25. Simple as doves and prudent as serpents

All you need to say is ‘yes’ if you mean ‘yes’; ‘no’ if you mean ‘no’; anything more than this comes from the evil one.
Matthew 5:37

The Congregation, furthermore tries to express its spirit in five virtues drawn from its own special way of looking at Christ, name, simplicity, humility, gentleness, mortification, and zeal for souls. Speaking of these five virtues, Saint Vincent said: ‘The Congregation should pay special attention to developing and living up to these five virtues so that they may be, as it were, the faculties of the soul of the whole Congregation, and that everything each one of us does may always be inspired by them’ (Common Rules, ii, 14).
Constitutions, 7

The five characteristic virtues of the Congregation enable us to express our own special spirit. These virtues are the resources of the spirit of the Congregation and serve as the five smooth stones of David to slay Goliath. With such phrases, Saint Vincent stressed the importance of these virtues not only for the personal perfection of the missionary but also for our apostolic life. The first of these virtues is simplicity.

1. It Is Difficult to Find Anybody Who Says What He Thinks

Simplicity is difficult, very difficult, but it is a necessary evangelical virtue. Simplicity is even more necessary in this sophisticated world, so full of lies:

At this time, it seems as if it is the will of God that the Company should possess this virtue, because of the way in which the world is flooded with duplicity. It is difficult to find anybody who says what he thinks. This age is so corrupt that the only thing you see everywhere is trickery and deceit which makes its way (shall I say it?), even into religious houses. Now if there is a community that ought to make a profession of simplicity, it is ours; for, note this well my brothers, duplicity is the bane of a missionary. Duplicity deprives the missionary of his spirit. In the eyes of God and others, to be insincere is venom and poison to the Congregation of the Mission. Ah, my brothers! how beautiful is the virtue of simplicity!¹

2. Simplicity Means to Say Things Clearly

It is difficult to understand the meaning of simplicity and to know to what extent it must be lived. Saint Vincent attempted to address this point in his commentary on simplicity in the Common Rules:

The Lord Jesus requires of us the simplicity of the dove, which consists not only in the unaffected declaration of things as they are in the heart, without useless reflections, but also in the reference of things to God alone, without pretense or artifice. Each one shall earnestly strive to do all things in the same spirit of simplicity, recalling that God communicates with the simple, and that he hides his heavenly secrets from the wise and the prudent of this world and reveals them to the little ones².

3. Two Inseparable Sisters

Here we are dealing with simplicity and prudence. Prudence is linked with all the virtues, but is linked in a special way to simplicity. Without prudence, simplicity would be anything but an attractive or Christian virtue:

Christ, while commending the simplicity of the dove, commands at the same time that we embrace the prudence of the serpent, which enables us to speak and act discretely. We will, therefore, be prudently silent about those things that we should not reveal, especially if they are evil or unlawful. And even in those matters that are in some way good and lawful, we will hold back circumstances that border on dishonor to God or harm to the neighbor, or that can incline the heart to vainglory. Moreover, since this virtue is concerned with the choice of means suitable to achieving our ends, let it be a holy and inviolable principle among us that we always use divine means for divine ends and think and judge matters according to the mind and judgment of Jesus. Let us never judge according to the standards of the world, nor according to the feeble reasoning of our own intellects. In so acting we will be prudent like serpents and simple like doves³.

• Do I practice simplicity? What do others think of my simplicity?
• In my life situation, what expressions of simplicity do I consider most necessary and most valid?

Prayer:

Lord Jesus, you came into the world to teach simplicity and to root out its opposite. You came to instruct us in divine prudence so that we might destroy the ‘prudence’ of this world. Behold, Lord, this Company, which longs for the grace of observing your maxims, of forming itself by your example and of advancing in the way of perfection which you have marked out for it. This is our prayer to you, a prayer that comes from our heart, a prayer made with the confidence of children who place their trust in the goodness of their Father. If it is pleasing to you, present your Father with our desires and our intentions, our words and our works, so that he may be glorified by them forever, for you live and reign with him and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen⁴.

1. “On the Five Fundamental Virtues,” August 22, 1659, O.C., xi, 587.
2. Common Rules, ii, 4.
3. Common Rules, ii, 5.
4. “On Simplicity and Prudence,” March 21, 1659, O.C., xi, 470-471.