Lord Help Me -– Trusting the Lord – What is Peace? – Who do you say I am? –

Vincentian Day of Fast and Prayer – August 19, 2014

Dear Vincentian Family:  Pray together always.  Pray for each other.  Know your Vincentian family around the world through Famvin and be one in Christ.  You are in my prayers.  “God has created me to do Him some definite service; He has committed so work to me which He has not committed to another.  I have a mission – I may not know it in this life, but I shall be told in the next.” (Cardinal Newman).  Bless your week and all those you serve. Let the glory of God that shines in you evangelize everyone around you.

Lord Help Me! – Many times in prayer we know God is saying something to us.  He gives us signs.  This is when your prayer life is mature and your beliefs in your prayer requests are sincere and probably unselfish.  We cry out to our Lord and this is sometimes the end of our rope.  God always seems to tie a knot in the end of your rope, so you will not fall.  He is there always.  My sign every time I reach the bottom of my rope is Jesus reaching for me with His wounded hand and He is on a bridge.  (I am terrified of bridges).  However, it is Jesus so I reach out to Him and peace flows through me.  I know I have nothing to worry about.  Recently my daughter-in-law gave me an example of signs from God.  Her signs were dragon flies.  She was praying hard for a friend of hers and as they were both praying the friend received word everything was good.  As she received this word, dragon flies were buzzing around.  It is sometimes a little overwhelming when God gives you the sign, but it is always powerful.  We get roses or the smell of roses when we ask St. Theresa to intervene and Blessed Frederic Ozanam’s intervention has removed pain of those suffering from cancer.  These are all the work of God.  He hears our cry for help and will give us a sign. He will touch our hearts and direct us, always, if we listen.

Trusting the Lord – God is good – All the time.  Paul was touched by God on the road to Damascus.  His first meeting was frightening and was quite different from the God he had come to know, love and trust on his own. Paul was startled; when he was blinded, however, this is when to truly see. This is what trusting in the in the Lord does through grace, it gives us the eyes of faith.  When we are frustrated we must meditate.  We need to trust in the people God places before us.  The people we serve are not accidents.  They are placed before us and as we take the time to get to know them, we recognize how amazing they are.  When we pray more and trust more, we will no longer see the bad habits of others but we will Jesus in them and recognize and give them hope.  Don’t ever say it isn’t working.  Pray more and serve the resurrected Jesus in those God places before us.  It is never too late.  We will be astounded by the results if we let God in.  Think of the amazement of the large stone being rolled back and know this is our God and all things are possible.  Let the trust begin.  You and those you serve will be better for it.

What is Peace? – We always hear it has to begin with us.  We know this, but I’m not sure we believe it.  Sometimes our attitude gets in the way of peace.  Peace is one person at a time, sharing God’s love with others.  In our journey to sainthood we practice peace. Make a mental note to yourself – do not pretend to be a saint – intend to be one.  Bend your knees, not your morals and love like Jesus.  He is our teacher. Know the peace of Christ and let this peace totally be in charge.  Jesus said, “Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.” (Mt. 16:24)  If we want peace and tranquility in our lives we need to let God be in charge of our lives, He is much stronger than us and truly knows the way, the truth and the map needed to succeed.  He is our GPS.  There is no greater peace than the love of God and the direction of His will.

Who Do You Say I Am? – This question was put to Peter in Matthew 16.  It is a question we should reflect on in our service to others.  Who is Jesus to me?  Truly feel the answer to this in meditation.  We are not asked to build His church, but God’s Kingdom on earth.  We are asked to follow.  Why?  We are called to help Jesus rescue the people we serve.  We are called to bring this attitude to all people.  We love, we forgive and we see Jesus in others.  We are also Christ’s church.  We live the Gospels, so we actually know Jesus better and we try to be like Him in every way.  I know most of us do not succeed, but we keep trying and loving like Jesus.  Jesus is the son of God and the greatest love ever in human form.  We are now called to take over as the Church, we are His bodies on earth and He is our guide.  We are part of God’s army on earth to bring hope, love and peace to all we encounter.  We serve the broken Christ and we bring love.  It takes a great deal of prayer and knowing the Gospel, but there is no greater way to live as we become imitations of Christ on earth building the Kingdom.  Who do you say Christ is?

Blessings,

Lynn

Lynn L’Heureux is Special needs co-coordinator & Advisor of the Society of St Vincent de Paul Calgary Alberta Canada.

Her newsletter is translated into 3 languages, hopefully soon to be 4. They have a group which brings the prayer into China and it is translated into Mandarin and other Chinese dialects.