Listen to Your Heart – Apostles’ Creed Today – Vincentians Serving in Faith – Called to Serve in Joy

Listen to Your Heart – When you listen to your heart chances are God has a message for you.  Talking to God, answers are in your heart.  Lord, open my mind that I may be aware of your presence in my daily life. Open my heart that I may offer you all my thoughts. Open my mouth that I may speak to you throughout my day. I am grateful that you wish to hear my voice. To you I give my all. Help me to do your will, every hour of every day.  If you have a difficult home visit, it is a good idea to sit before the Blessed Sacrament and allow Jesus to prepare you.  In the quiet you will hear Him loud and clear, He will answer your concerns and calm your fears.  We must listen deeply and clear our minds, so all of God’s thoughts will enter you.  We are called and sent out to those in need and yes we take risks. We must never underestimate the impact God’s message has on our hearts and if we listen we can make a difference, without fear when we follow Christ into unknown circumstances.  We have the power to listen and go to the house without fear as God is with us.

Apostles’ Creed Today – Jesus is with us not only to observe but to act.  Yes, He ascended into heaven not to explore the universe but to rule it. Yes He also ascended into Hell.  See Ephesians 4:8-10. He is in heaven sitting at the right hand of God.  From their He directs us like a traffic guard, He guards us from evil and journeys with us in our work.  When we center our life on the Trinity, we will get the true sense of direction.  We are serving Christ in those in need and He wants to help us.  We have purpose.  We are walking through time with the Master who truly wants us to succeed in tending His sheep.  We do not need to follow the tradition of 2000 years ago.  We are always near Jesus in every visit, in every sick room, in prisons.  He is always there and reachable, just pray.  He is not here to inspect what we do, but to help.  He is our rescue when we mess up or when things are really tough. He is always with us and can hear our cry from heaven. Jesus is sent to us by God and He intends for us to get on with our business of service to His poor and He never leaves our side.  Call on Him often.  We need the Trinity to make us successful in our mission as servant and friend of those in need.  Rejoice in the Lord always!  He gives us many gifts and the Trinity is our guide.  Keep going and follow the Creed.

Vincentians Serving in Faith – Our journey in service to our Lord is really like a puzzle: a puzzle of life filled with many pieces, some of which do not fit.  Our job is to get the puzzle to work.  Don’t look at the wrong piece as being a mistake.  We need to include the Trinity in helping us solve our puzzle.  We know we serve Jesus in the poor and we know most of the time our work is easy and rewarding, but some of the time a puzzle piece is missing.  While having breakfast with a friend she complimented me on the weekly prayer, I was actually surprised because this lady has it all together and I learn from her.  She told me a story of one of her elderly Neighbours.  He is Catholic, but was not going to Mass.  She knows and lives Vincentian Life.  She went to visit him one day and she received a message after praying to talk to him about seeing a priest.  She had this puzzle piece in her hand and decided to see if it was the missing piece.  So she bravely, although hesitantly asked him if He would like to see Father Julian (our parish Priest)  He said “Yes” and asked her to bring him.  She did and it was a success.  She received the message from God and she acted on it.  The elderly gentleman was so very thrilled.  He had lost his way and could not return.  My friend gave him the missing piece.  Father visited him often.  The elderly gentleman died filled with peace and the love of God.  We must remember we serve in faith only sharing it when we know it is right.  I love this story and I hope you do as well.  We all sometimes have to step out of the box and find the missing puzzle piece.

Called to Serve in Joy –  We are called and we are servants and we do go to the poor in His image and we are called to do this with joy, so we may also share the joy to those in need. “Try to realize the dignity God has conferred on you. He created and formed your body in the image of His beloved Son, and your soul in His own likeness.” — St. Francis.   Trust in God, no matter what happens as He is always good and always with us.  When others let us down, we lose trust.  So it is very good to know we can trust in God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit to be with us if we open our hearts and believe.  Always start with prayer and ask God to keep you in His care and the people you serve.  We ask Him to guard our actions and to protect those in need and guard their actions. Working together we can give a loving presence to all.  We need to pray to serve well. We must always feel His presence on our home visits.  He is the work of our hands and of our heart.  This is how we serve in joy.  It is in His presence.  Always place yourself in His presence.  You can speak to Him in the silence of your heart and you will make a difference because you are called and you will serve in joy with His presence.

Blessings,

Lynn