The Heritage Commission has chosen to reach each individual member of the Vincentian Family, in preference to sponsoring an international symposium. There will be twelve short reflections (one for each month of the jubilee year) that will be available through the internet, accompanied by guidelines and suggestions for use. This process will rely heavily on local initiative and creativity.
Our goal. We hope to reach each member of the Vincentian Family worldwide. This is a grassroots vision. We hope that members of the Vincentian Family will organize themselves once a month during the Jubilee Year to deepen the Charism we share, to know each other better and to build bonds of friendship and collaboration. It is our fondest hope that the people to whom we are sent to serve and the co-workers with whom we work side by side will be an integral part of our celebrations. Our hope, in doing this locally, is that the world might know by means of thousands of small (or even large) expressions and events that Saint Vincent and Saint Louise have taught us to love our neighbor.
The means. The twelve short reflections will set the theme for each month of the Jubilee Year. The purpose is to deepen our appreciation and love for our vocation and to celebrate the charism with the people we serve and the people with whom we serve. We anticipate this will happen through the sharing of those who come together, because the charism is carried not on paper but in the lives of the members of the Vincentian Family. The reflections are aimed at sharing understanding, experience, hopes, and, action.
Our action can be not only on behalf of poor people but with poor people, so that they and we can sense we are members of one family, a family drawn together by God’s love. We can think of sharing with them around the same table, having a reception for them (une verre d’amiti), welcoming them to share their experience of Vincent and Louise with us, or, if we are in schools, inviting the faculty, staff and students to enter into our reflection and action, and the same is true if we are formators.
The Twelve Themes are:
- Our Reason for Celebrating Saint Vincent and Saint Louise Today: Rediscovering Their Dynamism and Being Filled with Their Spirit
- The Role of Interiority and Devotion in the Vincentian Family
- The Spirit of Saint Vincent
- The Spirit of Saint Louise
- Who is Jesus for Saint Vincent?
- Who is Jesus for Saint Louise?
- Service to Poor People
- Evangelization of Poor People
- The Different Forms of Poverty
- Celebrating this Anniversary with Poor People
- In What Ways the Charism of Saint Vincent and Saint Louise Is Lived Differently in the Various Branches of the Vincentian Family
- The Collaboration of Saint Vincent and Saint Louise in the Service of Poor People
The process will involve the production and distribution of the twelve reflections through Famvin in the official languages. We ask the Vincentian Family in each language area to see to the translation of the reflections in their own area, if this is desired. Each country or language group may re-publish them in a simple form or a more sophisticated form as time and talent permit.
Visit the official 350th Anniversary site for updates as the become available.
Tags: 350th Anniversary, Louise de Marillac, Vincent, Vincentian Family
