Go Out To The Peripheries • A Video From Fr. Tomaz Mavrič

by | Feb 23, 2017 | Formation, Reflections

In a new series of three videos, Fr. Tomaz Mavrič, CM invites us to continue to deepen the meaning of the Vincentian charism, of which we celebrate the 400th anniversary during this year 2017.

The first of this new series, “The Globalization of Charity” and the second, “Your call,”  were already published in past weeks. We now present the third and last, “Go out to the peripheries.”

Let us recall that, in the first series of videos published in the month of January, Fr. Mavrič invited us to look with faith and charity at three objects that belonged to Vincent de Paul: his hat, his cape and his sandals.

In this new video, Fr. Tomaz Mavrič, CM invites us to go out to the peripheries: Listening to the words of Father Tomaž and admiring the beautiful images that accompany the video, I came to an incredible insight.  Father General made a gospel phrase echo in my heart as he extended the invitation to go out to the peripheries … on the peripheries one will find abundant life (John 10:10) because there we will encounter and come to know so many brothers and sisters.  That is the miracle of our charism and our vocation.

Fr. Tomaz Mavrič, CM tells us:

As a Vincentian Family, we are invited to go out to the peripheries, but not alone, not maybe just as one or two branches. The Family, it’s, it’s growing. And so important that we go together as a Family, that we plan together, that we do together. That we, what will make us start the whole process, pray together.

Pope Francis said go, go to the peripheries. And this is what Vincent started to do. He is going out. He would like to reach every one of us, every single member of the Vincentian Family, every single person and touch them and touch us as he was touched 400 years ago.

Video link in other languages:

Questions for dialogue:

After watching this video together, we can discuss with these suggestions:

  1. Repeatedly, Pope Francis, and our founders before, have invited us to go out to meet the poor, to go to the peripheries. How are we doing this, within my branch, movement, or Vincentian place?
  2. How could we improve our service and encounter with the poor, our masters and lords?
  3. How are we collaborating with the different Vincentian branches, movements, or places in my environment? Could we improve?

General presentation of this video series

For us, 2017 is the anniversary year of the charism. Unlike other founders, Vincent de Paul did not have visions or receive messages from on high.  At two key moments in his life the Holy Spirit surprised Vincent and made him question himself with regard to two different forms of poverty: people are dying of hunger and… people are condemned because they do not know the truths necessary for salvation.  Thus, there was a hunger for the Word and a hunger for food … both of which result in a twofold death: death of the body and death of the soul.  After the failures that occurred during the first decade of his priestly ministry (failures that were revealed in the letter that he wrote to his mother and spoke about an honorable retirement which would allow him to spend the rest of his life with her [cf. CCD:I:15-16]), Vincent began to discover a new meaning in his life as a result of his charitable activity on behalf of the poor.  Folleville and Châtillon were the crossroads where Vincent encountered God.  After those events, Vincent became involved in a mission that gave meaning and direction to his life … and, as members of the Vincentian Family, gives meaning to our lives.

At the beginning of this Holy Year, this Charismatic Year … or perhaps it is better to say at the beginning of this Jubilee Year, Father Tomaž Mavrič, CM, superior general, mindful of the suggestion of an individual confrere (namely, Father Luiggi Mezzadri), decided to continue to communicate with all the members of the Vincentian Family through short video messages that are easily accessible in the various social media. He began with some reflections on Vincent’s cape, hat and shoes which from the time of the French Revolution have been preserved in the Mission House in Turin (Italy). And he now continues with this new series of three videos, inviting us to deepen in the Vincentian charism:

  • The globalization of charity
  • Vocation
  • Moving out toward the peripheries

Initially these messages will be available in eight languages: Spanish, English, French, Portuguese, Italian, Polish, Slovenian and Slovak … we also want to make these messages available in other languages and dialects.

This work has been entrusted to Piotr Dziubak, a film-maker who has produced various important documentaries, for example, De Gasperi-mio padre; Santo subito.  Alle perferie del mondo con Giovanni Paolo II; Liszt; Das Fenster zur Welt – 50 Jahre Zweites Vatikanisches Konzil.

Video courtesy of CMglobal YouTube Channel, based on an idea by Fr. Luigi Mezzadri, CM, and directed by Piotr Dziubak.

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