Calls for social change are quickly politicized …therefore quickly colored red or blue, rarely purple. I wonder how St. Vincent would be colored?
Reflections
Upset, Dismay, Annoy, Distress
Jesus is the peace between natives and foreigners, whites and blacks, men and women. One, then, need not be upset by...
Vincentian Prayer Images: One of the Great Saints of History XXXIII
One of the reasons for Saint Vincent de Paul to be considered a key figure in the history of the holiness of the Church is his style of living his vocation. Each week we will present an example.
Vincentians of Wherever • Shiny Distractions
Last summer and fall, we were fortunate to get several visits from my wife’s brother and his girlfriend. They would come through town often en route to various destinations around the country where they could visit national parks, climb, fly fish, and enjoy the...
Vincent’s Praying-Acting Cycle
Vincent’s Praying-Acting Cycle Years ago I heard Fr. Robert Maloney say something about St. Vincent de Paul I never forgot. “Hardly have I ever read somebody who could come down on one side of an issue and then 50 pages later say something the exact opposite.” And...
Patience like the Patience of a Farmer
Jesus is the patience of God. God is, undoubtedly, great and does wondrous deeds. Yet he is merciful at the same time. We need patience, those of us who are in a hurry. So, little wonder we love fast food. We do not like, besides, long lines of people at the bank...
Bloom Where You Are Planted – You Are the Bounty
Bloom Where You Are Planted – You Are the Bounty – Servant’s Rules – We Are Fam-ily! Vincentian Day of Prayer and Fast: Re-post from July 15, 2014 Bloom Where You are Planted This is a phrase many of us use. My grandmother used this and many phrases often to solve any...
Am I a Person of Desire?
Finally we ask, are we persons of desire, swept up and swept away by the call God gives?
Updating the Vincentian Family • A Weekly Reflection with Louise
The Procurator General "asked me if we considered ourselves regular or secular. I told him that we aspired only to the latter. He told me that such a thing was without precedent [...]. He said many good things about the Company and added that he did not disapprove of...
Unbreakable: Vincentians of Wherever
I composed this poem thinking about the ties to service and those less fortunate that my service with CVV instilled in me. There are so many things in the world that try to pull us out of our purpose of being companions on the journey and so many circumstances in the...
A Vincentian View: The Childlike
A Vincentian View: The Childlike Some time ago I read a quotation from William Makepeace Thackeray and its truth holds a firm place in my mind: “‘Mother’ is the name for God in the lips and hearts of little children." Whenever I am around small children—whether in...
Systemic Change Lessons We Can Learn From Ozanam
In his lifetime Frédéric Ozanam neither heard nor uttered the phrases “systemic change” or “systemic thinking.” Yet an incident in his life illustrates a compelling argument that he was committed to helping people move from poverty to a sustainable life, a key element in changing systems that entrap people in poverty.
