Sacrificial Loving – Jesus Is Our Torch – Ascension of the Lord – Jesus Conquers Evil Through Us

Vincentian Day of Prayer and Fast – Tuesday May 12, 2015

Dear Vincentian Family: I hold each one of you in my prayers. I pray for the courage to love at all times. God of abundant love, you modeled for us a love that knows no limits. In our homes, our workplaces, our communities and our world, teach us to follow you in offering your life by imitating your unconditional love. For all those suffering especially in Nepal and for all those helping especially our Vincentians. We pray to the Lord. For lives worthy of the calling which we are called. We pray to the Lord, Amen.

Sacrificial Loving – How often do we withhold love? We can love others when they believe the right things, stop choosing certain sins, look like us. Hans Urs von Balthasar wrote a beautiful little book called – Love Alone is Credible. It would be enough to redeem the world if we, like Jesus, took up our crosses and allowed God to use them to bless and save others. This does not mean we abandon the pursuit of truth; it means we choose love. We use kind words, and work at surrendering our need for control, busy-ness, success, reputation, our own way. We recommit to the people we serve. We offer hospitality to people who challenge us, seek reconciliation, hold tension, and wait for the Kingdom, with great love for God and His people. Dying a little, day by day, we choose life by choosing to love. He gives us these commands, not so we will feel superior, think the right things, or even deserve heaven: He gives us these commands so we may love one another. When we serve and are on the top of things, all credit goes to God. As Vincentians we serve those God places before us, we see Jesus in them and serve with love. Don’t forget, Jesus is not only in the face of the poor but in each person we meet. We see Jesus in all and love is easy.

Jesus Is Our Torch – God is a protective and loving father, with us always. In fact, at every moment and in every situation, He’s reaching out to us to bring us home to His heart. He has given us the greatest book ever, the Bible, to guide us back to a relationship with Him, and He has given us a torch, the Light of the World, His only begotten Son, to light the way. I am experiencing bad health since November and it is getting worse. I feel God’s presence always. My friend has been very down and I jokingly told her today after Mass to feel my back and she was surprised. I asked her if she felt good. She said my back was warm. I told her God was there. He has my back, so always remember.   I have been following a series on TV called – A.D The Bible Continues – and it is so compelling. We have our faith today because of the torch of Jesus. He died for us and His apostles continued preaching under amazing stress and today we have the Faith.

Ascension of the Lord – This week is a busy week. It is celebration of the family, mother’s day and most important the ASCENSION OF THE LORD. We should strive to lead a life worthy of the calling in our Vincentian ministry, by praising and thanking our Lord always. We are often accused of hypocrisy, failing to practise what we preach. Sometimes this is an excuse for people not to join us, and sometimes it is the truth. The Church is a hospital for sinners, not a collective of the righteous. We are all sinners, it is true. Our communities should bear witness to transformational change over time. Our lives should be a reflection of the Resurrection. We should gradually grow in virtue, becoming more patient, loving, humble, forgiving, faithful and generous, by virtue of following Jesus. When Jesus ascends into heaven, the disciples are first confused and unsure about how they will live without Him. Then they go and they live as He lived, trusting He, is at work among them. This is our call: to bear witness by our lives to the life of God that begins now and continues on into eternity! He is Risen! Alleluia! Alleluia!

Jesus Conquers Evil Through Us – We each have a personal responsibility to stay closely connected to Christ and grow the best fruit that we possibly can. Read the Acts. They are the power to overcome evil. In fact all of Scripture does. Reading the Acts tell us how we came to be led by people just like us in a very fearful time. They overcame and we will, too. We’ve done our pruning and the Holy Spirit is with us. We are the Church and the Church is Jesus, when we represent Him, we have to make it good. He has groomed us, called us and gives us the Holy Spirt. We are well armed and we just have to let the Trinity flow through us. We can’t blame God for the turmoil in the world. We must put our hands together and pray for world peace, those we serve, and all who serve us. Feel Father, Son and Holy Spirit as you make a decision on how to serve and how to love. Be Christ and all evil in us will disappear. Work together with our Vincentian Family and our Parish Family. Let God be the leader.

Blessings,