Vincentian Day and Fast Tuesday July 15, 2014

Bloom Where You Are Planted. – You Are the Bounty – Servant’s Rules – We Are Fam-ily!

Dear Vincentian Family: Celebration time is every day. Look around you and celebrate everything God places before you. Sometimes it may seem hard and your heart may be a little broken or wounded, but embrace each day and what it offers and celebrate. We, in my city of Calgary are praying for a young 4 year old and his grandparents. I am writing this prayer early and they went missing 5 days ago. I pray our Lord bring them home safely and caresses all the children, missing and in danger and their families. Please pray with me.

Bloom Where You Are Planted: This is a phrase many of us use. My grandmother used this and many phrases often to solve any problems I had. Later in life I thought it was Scripture based from planting our seeds on good ground. (Luke 8:8).   I’ve since learned the phrase is probably attributed to an Afghan proverb. My grandmother always encouraged me to look for the good and along with this phrase she also said, “When there is bad weather in our lives be careful not to make bad decisions. I must admit, I did not understand at the time and a few years later, getting together with my cousin, we reminisced on “Granny’s” sayings. I decided we have to make changes with God’s help. Sometimes we need to prune in order to bloom. When we take care of business and let God help, our seed is planted in good soil and it is fed and watered and the sun shines down like the glow of Christ and that little seed begins to grow to the plant it is meant to be. We are meant to grow where God plants us. The Word of God clearly tells us the way we can flourish both now on the earth and in the future in heaven in Psalm 92:13. “Those who are planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God.”

You Are the Bounty – Whenever you take a seed and plant it in the ground, given the correct conditions it will grow. It is an amazing truth of God’s plan for everything and here is the cool part; we are the bounty. We are meant to grow where God plants us.  We will never feel truly fulfilled until we’ve surrendered to God and have allowed Him to nourish our growth. Life, with all of its ups and downs does not have to keep us down spiritually, emotionally, and physically.  Jesus came to bring peace to the world; no one may doubt that. He needs us to help. He nurtured and molded us and we said yes to Him and now we must bring that growth to others. We are God’s bounty, the hands, the feet and the voice. We need to help others grow as we have. It is not a onetime deal. We are there for those we serve, to nourish with food, water, and clothing and ongoing support so they may grow into magnificent blooms. We, together with God are building a beautiful garden which in turn will build other gardens and it goes on with God’s love.

Servant’s Rules – One of these unwritten rules are to give of yourself to others you serve, give your whole self, and do not short change those in need. “Give yourself if you want someone to love you, you must be the first to love; and if you have nothing to give, give yourself. (Blessed Rosalie Rendu). Give yourself some time off and pray often. God commands us to have a day off. Money isn’t always the answer, we need to give hope and confidence to better others and they need you. Do not put others into slots, just try being a person of faith and travel the road this leads you down and enjoy the surprises along the way. Be not afraid, we have the Trinity with us and remember the Spirit is always ready to lead. Absorb the tension of others and ponder, using Mary’s example, healing will come. “Learn to be comfortable leading both a peace march and devotional prayer! Do not choose between justice and Jesus, between committing yourselves to the poor and fostering private intimacy with Jesus, Dorothy Day didn’t. There’s a lesson there.” (Father Ron Rolheiser)

We are Fam-ily: While listen to this song I realized how important we are to the household of God. And we all belong to His family. God reaches out in love in the family. The Vincentian Family is our source of support and knowledge. We are never alone. God reaches out to us through others and in turn we reach out to those in need through God. We must build confidence in our family and in our service to others. “We cannot always help people with money and small offerings; rather we must give them the confidence they need to help themselves.”(Blessed Hildegard Burjan). I you can walk away with your head held high and laugh during difficult times, you are a winner. This is the win we want to give to others in our service – peace, love, justice and joy. Leave them with a smile on their faces.

Blessings,

Lynn