AIC International Day of Prayer – St. Louise

Lord Our God, on this day of 15th March, the date upon which we celebrate once  again the ascension of Saint Louise de Marillac into Heaven, we pray to you that through her intercession, you give all the AIC volunteers in the world the fervent

desire to serve you in the guise of the poor with the same love and the same enthusiasm as she did.

Dear Saint Louise, you were very conscious of the words of Jesus: The harvest is  plentiful, but the workers are few (Luke 10:2) and those of Saint Vincent: “The  Church is like a great harvest that requires many labourers, but labourers that
work.”
We ask you to accompany us in all our Vincentian work, as we remember what  you told us: “Nothing is so reasonable, beneficial and just, as to give oneself  totally to God”.
It is for this that very humbly, as AIC volunteers, we ask you to pray for us toGod Our Lord, that He grants us His grace to be faithful servants of the Gospel
and to work on the harvest.
You told us: “By serving the children, by serving the poor and the sick, by  going out to look for them, you render to God the best service you can
perform to Our Lord”.
All: Help us to find pathways to serve better.
You called out to us: “We have not only been called to serve the poor, but to  make it that others serve them as well”.
All: Help us to develop our charisma and welcome new volunteers every day.
You emphasised: “Live in blessed joy in the service of our Master and Lord”.
All: Help us always to spread enthusiasm around us.
You taught us to commit ourselves with energy to our Vincentian vocation: “To  be with God is not to want anything other than what He wants”.
All: Help us not to falter.
You invited us to live through the charity in our lives: “Be filled with a powerful  love, that makes you live easily with God and in a charitable way in serving
the Poor”.All: Help us to be people of prayer, to be capable of reflecting on God’s love.
You told us: “Remember my daughters, it is God that has brought you  together. How can you love your neighbour if you do not love each other?”.
All: Help us so that every team in which we work becomes a fraternal  community, where loving respect and tolerance reign and the joy of living
spreads.
You who wished so much for the complete education of beneficiaries and the  people who serve them.
All: Help us to better understand the Operational Guidelines in order to think
over our role as volunteers.
You who gave us the example of Marguerite Nassau, a humble farm girl, who learned to read while looking after the cows and asking passers-by.
All: Help us to be humble and creative and to know how to co-educate among
all those around us.
In the parish “charities”, you created “Vincentian schools”, and according to  Gobillon’s account: “If there was a schoolmistress in the area, you gave her lots
of advice, if there was not, you trained one”.
All: Help us not to stop before any obstacle, and to know how to exchange  roles between teacher and student.
Soon we will be celebrating 400 years since the founding of the “Charities”, that  is, our International Association of Charities; help us to breathe life and strength  into it in every corner of the earth where it is established, so that we can in this
way spread the word of God to other places where we have not yet been able to  set ourselves up.
All: Saint Louise, remain always our guide, our strength, so that that we are  always able to follow Jesus, after your example and that of Saint Vincent.
AMEN.

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