The Essential Elements of the Society—Spirituality, Friendship, and Service—are equal, inseparable, and essential to its identity, as they unite members in a shared mission of faith-driven charitable action.
SVDP Contemplation
Contemplation: A Boundless Reserve
The rule of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul discourages hoarding money, emphasizing that funds should be used generously for current needs without budgeting for the future, trusting in Providence to provide as needed. More important than financial aid, however, is offering companionship, empathy, and love to those in need, as true charity is not limited by material resources.
Contemplation: Our Vincentian Hearts
In his encyclical, Dilexit Nos, Pope Francis focuses on the importance of the heart to the practice of our faith; not merely the physical, biological heart, but the heart which is the core of our being, the union of body and spirit. Not surprisingly, he cites St. Vincent de Paul, who often taught that all God asks of us is our hearts.
Contemplation: Be a Moment for Others
Conversion is a lifelong process of turning our hearts towards God through small moments of grace, often unrecognized at the time, as we both encounter God in others and act as His instruments of love, potentially becoming a moment of conversion for someone else.
Contemplation: A Communion of Vincentians
You cannot be a Vincentian without other Vincentians, for we grow in holiness together.
Contemplation: Charity Given and Received
Charity, Blessed Frédéric explained, “is a fire that dies without being fed, and good works are the food of charity.”
Contemplation: Heroic Virtue
What is courage, exactly, and in what sense did our holiest Vincentians pray for God to grant it to them?
Contemplation: A Spirit of Poverty
This post originally appeared on ssvpusa.org “All those who have experience of public charity,” wrote Bl. Frédéric in 1848, “know that the poor are never better helped than by the poor.” [To Good People, L’ere Nouvelle, 1848] Those who have suffered deprivation and...
Contemplation: One Society, One Rule
This post originally appeared on ssvpusa.org It is probably the case that while most members join the Society in response to a call from the Holy Spirit, they don’t yet fully understand the Society as a vocation. And although we do not take solemn vows like members of...
Contemplation: Whose Coat Is It Anyway?
This post originally appeared on ssvpusa.org Catholic Social Doctrine teaches us the principle of the universal destination of goods, under which we recognize that all things come from God, and are meant for all of His beloved. Nowhere should the demands of this...
Contemplation: From Darkness Into Light
This post originally appeared on ssvpusa.org It is from St. John of the Cross that we get the phrase “dark night of the soul,” which we use to describe a crisis of faith in which we are plagued by doubts about God, our souls, and our church. It is through such dark...
Contemplation: Who Do They Say That We Are?
This post originally appeared on ssvpusa.org “Who do the people say that I am?” Christ asked of his disciple, before asking, “And who do you say that I am?” He was not surprised to receive two different answers, despite the fact that He never wavered in telling all...
