Pat Griffin, CM
Author
A Vincentian View: Light in the Night
Vincentian View: Light in the Night “Silent Night, Holy Night.” Like many of you, I have heard those words sung numerous times in the past weeks. An odd thought flitted through my mind during one of these recent hearings: “How do we know that Jesus was born at...
A Vincentian View: Remembering to be Grateful
Vincentian View: Remembering to be Grateful Just about two weeks have passed since we celebrated Thanksgiving. I spent the day with many members of my family and felt the blessing which accompanies such a gathering. Leading those closest to me in prayer before we...
A Vincentian View: Three Stories – One Direction
A Vincentian View: Three Stories—One Direction Have you noticed that in the Sunday Gospels of these weeks, the passages have all been taken from successive verses in the 25th chapter of Matthew? The “Parable of the Ten Virgins” is Mt 25:1-13 (November 12); the...
A Vincentian View: The Lord Hears
A Vincentian View: The Lord Hears A number of phrases in the Scriptures of the past weeks have stayed in the front of my mind. I have felt the truth of these words and the considerable summons which they offer. From one hearing, they bring consolation and...
A Vincentian View: Homelessness
A Vincentian View: Homelessness Once every two years, St. John’s runs a “Poverty Conference.” This conference invites a discussion on an important situation in our society which impacts upon those who are poor and marginalized. In the past few years, issues like...
A Vincentian View: A Message for Us
A Vincentian View: A Message for Us I have been to more than one Vincent event in the past two weeks which contained an opening prayer which included some passage from Pope Francis’ message to the Vincentian Family on September 27th. Different people, different...
A Vincentian View: 2417
A Vincentian View: 2417 400 years. For the universe, or the pyramids, or the Judeo-Christian faith, it does not seem like such a long time, but for human life it really is. In this year, as we all know, we celebrate the 400th anniversary of our Vincentian charism....
A Vincentian View: Creation
A Vincentian View: Creation In the past week, several events have been in the news which come together in my thinking around the theme of creation. The first is the announcement by scientists that they have discovered potentially habitable earth-like planets within a...
A Vincentian View: Beauty and the Beast
A Vincentian View: Beauty and the Beast As a child, like most of you, I heard and read the story of “Beauty and the Beast” many times. As an adult, I saw the animated Disney Movie (with Angela Lansbury beautifully singing the title song) and a Broadway version. Now,...
A Vincentian View: The Truth
A Vincentian View: The Truth Last year at this time, I was on vacation and that proves true in this year as well. Last year, I wrote an essay about the Olympics and the political campaign which were both taking place at that time. My theme centered on “giving your...