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A Letter From Our Servant Leaders 1-20-2022

A Letter From Our Servant Leaders 1-20-2022 https://ssvpusa.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Matambanadzo_Pam_lo-res.jpg 1365 2048 SVDP USA SVDP USA //ssvpusa.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/svdp-usa-ssvp-int.png January 19, 2022 January 19, 2022

Connect, Learn, Pray and Advocate!

Each year at the end of January, Catholic leaders gather in Washington, D.C. for the Catholic Social Ministry Gathering (CSMG). For the past 30 years, this has been a must-attend event! I was fortunate to attend the last two in-person events in 2019 and 2020. As I reflected on how best to share the experience, I realized that a large part of what ignited me was the gathering in one place. There is something to be said for stepping away from our daily grind to connect, learn, pray, and advocate for others. This year, as we did last year, CSMG will be meeting virtually.

While, yes, it does not have the same level of impact as traveling to D.C., nor the wealth of knowledge gained in the weeks leading to the gathering – the planning, scheduling, and getting to know like-minded people that I would not otherwise have met – the Hill visits (Capitol Hill) themselves are structured in such a way that you are not randomly seeing any representative. When we do the Hill visits you visit your representative as a constituent.

I have been able to apply all the things I have learned through the CSMG to issues that come up locally. You see, living in Chicago we have a huge homeless population. While we may say the poor will always be with us the situation becomes hard to look at when the temperature dips as it has done. I know that my Conference alone cannot solve the problems of homelessness. Using what I learned preparing for my Hill visits with CSMG, I was able to confidently send an email to my alderman asking if he might spare some time to talk about the plight of our neighbors sleeping in tents under the viaducts and on the lakefront. We center a large part of the work we do towards wrap-around services for those homeless, but we are well aware that alone, the problems are insurmountable.

When doing Home Visits, we pray to ask the Holy Spirit to be with us so that it is with Christ’s eyes, ears, and heart that we see those we visit. In a continuation of the same process, when we advocate, we leave ourselves behind so that we are only speaking for those we serve. Our work as Vincentians affords us an opportunity to know the plight of the poor in the many ways we serve. We should not shy away from putting a face to the statistics that our legislators use to develop policy.

Pope Francis in his book, “Let Us Dream: The Path to A Better Future,” refers to the pandemic as our “Noah Moment.” We are being tested. We have an opportunity to help shape the world and rebuild a more just world. Since we continue to climb “the stairs to the poor man’s garret, sitting by his bedside, feeling the same cold that pierces him,” it is now time for us to be the vessels that carry the message.

Please consider joining us at the 2022 Catholic Social Ministry Gathering. Let’s connect, learn, pray and advocate together.

Sincerely,
Pam Matambanadzo
SVdP National Board Member

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Contemplation: Thy Will Be Done

Contemplation: Thy Will Be Done https://ssvpusa.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Contemplations-Image-1.jpg 940 788 SVDP USA SVDP USA //ssvpusa.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/svdp-usa-ssvp-int.png January 17, 2022 January 17, 2022

We often use the word “discernment” simply as a synonym for decision-making, with an added sense of prayerful consideration. While this captures part of the meaning, discernment could also be considered the opposite of decision-making. When we discern, we seek not our best option between two choices, but true insight into God’s will in the situation. But how can we do that?

A friend of mine once asked a fellow Vincentian who was explaining the constraints of his Conference guidelines, “Is that how you will explain it to St. Peter?”

Discernment, he was suggesting, isn’t so much the actual decision, but the process by which we arrive at it. In this, he echoed St. Ignatius of Loyola, who argued in the Spiritual Exercises that to make the best choice, we should always “consider what procedure and norm of action I would wish to have followed in making the present choice if I were at the moment of death.”

In other words, while the decision itself is important, how we go about making it is even more important. Recall St. Vincent’s teaching that “God does not consider the outcome of the good work undertaken but the charity that accompanied it.” [CCD I:205] How, then, can I share the love of God (charity)? How can I do God’s will, not mine? In this way, all choices become a single choice; a choice by which we are called to live our whole lives.

Father Hugh O’Donnell’s definition of Vincentian Discernment cuts to the heart of it: “Discernment is a prayer-filled process through which each of us can discover the difference between what is my will and what is God’s Will.”

At the heart of it, discernment is meant to lead us to the discovery of God’s plan – for us, for our lives, and for our Vincentian organizations. To help us, we often follow the process that Fr. O’Donnell explained, which begins with what St. Vincent called “unrestricted readiness.”

In unrestricted readiness, we set aside our anxieties about whether we are right, how we will convince others, or even about how things will turn out. Instead, we enter into discernment with both our minds and our hearts wide open to accepting God’s will.

Simple decision-making is about closing off all choices but one. Discernment is about opening ourselves to the one true choice.

