Ah, my dear young friends… I’ve been in dialogue with more people these days – at DePaul, at St. John’s U in New York, and at Niagara. We’re inviting the Universities to help us kickstart this project. How about Adamson, Mount St. Vincent, College of St. Elizabeth and St. Mary’s in Leavenworth? I’ll be in touch….

What we’re asking is that as Young Vincentians you use your voice: write your reflections and send them in (message me @famvin or http://facebook.com/famvin) and also that young Vincentian leaders share some of the spiritual wisdom and practice that you’ve found helpful. Chronicle your precious encounters among the impoverished and the marginalized in pictures and short videos (http://instagram.com/social.famvin) using the hashtag #IamVincent.

We’ve been working on the set up of the job and mentoring bank. We’ll have something to say as the New Year dawns.

Occasionally, concerns arise that touch us all in a particular way. The upswing in violence throughout the world has reached into almost every community where we Vincentians live and serve. On several continents, we’ve known the fear of this violence. What to do? Quietly, patiently, use your voice.

We are human, and fear is a part of us. But it’s not all of us. That’s why they are called terrorists, they hope to create a sense of fear and terror. We have to insist that there is more to us than our fear. There is love, understanding, patience, togetherness. It’s when we don’t process our own fear and sadness, then we end up lashing out at people who have nothing to do with the the atrocity. For example, you see people take out their fear on refugees. They don’t seem to understand that the refugees themselves are the victims of ISIS, running away from ISIS-controlled areas. That’s a situation of misplaced fear, misguided terror.  
Terrorism is psychological warfare. The goal is to make all of us feel afraid, even if we are not truly at risk. I would imagine the people most frightened right now, in addition to those living unwillingly in the territory ISIS controls, are Syrian refugees. But they want us all to be terrified, and to overreact in fear.

That’s from an interesting article I read. I say “interesting” because it’s not the only perspective or the “right” perspective. Have you encountered anything that has helped you? Post it in the comments. And don’t preach. Don’t argue. Just gently raise your voice and share the wisdom you’ve found.