Vincentian Family leaders call for international Day of Prayer September 27, 2002May 20, 2002
To the members of the Vincentian Family
Dear brothers and sisters,
May the grace and peace of God, Our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ be with you!
Each year, about this time, we write to ask the members of our Vincentian Family to begin to prepare for the day of common prayer that we celebrate annually around September 27. Last year we invited all our branches to focus, for the first time in our history, on a common theme: “The Globalization of Charity: The Fight Against Hunger.” The response has been enormous. On all the continents our members have designed creative projects to fight against hunger. Descriptions of hundreds of such projects have been sent to us. With you, I thank God today for all your labors in this regard. As an incentive to those who wish to begin further projects, we have published, in the bulletins of the various branches of our Family, outlines of a number of projects that have already been undertaken. Further descriptions can be found on our web site (www.famvin.org).
This year, while continuing the Campaign Against Hunger, we have decided to undertake a new, parallel initiative; namely, we are sending you a prayer which we hope will come to be used frequently, perhaps even daily, in all the branches of our Vincentian Family. At the annual meeting of those responsible for many of the principal branches of our Family, we worked at composing this prayer together, using some preexisting models, and we also chose a graphic that would be on the front side of the prayer card that we urge all the branches of the Family to publish. For your convenience, I am enclosing a copy of the prayer card, which we hope will be printed in each country and distributed on or around September 27. On our web site you will find the prayer in five languages, along with the graphic. These can be downloaded for your use (http://www.famvin.org/oratio/).
As you can imagine, the number of prayer cards to be printed and distributed in some countries will be enormous. In order that this might be done at a reasonable cost, we suggest that the heads of the various branches of the Family in each country (or, if it seems feasible, groups of countries) work out together a way in which the prayer card can be printed and distributed, with the costs being shared. We recommend that, when the members of the Family come together for the annual day of prayer on September 27, the prayer card would be distributed, with some explanation, and that the prayer be used together for the first time, while suggesting that it be prayed frequently, even daily, in the future by the members of our Family, whether as individuals at home, or in common during meetings, etc.
In order to facilitate the organization of the annual day of prayer, we are attaching a page of guidelines, as usual.
Few things were more important to St. Vincent than prayer. It is a “fountain of youth,” he told us (SV IX, 217), by which we are invigorated. It is refreshment in the midst of daily work in the service of the poor (SV IX, 416). It is a gentle dew that refreshes the soul every morning (SV IX, 402). Today, with you, we ask the Lord to make us deeply prayerful, gospel-centered servants of the poor.
Patricia Palacios de Nava
President,
AIC (founded in 1617)
Robert P. Maloney, C.M.
Superior General,
Congregation of the Mission (founded in 1625)
Sr. Juana Elizondo, D.C.
Superior General,
Daughters of Charity (founded in 1633)
José Ramón Díaz Torremocha
President,
St. Vincent de Paul Society (founded in 1833)
Yvon Laroche, rsv
Superior General,
Religious of St. Vincent de Paul (founded in 1845)
Gladys Abi-Saïd
President,
Vincentian Marian Youth (founded in 1847)
Charles Shelby, C.M.
International Coordinator,
Miraculous Medal Association (founded in 1909)
Eva Villar
President,
MISEVI (founded in 1999)
