Discovering God in Silence – God Gives Hope – Roll up Your Sleeves – Vincentian Leader a Servant

Vincentian Day of Prayer and Fast – Tuesday, June 7, 2016

Discovering God in Silence – I know I write about this often.  I just believe it is the best place to be for comfort, joy knowledge and love and so many other things. So now I see this topic in a magazine (Shalom Tidings) given to me by a young fellow at church on Sunday.  The first article I see is by Sister Mary Clare O.C.D. and it is here for you. “God cannot be found in noise and agitation.  His true power and love are revealed in what is hardly perceptible, in the gentle breeze that requires stillness and quiet to detect.  In silence, God listens to us.  In silence I listen to Him.  In silence God speaks to our souls and the power of His word is enough to transform our very being. We cannot speak to God and the world at the same time.  We need the sacred space that silence creates in order to turn our undivided attention toward God even if it is only a few precious moments of our day. The person who has encountered God, and seeks after Him in love, will return to the quiet places of silence where the sweetness of His presences still lingers.”  I cannot add any more to this, it is well written and I believe and follow the advice.  Her words are something for you to reflect on in your Vincentian work, discovering God in silence.

God Gives Hope – God always gives hope to us as Vincentians who are called to serve Him in the poor and to those we serve.  They don’t always recognize it and sometimes we don’t either.  God calls us to share our faith.  We don’t always share it by word or symbols.  We share best by our action.  We live the Gospel and always carry it in our hearts.  We live the Eucharist and also carry it with us.  This is our strength and salvation and the hope for others.  Our commitment to the Vincentian Call by God is like a marriage.  The first rule is to not judge or try to change.  We must accept those we serve for who they are.  We must be patient and kind and lovingly make a difference. Just like in marriage our calling to the poor is sacramental and so we pray, receive the sacraments and bring the love to those we serve.  In marriage we must be faithful as it is with service.  We should never promise something that cannot be delivered, but make sure we listen and learn to solve problems together.  Finally we must be fruitful.  When we serve God in the poor it is always fruitful and filled with love.  We pray, serve and follow God’s will.  God gives Hope and Love and Mercy.  We are blessed to have Him with us in our service.  Father, Son and Holy Spirit are one to bring hope we are all loved.

Roll up Your Sleeves – This is an old saying.  It involves everyone pitching together to get the job done.  Someone once told Pope Francis that his words had inspired him to give a lot more to the poor. Pope Francis’s response was to challenge the man not to just give money, but to roll up his sleeves, get his hands dirty, and actually reach out and help.  We don’t always get it right the first time, so we must keep going. Think of yourself as a mighty link in the chain serving the poor.  God has created us to do great things.  We know we are called to serve the poor, to tend His sheep and to do so in a way to get them lifted up from their poverty.  We do not give up.  We keep going.  We do God’s work and we often do not see the success.  We have to know our success belongs to God through our hands and we will definitely be told of it in the next life.  Therefore, we must always trust in Him.  Many times if we are in pain or are tired, this is when we serve most with a loving presence of understanding.  Our sorrow is kept intact, but when we have sorrow, we can have more empathy for the poor and we can help them better.  We serve Him in them and we are never lost as God is always with us.  God has led us to the stranger and He calls us to share His mercy and love by rolling up our sleeves to complete the task with great love.

Vincentian Leader a Servant – Being a Leader in the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul is becoming a servant, equal among your peers.  There are no bosses, leadership is collaboration.  “Being in power is like being a lady.  If you have to remind people you are, you aren’t” (Margaret Thatcher). Being a servant is the best motivator for change. If you are lucky enough to have a servant leader as president you will learn much and truly be a member with great enthusiasm to assume the most awesome responsibility of being called to serve those God places before us.  Being a servant leader is truly moving and is generally a guarantee you will have a wonderful group of Vincentians who truly love being moved to serve and give hope, love and success to all who are placed before us.  We see the prisoner differently.  We see the hurting Jesus in the alcoholic or drug addict and as servant we want to heal the wounds as Jesus did.  As well as servants we are Beatitude People.  “The Beatitudes speak to our personal experiences of our lives.  We must not ignore them” (Max Oliva SJ, Author).  We are summoned!  “Will you come and follow me – if I but call your name. Will you let my name be known?  Will you let my life be grown in you and you in me, and together we will go to be one with the poor.”

Blessings,

Lynn