Lynn L’Heureux offers her weekly reflection – You are the One! – Feast on the Word! – Our Living Heaven – Are You Ready?
You are the One! You are chosen, not by society’s standards, but by God’s. Read 1 Samuel 16: 1-13 and Mark 2: 23-28. “I have found David my servant.” Psalm 89:21, David was not considered important, even by his father, but God called him; he was the one chosen by God. This reading helps us to realize each one of us has a role. God judges, not us. We are called, we are chosen. These readings tell us how important we are in God’s eyes and that is all that really matters. Obey God and be ready for the next job He places before you. He trusts you to do His will. God has a plan for you. He wants you to use your gifts and give yourself to those in need. He calls you to serve those in poverty, clothe the naked, visit the prisoners; feed the hungry and give of your time and talents to all in need. You are the one, listen to the call.
Feast on the Word: Worrying does not take away tomorrow’s troubles; it takes away today’s peace. Life is not the way you think it will be. It is the way it is. The way you cope with everything will make a difference. Coping with life is team work. Time is the coin of our life, spend it wisely. Don’t keep it to yourself. We are not alone; first and foremost we have the Trinity. God the Father, our creator, wisdom and care giver; God the Son, our role model, forgiver and salvation: God the Holy Spirit, our teacher, helper on the journey and our advocate. God sees our strengths and weaknesses. He calls the weak most often. I believe it is because we deserve the goodness of serving the Lord. This is why we pray for each other. God needs us to help recognize the goodness in His people. “Sing the Goodness of the Lord” (Psalm 89). We are given a new start each day. Meet God in Scripture and celebrate the joy of Him always being with us. Let Him feed your hunger. He knows all our needs and wishes to nourish us at the start of each new day. Feast on His Word!
Our Living Heaven – A true mark of a Vincentian is the desire to include everyone. We look at those we serve and we long and pray for them to be lifted from their poverty. We long for them to have more and we try to understand their differences. We try not to judge and we serve the Christ within them, giving them a little piece of heaven. Sometimes, of course we fail. It is not over though. We pray and once again reach out to serve Christ in all we meet. We try to include everyone in our living heaven, but alas, this does not always work. Each moment, each day, each disappointment is lifted to God. We begin again serving Jesus and looking deep into hearts. If we are journeying as a Vincentian we see Christ and we can visit with Him in joy. God is smiling as you embrace the difficult argumentative man and God is pleased with the joy you share to the prisoner. Let your heart always be filled with joy when you visit, the prisoners, those with addictions, the bitter, and the lonely. Make their place a living heaven by bringing them the love and joy of God and respecting their place in life. God will not rest until we are all in the same place feasting on His goodness.
Are you Ready? – We don’t pray to change God’s mind; he’s already working to bring the light of Christ to people who live in darkness. We pray to place these people into His arms, since they’re not doing it for themselves. We journey with them to help them. Prepare yourself for the journey. Are you ready? Do you have everything you need? Wait a minute, maybe we need more grace. Let’s pray our faith is strengthened. Ask God to increase our knowledge of those we serve and their needs. Help us to bring the love and joy needed to bring Jesus into their lives. You could now be ready. Do you feel the love? Do you see the generosity of God? Do you see Jesus in the person before you? We need to be Christ’s arms, legs, and loving presence. We need to be credible witnesses before those in poverty. We must embrace our burdens and of those we serve. I think we are ready! Well maybe we need one more prayer.
More fuel for your tank is available at www.famvin.org/en . Get to know Christ better and our Saints. Make our steps journey toward Christ. Continue to pray for Christian Unity and those who cannot see God. Please pray for another tragedy in a small village in Quebec (story below). Pray for all disasters in our world. Many are suffering.
Blessings,
Lynn
L’ISLE-VERTE, Que. – A Quebec village was jolted awake Thursday to the chaos of people scrambling to free neighbours from a seniors’ residence as wind-fuelled flames rushed to swallow the building. Every citizen in the village knew someone in the senior’s residence.
Ten seniors have been found dead and an additional 22 are missing and presumed dead. This picture shows what fire fighters are battling after the blaze. Quebec is in extreme cold temperatures and the ice now on the building is up to two feet thick.
Just six months after Canadians were rocked by the Lac-Megantic tragedy, another Quebec town found itself waiting to know how many people it had lost after fire ripped through the Residence du Havre.
Pray for all the families and the emergency responders. Their job is not a pleasant one.
Thanks Lynn for another wonderful reflection. Our Ontario Vincentians join in prayer for those suffering through the tragic fire in Quebec.
Jim Paddon