Bl. Frédéric once lamented that his Conference’s meetings were “nearly always concerned with business” and seemed “long.” [90, to Curnier, 1835] It is a tension many Conferences feel at times, when they become caught up in numbers or dollars. The habits of members, many of whom have worked in business environments for many years, lead them to start thinking like businesspeople. No wonder some Conferences want to meet less frequently – who really wants to sit through another business meeting?

Certainly, proper accountability must never be overlooked. Both Vincent and Frédéric emphasized the importance of accountability in reporting on our works, but the center of our meetings, our works, and our vocation must always remain our growth in holiness. This is the primary purpose not only of our Vincentian vocation, but of the vocation of every person, each of us and all of us. We are each made in the image and likeness of God, and “being a person in the image and likeness of God … involves existing in a relationship, in relation to the other ‘I’” [CSDC, 34]

From the beginning, God created us to live in community – in communion – with one another, just as the three Persons of the Holy Trinity live in eternal union. Praying at the last Supper that we would be united in the same way, Jesus “implied a certain likeness between the union of the divine Persons, and the unity of God’s sons in truth and charity.” [GeS, II:24] In seeking holiness, then, we seek union with one another, and in this union, “to journey together towards holiness.” [Rule, Part I, 2.2] This is the basis of our friendship, and of our Conference meetings. “Indeed,” the Manual reminds us, “it is in the Conference meetings that members can experience Christ’s presence in each other and the workings of the Holy Spirit.” [Manual, Ch. 2]

In turn, the friendship that we share with one another, we seek also to share with the neighbors, welcoming them into communion with our one Father by the love we extend through our presence and our works. After all, Christ not only prayed that our union with each other would draw us to union with Him, but that our love and faith would continue to draw others into that same union.

For most of us, business meetings can never be short enough, and if the business can be conducted instead by email or telephone, so much the better. Still, it seems sometimes to take a special and dedicated commitment to keep our primary purpose foremost in our meetings – to put the big rocks in first – when there are so many smaller pebbles vying for our attention.

St. Vincent, though, teaches that there need be no conflict between “business” and holiness, if we remember that “Our business is to gain heaven; everything else is a sheer waste of time.” [CCD III:503]

Contemplate

How can I make the best use of the time spent in my Conference meetings?

By Timothy Williams,
Senior Director of Formation & Leadership Development
Society of St. Vincent de Paul USA.