Love them anyway!
Love them anyway!
Dear Vincentian Family: Let the Holy Spirit come into your life and transform. Come Holy Spirit fill us, your faithful Vincentians and ignite the fire within us. Let each of us light that eternal flame and allow the flame to glow brightly to show your love to all those in need. Indeed let us show the light to all around us, but loving more deeply, caring more lovingly and serving with love and joy. Amen.
DO YOU BELIEVE? – POWER OF THE HOLY SPIRIT – LOVE THEM ANYWAY
Do you believe?
Prayer is not just a spare wheel you pull out when you are in trouble; it is a steering wheel guiding and directing you on the right path.
Believing knows the things that happen to us spiritually are where we are directed. Belief and trust always brings us closer to God. So many people have a hard time believing.
It shocked me to discover that the majority of Catholics receiving the Blessed Sacrament do not believe it is the body of Christ.
In RCIA we do such a build up to the Eucharist and there is no doubt in their minds, Christ is in them. They begin to convert their spouses and friends who are cradle Catholics. Each sign in the Church brings us closer to God and causes us to grow spiritually. Our only role is to say “YES” and to let God do the driving. We just sit back and celebrate the knowledge of the great love. Even in bad times we believe. We show great reverence to signs of Jesus, however it is not our variety of cross jewelry or the beauty of paintings and wooden crosses we worship, but our visible Jesus we see in each other, those in poverty and helplessness. God is our most loving and tender parent. He gave us His Son who shed his blood for us, suffered for us and died for us. We believe and reach out to all God encompasses. We love and are loved and embraced by the Trinity.
Power of the Holy Spirit is not just a phrase.
When my kids were small they were given buttons with fire on them and the words, “I got the Spirit in me”! When our priest came to dinner, my three year old danced around him singing “I got the Spirit, the Spirit’s got me.”
As mothers we cherish things our kids said, but in this moment it was overwhelming for me. He taught me in that moment that having the Spirit in you was not just a saying, but a joyful thing. I’ve always said being a Christian is a roller coaster ride and now I see being a Vincentian is the largest roller coaster. Sometimes it is like the gentle merry go round, but mostly it has ups and downs and maybe even sudden stops or bumps. The Holy Spirit gives us what we need to make this ride enjoyable. The Holy Spirit is our teacher, our helper and our advocate.
We are never inadequate in our work, when we have the power of the Spirit in us. We are never rejected by our Trinity, even when people mock us and disappoint us. The fruits of the spirit are a true partnership in serving our Lord and doing good works. With the Spirit we can see peace in the most difficult situations and we can forgive those who hurt us.
Love them anyway
Forgiving is now easy. My husband will sometimes say “How can you forgive?” It isn’t easy but becomes attainable even when those who have hurt me have no remorse when I have my teacher, helper and advocate (lawyer) with me in the Holy Spirit. Yes there is forgiveness and peace when you have the Spirit in you. Having the Spirit in you is more than a sacrament.
Find the Spirit in you. Pray for the Spirit to be your guide. Love them anyway! This is not easy, I know, but worth it. In your marriage you know that loving is the key. Loving someone anyway is lovingly finding a solution when you disagree. Tony and I are moving to celebrate 49 years of marriage. It has been a roller coaster by the way. I lectured myself because I have an Irish temper. I say to myself each day, “What made me love him?” Don’t chuckle, I mean it in the most loving way.
I believe you must fall in love each day (with the same man) to make things work. Tony and I bless each other every day. That sign of the cross shows us that God is the third person in our marriage. It is easier to love your spouse when you have been hurt than others who hurt you. Sometimes when we reach out to love and serve the poor, they are rude and angry. Then we must live by the love them anyway rule and, “we have to smile greater so that they may forgive us for the soup we bring.” (St. Vincent) God loves us anyway, even when we sin. He removes the cancer of sin and we allow this surgery because of our faith.
We must love the lowest child of God and especially if they have lost love. We must see Christ in them and show them Christ’s love through our actions. St. Anthony of Padua had a special love for the poor. He said in one of his sermons, “Like the almond tree blooms before all the others, so must helping the poor take precedence over all other acts of a follower of Christ.” Remember Sunday and the Eucharist doesn’t just fulfill our commitment and does more than prepare us for the coming week; it prepares us for an eternity of loving and being love.
I encourage you to visit www.famvin.org/news . It is a loving spot to be and helps us know our family.
You can also send anyone to me to place on the list for this prayer and reflection, make sure you have their permission or they can view the weekly prayer and reflection on www.ssvpwrc.ca
Lynn L’Heureux is Special needs co-coordinator and Advisor of the Society of St Vincent de Paul Calgary Alberta Canada
Subscribe to her weekly newsletter Vincentian Day of Prayer and Fast (English and Spanish) by sending an email to calgaryssvpadm@gmail.com
Tags: L'Heureux, Pentecost, SVDP