Everyday miracles and Vincentian spirituality

Your Calling –Your Spirituality – Easter wind down – Canada’s North

Dear Vincentian Family:  My heart leaps with joy when I read all the good we do around the world.  As human’s we tend to focus on all the bad things more than good.  I understand the mental anguish and pain of disaster, but I don’t understand dwelling on it.  My prayer for you today is that we know how others in the world are hurting and pray for all of them in their pain.  I then ask God to fill your hearts with His glory and richness of each new day.  Look for your everyday miracles.  Sometimes we don’t believe in miracles, but they are with us in abundance.  I pray especially for the miracle of recovering a woman after 17 days buried in rubble.  I pray for the three young women held captive for ten long years who by a miracle are saved.  Don’t stop believing in miracles.  I also ask you to pray with me for a friend of many in my city, Sandra who went missing on December 29 and has been found in the river she loved and walked to pray each day.  She is home with our Lord and her family and friends can move on to celebrate her life.

Your Calling in the Vincentian family is a true vocation. Working for God can be touch, but one thing you can be sure of is that He will help you and reward your work whether you are successful or not.  We should ask ourselves if this is the most loving thing we can do for others.  Are we doing our best?  We’ve all heard that when we are called home we will probably be asked or judged on how well we have loved than lived or achieved.  Our vocation or calling, I believe is to love others in any way we can and in the best way we can.  Not everyone is the same, but everyone can love.

Your Spirituality is what leads guides and develops you.  I’d venture to say that most of us, if not all have Vincentian Spirituality.  We follow the Spirituality of St. Vincent which teaches us to love.  Not just love, but serve, to become a servant to the poor who are our masters.  We actually serve Christ in the poor.  We are called not to judge.  Many new people wonder how we do this.  It is hard not to judge, we agree.  However our Vincentian Spirituality leads us to serve Christ in each one of those who are led to our door for food, accommodation, heat and clothing.  We clothe the naked Christ, visit Him in prison, comfort him in the hospital, help Him with addictions, give Him a bed with a roof over His head and shower Him with love.  Our calling is to evangelize with our work.  We are Vincentians and we are called to serve Christ.  In doing our human works well, we give Jesus to the world.

Easter Wind down is approaching.  It is now coming to the 50^th day of Easter and then we come to ordinary time.  While we are still in the Easter Season, let us celebrate and shout Alleluia.  It is a joyful time.  I have always enjoyed the 50 days of Easter and the next two feasts we will celebrate. We can wind down our celebrations with a re-commitment and steadfast prayer.  We have to believe God is a friend.  You don’t let your friend sit for days without speaking.  So get close and speak.  Even though he knows our thoughts and actions before we speak, He loves to hear from us.  Complete your Easter Season with steadfast friendship to the Trinity. The Ascension of Our Lord celebrates the day Christ in the presence of His apostles ascended bodily into Heaven 40 days after His death on a cross.  What a joyful vision that must have been. Then next Sunday, we celebrate Pentecost, which in Greek means ‘50’.  This is the birthday of the Church.  Celebrate with joy.  Offer you gifts and talents to the Trinity and soak in the Holy Spirit.  The Holy Spirit will strengthen you in your work.  Remember Christ is visible in all who suffer and serving them makes the Trinity visible.” Amen, I say to you, what you did not do for one of these least ones, you did not do for me.” Matthew 25:45

Canada’s North is a very large area, much of it unexplored.  It has many small villages and a few small cities.  The people in the north are most amazing.  Most of the areas are remote and can only be reached by air or ice roads in the winter, or be sea in the summer.  Many of their basic necessities are several times more than ours.  They live simply.  In spite of their love and giving hearts, suicide is high, as is alcoholism.  I brought some diapers there to a single man who had two small children.  Diapers are very scarce.  I was only able to give him a half dozen.  He said, “Just give me four, I will wash them out and others need them also.”  Please pray with us in Canada for our North and the SSVP’s being formed north of 60.

For information on celebrating the 200^th anniversary of Ozanam go to www.famvin.org and get to know the web site.  It is a wonderful place to lose yourself.

He who lives to be my king, once died to be my Saviour.  Each day we are called to say “Yes” and each day our “Yes” becomes bigger.  This allows us to be more like Jesus.  Be a witness to the poor and each other every minute of every day. (Or whenever you can)  The birth of our Church is for all of us.  God has given us a part of being there.  Celebrate your Faith.

Blessings,

Lynn

Lynn L’Heureux’s weekly newsletter for Vincentians in Canada.  Lynn  L’Heureux is Special needs co-coordinator & Advisor of the Society of St Vincent de Paul Calgary Alberta Canada