John Freund, CM
Author
![Vincentian Prayer Images: One of the Great Saints of History VIII](https://b704496.smushcdn.com/704496/en/files/2020/05/praying-our-heritage-featured-new.jpg?lossy=2&strip=1&webp=1)
Vincentian Prayer Images: One of the Great Saints of History VIII
St. Vincent wrote: “what a beautiful sight are the poor if we consider them in God…”
![“What are you hearing?”](https://b704496.smushcdn.com/704496/en/files/2021/11/jesus-teaching-featured-e1635030437556-1.jpg?lossy=2&strip=1&webp=1)
“What are you hearing?”
The most effective reporters highlight the impact on the life and concerns of a viewer. Pope Francis seems to instinctively do the same.
![What is the Prequel of Today’s “Synodal Process”?](https://b704496.smushcdn.com/704496/en/files/2021/11/council-jerusalem-todays-synod-featured.jpg?lossy=2&strip=1&webp=1)
What is the Prequel of Today’s “Synodal Process”?
Here I reflect on a “prequel” to the very first council, the Council of Jerusalem (Acts 15). I will also fast-forward to the two-year-long “sequel” taking place right now.
![Vincentian Prayer Images: One of the Great Saints of History VIII](https://b704496.smushcdn.com/704496/en/files/2020/05/praying-our-heritage-featured-new.jpg?lossy=2&strip=1&webp=1)
Vincentian Prayer Images: One of the Great Saints of History VII
“…the Kingdom of God is near and that Kingdom is for [the poor].”
![Our Unfinished Business – All Saints and All Souls](https://b704496.smushcdn.com/704496/en/files/2021/11/unfinished-business-puzzle-featured.jpg?lossy=2&strip=1&webp=1)
Our Unfinished Business – All Saints and All Souls
In recent years I have reflected on that wonderful phrase of Pope Francis – “the saints next door.”
![Learning to See What Jesus Sees?](https://b704496.smushcdn.com/704496/en/files/2021/11/widows-coins-featured.jpg?lossy=2&strip=1&webp=1)
Learning to See What Jesus Sees?
That day, as Jesus sat in the temple precincts, what impressed him? What caught his eye?
![Vincentian Prayer Images: One of the Great Saints of History VIII](https://b704496.smushcdn.com/704496/en/files/2020/05/praying-our-heritage-featured-new.jpg?lossy=2&strip=1&webp=1)
Vincentian Prayer Images: One of the Great Saints of History VI
Vincent would try to lift the poor out of their corporal and spiritual poverty and to make the rich put themselves at the service of the poor.
![Do You Ignore “Nudges”?](https://b704496.smushcdn.com/704496/en/files/2021/11/nudge-e1635288550496-FI.png?lossy=2&strip=1&webp=1)
Do You Ignore “Nudges”?
A big storm approaches. The weatherman urges everyone to get to higher ground. In his rectory, a priest says, “I won’t worry, God will save me.”
![Are You a Vincentian Cricket?](https://b704496.smushcdn.com/704496/en/files/2021/11/vincent-conversation-woman-contemporary-featured.jpg?lossy=2&strip=1&webp=1)
Are You a Vincentian Cricket?
It is only in my later years that I have realized how he has influenced the Church of today!
![Vincentian Prayer Images: One of the Great Saints of History VIII](https://b704496.smushcdn.com/704496/en/files/2020/05/praying-our-heritage-featured-new.jpg?lossy=2&strip=1&webp=1)
Vincentian Prayer Images: One of the Great Saints of History V
Vincent de Paul would suffer all his life from the obsession to put the entire Church at the service of the poor.