SVDP Contemplation
Contemplation: A Fine Soul
Blessed Frédéric and his wife Amélie Soulacroix exemplified a deep, shared holiness that enriched their lives and inspired their service to the poor through the Society of St. Vincent de Paul. Their marriage, built on faith, mutual encouragement, and love, not only strengthened Frédéric in his vocation but also fostered Amélie’s Vincentian spirit, as they worked together to bring comfort and relief to those in need.
Contemplation: Be Quite Cheerful
True joy in giving comes from seeing charity as serving Christ Himself, not as interruptions. With love and gratitude, this vocation brings grace and deep, lasting joy.
Contemplation: Keep Your Heart Ready
Reflecting on our spiritual journey helps us discern God’s will and share His graces, supporting each other in advancing toward our divine purpose.
Contemplation: When Will That Day Come?
Human formation is not a passive process but an active and ongoing journey that encompasses our human, spiritual, intellectual, and ministerial dimensions. Through prayer, service, and community, we seek to fulfill God’s purpose and strive for perfection in unity with Him.
Contemplation: To Be Vincentian
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.
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...