Jesus Came to End Prejudice – Are you Joyful? – Decide to Forgive – Youth Imitating Christ

Vincentian Day of Prayer and Fast – August 26, 2014

Dear Vincentian Family:

We are called to imitate Jesus. It is almost impossible for most of us to follow Him as we would never be able to keep up. As God has illuminated us, we will come to imitate Christ as Paul imitated Him. This statement came from Jess, one of my translators, who I often ask for prayers is a good Christian man trying to make a new start in the USA and is now approved. We continue to pray for him and Ana as our translation is always on time. We evangelize by action, our smile, our love and our service. We do not need words. We live the Gospel and serve everyone equally. May God bless your week with joy, peace, love and hope. Prayer and fasting is important to bring about change. Let us pray together for Peace and love. We can fast from quick unloving answers, gossip, lack of forgiveness and not being present. Rejoice in our Lord and love always. We always pray for the clergy, religious, deacons, bishops, cardinals and our Pope Francis. Amen!

Jesus Came to End Prejudice – Our homily on Sunday at the Okanagan Indian Reserve Mission Church was preached by a priest from Nigeria and adamant that Jesus came to end prejudice. He asked the congregation, “Do you think I am better?” He was talking about prejudice to a mainly white crowd in an Okanagan Indian Church and a foreign country. His talk was very powerful. It truly made me stop and think. There was so much prejudice in Jesus’ time against women, and outsiders of all kinds. Jesus stood up for the women and helped the Samarian and foreigners. He taught us we were all created by God, in His image. We were created into Christ’s image with His love of others and His hope for all. We are expected to do good works for all people, no matter what their colour or origin. This is our vocation. For Jesus, the only outsider is someone who refuses to come into the kingdom of God.

Are you Joyful? – Being joyful on a daily basis can be achieved. Of course we have sad times, but even in the down times of our life, in tragedy and sadness we can find joy. Build up the joy for those downer days. Perhaps it is time to get rid of what drags us down. Get rid of the junk that keeps us from being joyful, so we only have joy which is given freely to us. When we get rid of everything except God, joy will be in abundance. You will have joy in your heart, deeply imbedded to share with all. Reconciliation is one of the greatest gifts Christ gave to us. We are always forgiven, we just have to ask. The penance we receive gives us the grace to share our joyfulness with others. When we stay in sin, we break our Father’s heart and we really do not feel very good either. The Ten Commandments are an incredible gift to us and like the beatitudes they are not multiple choices. We put all of this together along with prayer and fast to give to others especially in our service to those in need. Think of bringing joy to those in prison, or in the hospital and to those who are marginalized. Bring a joyful you when you visit the homes of those in need. God will bless the visit and joy will light up someone else’s life. Get the joy deep down in your heart and let your joy soar to the heights and see the difference. Every day is a celebration! We do not know what is around the corner. Live life in joy to the fullest and embrace the path God has laid down for us.

Decide to Forgive – Forgiveness, like love is a decision. It begins with the prayer Jesus taught us when we ask for forgiveness, we make the decision to forgive others. We are called to bury our bitterness and forgive others as we are forgiven. He forgives us always even when we commit the same sin. We too should forgive others ever time they do something against us. “If you could kick the person in the pants responsible for most of your trouble, you wouldn’t sit for a month.” (Theodore Roosevelt) It is never too late to fall into the arms of God and ask Him to help you. Don’t worry about the words; just communicate from your heart. You can pray anytime and the words are sincere because they are from your heart. Believe, the light of Christ will guide you; forgiveness will come and the reward is feeling good inside and making someone else feel good. The glory of God will shine on you and perhaps change others, but even if the anger is still in the other person, continue to pray and you and God will win the battle together. Remember the gospel reading of how many times we forgive. (Mt. 18) Jesus answered, “Seventy times seven”, which is as long as it takes. Identify the person most difficult to forgive in your life and pray now; forgiveness will come if you believe.

Youth Imitating Christ – In Matthew 18 the disciples ask who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Jesus called over a child and told the disciples unless we become like this child we will not enter heaven. We are challenged to be present to our children and let them know and feel the love of God. Our youth need this love more than ever, so they may face the dangers with God. Youth have a natural will to help others, so when we invite them to our SSVP meetings and youth meetings we are quenching a thirst they have to imitate Christ. They may not think it is cool to put into words, but their actions shout out the love of Christ. Youth leaders are challenged to charge up the faith of our youth. It is important to make them feel they belong in the Faith Community and not only belong but become an integral part of the body of Christ. Remember, Frederic was young and in school when SSVP started. Youth are so important to our Church Life.

Blessings, Lynn

Dear Vincentian Family: Below are some announcements, some special prayers and quotes from saints. Remember to visit Famvin and the links are below in the body of this email. Also if you know anyone who would like to receive our weekly prayer please give them my email and I would happily add them to the list. Pray for one another and all members of our Vincentian Family. Get to know other organizations and what they do. We are all Vincentians. Below is a prayer request from the Canadian Bishops, please pray for our dear Pope.

The Most Reverend Paul-André Durocher, Archbishop of Gatineau and President of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB), has conveyed to Pope Francis the condolences and prayers of all the Bishops of Canada following the tragic death of three members of his family in a traffic accident in Argentina. Mrs. Valeria Carmona, wife of the Pope’s nephew Emanuel Horacio Bergoglio, and their two young sons, José and Antonio, were both killed. The Holy Father’s 38-year-old nephew (the son of the Pope’s late brother Alberto) is currently in critical condition in hospital.

What distracts you from your relationship with Christ? Think about the things which draw you away from Jesus and cut those ties, so you may be closer to Him.

Believe you can and you are halfway there”. Theodore Roosevelt

In the Rosary, our souls join Mary’s in magnifying the Lord.

Today, a boy in a wheelchair saw me desperately struggling on crutches with my broken leg and offered to carry my backpack and books for me. He helped me all the way across campus to my class and as he was leaving he said, “I hope you feel better soon.” He not only made my day, but allowed me to think about helping others. (anon)

Today, I interviewed my grandmother for part of a research paper I’m working on for my Psychology class. When I asked her to define success in her own words, she said, “Success is when you look back at your life and the memories make you smile.” (anon)

God wants to rescue you out of your predicament more than you want out of that predicament. God wants to demonstrate His justice, love, and mercy because that is who He is.