Vincentians Heal the Hurt – Let our Love Rule – Works of Mercy Always – Vincentian Child of God

Vincentian Day of Prayer and Fast Tuesday March 15, 2016

Vincentians Heal the Hurt – We are all called to heal one another and to purify ourselves and others.  Those we visit are in pain and in my city (Calgary, Alberta) we see more and more people hurting.  They hurt from falling from the top to the bottom.  There are so many without work, without income.  They finally call us to ask for help. This in many cases is the most difficult thing they have ever done.  Then we go on a visit and see them living in a luxury home which they cannot sell nor presently afford.  We sometimes look at them through eyes of judgement instead of healing.  We cannot be them or know what they are feeling.  What we do know is they hurt and our job is to make them feel secure.  We are called to be people of Mercy and so our faces, conversations and service must show this.  We smile and are kind to everyone in need, but I think we have to be even stronger in today’s situation.  The people we are now serving have given us great donations in the past.  Instead of thinking, “Why didn’t you prepare for this?”  Your journey with them is a healing journey.  We help them through their hurt.  We pray and we are gentle of heart in serving them.  Christ has called us to look beyond our judgement and heal the hurts of others in any way we can.  But we do not do it alone.  We always have the Trinity and through the Trinity we collaborate with others to heal the hurt.

Let our Love Rule – We know the difference between right and wrong and love and hate.  The Lord’s Prayer can unlock the power of God’s love.  Through prayer and Sacred Scripture our hearts will be opened to forgiveness and love.  Sometimes it seems too easy to say love will change the world.  But when we see how much God loved us and Jesus loved us we have to try harder.  No one is asking us to die on a cross or sacrifice our son.  We just need to let love Rule in these hard times.  We especially share our love with the Refugees.  How blessed we are to serve them in their time of need.  God’s love flows into us freely and we need to let our love flow into others.  This means into our co-workers.  Even when we are annoyed, we must let love rule.  We all get angry at times, Jesus did as well, but He never stopped loving.  Our biggest gift is to forgive others in love.  Sometimes it is not easy and we always need God’s help.  When we forgive and turn anger and hate into love, we begin to let Love Rule.

Works of Mercy Always – May our works of Mercy never be an empty or routine ritual.  Greet each friend as the face of Jesus and get to know their story.  We must make love and mercy rule our service to others.  Pray, hope, and don’t worry. Worry is useless. God is merciful and will hear your prayer. – (Saint Pio of Pietrelcina (1887-1968), Capuchin priest.)  We pray before and sometimes during our visits to ask our Lord to deliver us from the words and actions, although delivered with good intentions take me away from the true charity of love and mercy.  It really is a blessing to lose our rituals.  They become mundane and will come across as scripted.  We always want to be fresh.  Each person we serve is a new person and needs all of us to help them become whole again.  We are serving the broken Christ and our love and mercy are needed more than our lectures.  We need to work with them, not change them into us.  Our calling is to fix the wounds of Christ in the poor and give them the respect they deserve.  They are Christ in our midst.  Every gesture, word and posture should reflect us tending the lambs of Jesus.  This is the work of Mercy which we are called to do.  I also think we need to examine our motives and perhaps fast before a visit so we may be pure in heart and ready to serve Christ well, in love and Mercy.  This is what we do and we do it well.

Vincentian Child of God – We know and feel God’s love. We are His adopted children, completely loved as He loves His Son, Jesus.  No greater love will we ever have.  He gave His Son to die for our sins. He calls each of us to come.  Jesus calls us in His Father’s name to be disciples and serve the poor.  However, in this calling it is not just the physical poor we are called for, but also the spiritually poor.  We face many challenges when welcoming the stranger.  You hear people complain about bringing in Refugees, even from people in power.  Each Refugee, I have had contact with wants to be a good citizen and contribute to our country.  Of course they long for their homeland, but they truly love their new country and our sincere welcome.  Sometimes it is embarrassing for me when they try to give me something in return.  I generally accept it humbly because I do not want to insult them.  I do face some friends and acquaintances who criticize the work I do for the refugees and immigrants.  They tell me I’m wrong and should only be helping our own people who are in need.  Generally my response is, I serve the children of God as it is He we belong to.  Sometimes this is hard, but when you know it is the right thing to do, you keep on going.  My silent prayer is, we are all children of God and loved equally.  Know, Child of God, you are doing His will.  Serve lovingly with His love.

Blessings,

Lynn