Encounter God – Patience – Serving Our Friends

Vincentian Day of Prayer and Fast – Tuesday November 18, 2014

Dear Vincentian Family:   Nothing is more important than the work you are doing. Pray it always stays with God. I am away currently and hopefully you get these. My husband and I are celebrating a gift of travel from our children for our 50^th Anniversary. God is good with His blessings, surprises and miracles. We are getting close to Advent which is a great time for renewal. Renew our promises to the call of being Vincentians. Work together, pray together and be Jesus to others and see Jesus in everyone. Let people know they are loved and smile often; it is a perfect quick prayer. May you always feel God’s presence and His miracles. Amen

Encounter God – I invite you to ask God to break into your world and show you His presence. Ask Christ to reveal himself. The Lord desires you encounter him. “Knock and the door will be opened to you” (Matthew 7:7). Sometimes we have so much clutter clouding our relationship with God. We have to clean house or as I like to say, “Clean out the junk, it is taking up valuable space.” This is my motto through Lent and Advent which is approaching quickly. When we clear our minds and hearts of anger, anxiousness, and business, we will feel a huge load disappear being replaced with a load that is not a burden. The approval we want and need is God’s. We still have to be kind to others, but our energy and love has to be on God more. He gave us our family and friends and He knows we love them; however the greatest love is God. Make sure He is at the top of our decision making and ask Him to help with cleaning the junk. “The Lord is our light and salvation.” (Ps. 27:1a). Jesus asks us to carry our crosses and come to Him. He will remove our weariness and burdens. We are called to be His disciples. Remember, when you feel stung and hurt, pull away, sit in prayer and stay there until the pain softens, so you can face others, even those who hurt you, with a forgiving heart and the warmth of God.

Patience – Lord, give us the patience to look for healing in your time, not to give up hope, and to be thankful each new day for the gift of life that you have given us. Amen. We all need healing and we become impatient with our pain. We pray, “Lord give me patience and do it now!” The above prayer is much better. God invites all of us to be with Him. It is the best party ever to attend. There are no excuses not to attend. This is where our patience takes on the important role of putting Him first. We must discern and surrender our ideas. Oh yes, our ideas are good, but run them by God, put Him First in the planning stage. You will be glad you did. I must pray for patience each day, just ask my husband; it is not a gift which comes naturally to me.   Invitations to God’s party generally mean work and service. He places the work before us and we come forward to serve Him with love in our work for Him. With patience and of course our “Yes” to God, once we start the task given, we find amazing grace and pure joy. God has renewed us as we serve Jesus. Our own crosses and humiliations can rip away our blindness and wake us up morally.   Pray for patience and God’s will be done.

Serving our Friends – In our region we call those we serve in need, our friends. In other areas they are called neighbours, but we frown on using the word client. It just doesn’t sit with serving Jesus. He is not our client but our friend. We sit in the e home across from Him and the miracle is that He is in us also. People always ask me “How can we serve Christ in the poor and be Christ to the poor.” It is called a miracle and we serve our friends embracing that miracle. Christ is in each one of us and the direction is clear when we know this fact. We are servants and we serve our friends Jesus in need. God is the source of our life and the life of others. We look for a sign and we love this person as we love Christ. In true friendship we serve, guide and lift up the down and out Christ, the suffering Christ. We could not give this much to a client, but we can give all to our friend, Jesus who is in need. Live in a spirit of the Gospels and know our God is a God of surprises; a generous God who comes to us in all things. Be open to the surprises of God this week.

Be a friend and enjoy each moment. You will rob yourself of pleasure if you lack enjoyment. Be always at peace. You are all in my prayers. I pray for peace everywhere and ask our Lord to soften the hearts of hate in people’s hearts.

Questions for Personal Reflection: In what ways do you “straddle the fence” between the world and heaven? What are some of the compromises you make with the world instead of imitating Christ completely? What are your favorite possessions? If you know someone who could benefit from them, could you part with them?

Blessings,

Lynn

Lynn L’Heureux is Special needs co-coordinator & Advisor of the Society of St Vincent de Paul Calgary Alberta Canada. Her newsletter is translated into 3 languages, hopefully soon to be 4. They have a group which brings the prayer into China and it is translated into Mandarin and other Chinese dialects.