Your Call • A Video from Fr. Tomaz Mavrič

by | Feb 16, 2017 | Formation, Reflections

In a new series of three videos, Fr. Tomaz Mavrič, CM invites us to continue to deepen the meaning of the Vincentian charism, of which we celebrate the 400th anniversary during this year 2017.

The first of this new series, “The Globalization of Charity” was already published last week. We now present the second, “Your Call.”

Let us recall that, in the first series of videos published in the month of January, Fr. Mavrič invited us to look with faith and charity at three objects that belonged to Vincent de Paul: his hat, his cape and his sandals.

In this new video, Fr. Tomaz Mavrič, CM invites us to reflect on each person’s vocation: At the beginning, four hundred years ago, there was much work but the community houses were small and poor. Charity was at work like a magnet. As the prophet Zechariah wrote: In those days ten men of every nationality, speaking different tongues shall take hold, yes take hold of every Jew by the edge of his garment and say, “let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you” (Zechariah 8:23). Charity urged many individuals to respond to God’s call.  Charity is a love that, by the power of the Spirit, is enkindled in our heart. It is wonderful to see our Superior General mingling with our missionary confreres. After so many years of service and charitable ministry, is it right to call those confreres “elderly confreres” … would it not be better to refer to them as “contented Vincentian missionaries”? … indeed, their zeal has not been extinguished.

Fr. Tomaz Mavrič, CM tells us:

I am convinced that, as the 400th anniversary of the charism and spirituality of Vincent de Paul is approaching, we have the opportunity to turn to the youth, who are the future of the Church and of the World. If we are convinced of our way, then we will be willing to share it with others.

To the youth, to you, I would like to say a few words: be open to the plan that Jesus has for you. Each of us has his own vocation, his own mission in life. Jesus does trust and entrust to each person, to each one of you, the Young, who are still reflecting on your future, reflecting about your call: be open if Jesus calls you to the consecrated life.

Video link in other languages:

Questions for dialogue:

After watching this video together, we can discuss with these suggestions:

  1. What feelings are there in me when I see the images of these elder missionaries?
  2. In my community or group, do we talk about the accompaniment of young people? Do we work to integrate them into the Vincentian Family?
  3. In Fr. Mavrič’s letter presenting the Jubilee Year of the 400th anniversary of the Vincentian charism, he proposed this objective: each of us, individually or in group, will set this specific objective during this Jubilee Year: to pray, be attentive, seek, encourage, and invite a new candidate to the consecrated life for one of the Congregations within the Vincentian Family or to join as a member of one of its secular branches. Is this unrealistic? How can we do it?

General presentation of this video series

For us, 2017 is the anniversary year of the charism. Unlike other founders, Vincent de Paul did not have visions or receive messages from on high.  At two key moments in his life the Holy Spirit surprised Vincent and made him question himself with regard to two different forms of poverty: people are dying of hunger and… people are condemned because they do not know the truths necessary for salvation.  Thus, there was a hunger for the Word and a hunger for food … both of which result in a twofold death: death of the body and death of the soul.  After the failures that occurred during the first decade of his priestly ministry (failures that were revealed in the letter that he wrote to his mother and spoke about an honorable retirement which would allow him to spend the rest of his life with her [cf. CCD:I:15-16]), Vincent began to discover a new meaning in his life as a result of his charitable activity on behalf of the poor.  Folleville and Châtillon were the crossroads where Vincent encountered God.  After those events, Vincent became involved in a mission that gave meaning and direction to his life … and, as members of the Vincentian Family, gives meaning to our lives.

At the beginning of this Holy Year, this Charismatic Year … or perhaps it is better to say at the beginning of this Jubilee Year, Father Tomaž Mavrič, CM, superior general, mindful of the suggestion of an individual confrere (namely, Father Luiggi Mezzadri), decided to continue to communicate with all the members of the Vincentian Family through short video messages that are easily accessible in the various social media. He began with some reflections on Vincent’s cape, hat and shoes which from the time of the French Revolution have been preserved in the Mission House in Turin (Italy). And he now continues with this new series of three videos, inviting us to deepen in the Vincentian charism:

  • The globalization of charity
  • Vocation
  • Moving out toward the peripheries

Initially these messages will be available in eight languages: Spanish, English, French, Portuguese, Italian, Polish, Slovenian and Slovak … we also want to make these messages available in other languages and dialects.

This work has been entrusted to Piotr Dziubak, a film-maker who has produced various important documentaries, for example, De Gasperi-mio padre; Santo subito.  Alle perferie del mondo con Giovanni Paolo II; Liszt; Das Fenster zur Welt – 50 Jahre Zweites Vatikanisches Konzil.

Video courtesy of CMglobal YouTube Channel, based on an idea by Fr. Luigi Mezzadri, CM, and directed by Piotr Dziubak.

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