Vincentians are Happy Serving our Lord –  Vincentians Work Hard with God – JOHN 12:44-50 – Charity and Love Prevail

Vincentian Day of Prayer and Fast

Vincentians are Happy Serving our Lord

The desire for happiness is, at its core, the desire for God. The fulfillment of true happiness can be found only in Him. We were made for relationship with Him. How mind-blowing is that? The God of the universe created you for Him.  Jesus pointedly calls us to humble behavior. “Amen, amen, I say to you, no slave is greater than his master nor any messenger greater than the one who sent him. If you understand this, blessed are you if you do it.” St. Catherine of Sienna once heard the Lord say to her, “Remember that I am and you are not.” And St. Paul said, “What do you have that you have not received? So why do you boast?”  To believe in God is to know these truths. To live them out is to live in the attitude of humility. Thomas Aquinas said that humility is truth. It is living out the deepest truth of things: God is God and we are not. We know we are chosen is true, but sometimes we forget, we are the servant.  We are disciples of Jesus, called to be His disciples and our role is to be servant for the poor we serve.  Sometimes this is easy, but sometimes it is not.  We must have the poor to forgive us for the bread we give. In fact, Jesus calls us to smile so they may forgive us – Frederic Ozanam.  In my early years I gave a talk on this Statement and I even had trouble debating this stance.  God touched me, and others.  It took prayer and practice, but it was accomplished.

Vincentians Work Hard with God

Many of us need re-assurance and prayers.  I truly enjoy our annual retreat in the mountains.  It is like we are new people.  It feels the same at meetings, when a Spiritual Reflection is read to us and we are to respond.  This is our verbal response to our Lord and we then have a new direction to serve His poor better and with joy. We should never abandon our Lord.  It would be like dismissing a loving parent.  Keep going by knowing we are love so deeply.  Jesus gave His life for us.  We now are giving back saying “Yes to His call!”  Jesus journeys with us even after giving us His last drop of blood.  He now gives us direction and joy to serve His lost and hurting sheep.  This is a true calling.  I find the work very humbling, loving and most necessary.  I remember finding the work very challenging and there was a lack of servants.  I went on a training spree.  Things are different today with everything to do with SSVP.  There are some who still say, “There is a limit to our help.”  I hope the Trinity never says this.

John 12:44-50

Jesus makes it clear once again that He and the Father are one. God is not a force or an energy or a spiritual presence occupying the deep background of your life; He’s not something that you can tap into when you feel like it. Nor is God a distant supreme being who organized the universe long ago and now leaves it to its own devices. Rather, God is the Lord. He is the commander, the ruler, the governor, the one who makes a demand and who then involves himself intimately in the affairs of the world.   We need the Trinity always in our midst.  We also need dearest Mary when times are rough.  We need each other to lean on and journey with.  We learn much from each other.  This makes us serve better. We are called to be servant.  Never forget and pray often. We are a team with the Trinity.  It is interesting how we pray with some families who are Muslim.  We always pray for each other to God.  As one of the Muslims said:  We pray to the same God.  One God for all.  We both are comfortable with this prayer.

Charity and Love Prevail

It is useless to talk when things speak for themselves in such an eloquent manner… There is a clear and precise way of finding God, and we have so much need of Him. There are moments in everyone’s life when the need becomes acute; it is when our pride is overcome by suffering and humiliation that we finally look for God. Where can we find Him? The way is clear: Where there is charity, there is love; where there is love, there is God.… The whole world has become aware of it. God is here; therefore, love and charity are also here.  We become so much better as giving Vincentians.  It is sometimes touched by your children and grandchildren.  We have 3 children and 6 grandchildren.  Each one of them help in their own way and means.  It is so special.  The whole family adopted through Chalice a young girl in need from Chile.  They donate to our twins in other countries. Our youngest son, raises over $40,000 for Christmas Hampers for SSVP in Canada. He raises the money, the staff gives up their tips and they buy and wrap the presents.  Our youngest grandchildren offer to give some of their toys to me to give to a sad boy or girl.  I am so proud of them.  When our youngest boy was a child we took him on a visit and he started adding things to the hamper.  One of the items he gave was microwave popcorn.  He tried to hide it when he saw they had no microwave.  He was truly touched.

Blessings,
Lynn