Reflections
Firewood for the Soul: Ecosystem of Faith
A weekly reflection for all the Vincentian Family, from Australia.
Protecting the Children • A Weekly Reflection with Ozanam
One is terrified, and rightly, by that multitude of children growing up for disorder and for crime, with no other...
Distraction to Insight
I was implicitly taught to regard that as a distraction from focusing on the Body of Christ I just received. Suddenly, with insight, I became grateful for this “distraction”! What changed?
The Dignity of the Poor • A Weekly Reflection with Ozanam
In these foul cellars and garrets, sometimes next door to sloth and vice we have often come upon the loveliest domestic virtues, on a refinement and intelligence that one does not always meet with under gilded ceilings; a poor cooper, of past seventy years of age,...
Catholic Families: Are they Mirrors of God’s Love?
This Vincentian Mindwalk started out as a virtual journey to Rome for the 10th World Meeting of Families in 2022. To my surprise, it developed into a reflection on what the church can learn from “happy marriages.” I have had a life-long interest in the family as an...
Contemplation: To Wait for God’s Own Time
This post originally appeared on ssvpusa.org The church calls the laity to “fulfill their prophetic mission by evangelization” which has “peculiar efficacy because it is accomplished in the ordinary circumstances of the world.” [CCC, 905] Our Vincentian vocation, our...
A Vincentian View: An Art Gallery
I love to teach about the Psalms. When I do, the first image that I offer to suggest the breadth and depth of these biblical poems/songs is an Art Gallery.
Independence Day – A Dangerous Memory?
Recently, I wandered through the corridors of my mind reflecting on Independence Day. I ran into Charles Dickens. His “Christmas Carol” has inspired many people to look at their lives through the lens of their past, future, and present.
Break the Mold with the Prophet Jesus
Jesus, since he is weak, is strong. Those who follow him break the mold, too, as they affirm, “When we are weak, then we are strong.” The folks of Jesus’ hometown do not doubt that he is a wise teacher who does mighty works. Yet there is one thing about him that...
Firewood for the Soul: Resilience
A weekly reflection for all the Vincentian Family, from Australia.
To Comply with the Precepts or to Be Truly Christian • A Weekly Reflection with Ozanam
It is easier to use an uplifting language, to fulfill certain positive precepts, to reject certain pleasures, than to be deeply filled with the evangelical spirit, to keep it in the depths of the soul to ennoble it, purify it, and improve it; in short: to reproduce it...
Part 2: Episcopal Message Resurfaces
Highlights from Part 2 of a truly prophetic forgotten document published by the U.S. Catholic Bishops more than a quarter-century ago.