful refrain from Jeremiah: “The Lord will guard us as a shepherd guards his flock.” We are not merely subjects of a king; we are the cherished flock of a faithful shepherd.

But then, Jeremiah reveals the breathtaking depth of this new relationship. God promises a new covenant, unlike the old one broken by human sinfulness. “I will place my law within them, and write it upon their hearts; I will be their God, and they shall be my people.” This is an covenant of interior transformation, of grace, where our very desires are aligned with God’s own will. It is a covenant sealed not with the blood of animals, but as the Gospel hints, with the Blood of the Son of Man.

For in the Gospel of Luke, as the disciples are amazed at Christ’s power, Jesus reveals the paradoxical means of this new covenant: “Pay attention to what I am telling you. The Son of Man is to be handed over to men.” They did not understand this saying; its meaning was hidden from them. The glory of God “in their midst” would be revealed most perfectly not in a miraculous spectacle, but in the self-emptying love of the Cross. The wall of fire around us is the love of Christ that endured the flames of suffering and hatred to redeem us.

The new covenant promised by Jeremiah is inaugurated by the Passion of Jesus. His heart, pierced for love of us, becomes the source of grace that writes God’s law of love upon our own hearts.

This truth was lived heroically by Saint Vincent de Paul. He understood that to encounter Christ was to encounter Him in the poor and suffering. He heard the cry of the forgotten and saw in them the face of the crucified Lord. His immense charitable work was not mere social service; it was the fruit of a heart utterly transformed by the covenant, a heart that beat in unison with the heart of the Good Shepherd. He famously said, “Let us love God, but let it be with the strength of our arms and the sweat of our brows.”

The comfort for us is profound: God’s law is not a burdensome external code, but a gift of love inscribed within us through Baptism and the Eucharist. The challenge is to allow this interior law to guide our actions.

How do we apply this? We ask for the grace to see the face of the crucified Christ in those who suffer. We perform acts of charity, not out of obligation, but because our covenant heart compels us to. We serve with the “holy ingenuity” of Saint Vincent, finding concrete ways to alleviate the burdens of others.

As Pope Francis urges us, “We must not be afraid of goodness, of tenderness.”

May the intercession of Saint Vincent de Paul help us to open our hearts ever more fully to this new covenant. May we, in turn, become a living testament to the world of God’s protecting, indwelling, and tender love. Amen.