Contemplate

Do I sometimes let my own biases or pride blind me to God’s will for me and for my Conference?

St. Vincent de Paul Dental Clinics Transform More Than Just Smiles

St. Vincent de Paul Dental Clinics Transform More Than Just Smiles https://ssvpusa.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/dental.png 697 590 SVDP USA SVDP USA //ssvpusa.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/svdp-usa-ssvp-int.png January 13, 2022 January 13, 2022

Various St. Vincent de Paul Conferences across the U.S. are home to dental clinics providing quality dental services to those in need. And while those served have a big reason to smile, so do the volunteers and staff who make it all happen.

Here’s the story of one dental staff member at SVdP Phoenix’s Virginia G. Piper Dental Clinic. The video follows Betty, an SVdP dental assistant who was born in Mexico and came to the United States as a young child. She’s faced insurmountable obstacles in her life, but with help from the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, she’s been able to accomplish a great deal — and is about to take another big step towards achieving her dreams.

To learn more about the SVdP dental clinic in Phoenix, visit their website.

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1-10-2022 to 1-15-2022 News Roundup

1-10-2022 to 1-15-2022 News Roundup https://ssvpusa.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/svdp-news.jpg 1200 1200 SVDP USA SVDP USA //ssvpusa.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/svdp-usa-ssvp-int.png January 11, 2022 January 15, 2022

With 100,000 Vincentians across the United States and nearly 800,000 around the world, the Society of St. Vincent de Paul provides person-to-person service to those who are needy and suffering. Read some of their stories here:

INTERNATIONAL

NATIONAL

BEND, OR: City of Bend plans for several shelters, houseless services; Division Street site may open early
BOISE, ID: CellCore Biosciences Supported St. Vincent Christmas Toy Store to Provide Christmas Gifts for Families in Need
COVINGTON, KY: St. Vincent dePaul seeks artists to create works of art with thrift store finds for its unique fundraiser
EXETER, NH: Exeter community goes above and beyond to help others
MARINETTE, WI: Clean Out the Closet for Good Drive Begins Today
PHOENIX, AZ: Rebecca: From sleeping in the car to a studio apartment
PHOENIX, AZ: St. Vincent de Paul leaders celebrate CEO’s quarter-century of service
PITTSBURG, PA: Society of Saint Vincent de Paul helps homeless community

Help us share the good news of the good work being done in your local Conference or Council! Email us at info@svdpusa.org with the subject line Good News.

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Daily Prayer 1-10-2022

Daily Prayer 1-10-2022 https://ssvpusa.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Daily-prayer.jpg 940 788 SVDP USA SVDP USA //ssvpusa.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/svdp-usa-ssvp-int.png January 10, 2022 January 10, 2022

Daily Prayer for Monday, January 10, 2022

Lord Jesus,
Grant me the virtue of gentleness
Help me to listen with patience
To act with kindness
To offer my heart to all

Amen

Written by National Vincentian Formation Director, Tim Williams.

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Contemplation – The Opposite of Selfless is Self

Contemplation – The Opposite of Selfless is Self https://ssvpusa.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Contemplations-Image-1.jpg 940 788 SVDP USA SVDP USA //ssvpusa.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/svdp-usa-ssvp-int.png January 7, 2022 January 12, 2022

The Rule informs us that the Vincentian virtue of selflessness is “dying to our ego with a life of self-sacrifice; members share their time, their possessions, their talents and themselves in a spirit of generosity.” [Rule, Part I, 2.5.1] To share generously is surely virtuous behavior, but as St. Vincent always emphasized, it is the internalization of virtue that is most important.

True selflessness is more than simply sharing. As St. Louise explained, in order for our service to be pleasing to God, it must proceed from a good heart, with no thought to our own pleasure in giving, or to our own reputations. Without this self-denial, “our actions are empty noise. In them there is only self-love; and such self-love banishes the pure love of God…” [Sp.Writings, 536]

Bl. Frédéric echoed this notion of self-love driving out God’s love. He explained that there are two kinds of pride: to be overly satisfied with ourselves, and to be consumed with our own shortcomings, even to the point that we fail to act because we believe ourselves inadequate. “Thus,” he wrote, “love grows weak and self-love hides beneath this trumped-up austerity of our regrets.” [160 to Lallier, 1837]

Recall that our Rule says that selflessness begins with “dying to our ego.” Ego is the Latin word for I. We die to ourselves. As the Apostle declared: “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me.”

The opposite of selfless, then, is not selfish, but self!

Our success, our money, our comfort, however great or small, are God’s gifts to us. As the story of the rich young man illustrates, it can be devastatingly difficult to give them away; so difficult, in fact, that even Christ’s disciples wondered how anybody could make it to heaven.

But beyond our possessions, our very selves are also God’s gift, and also are meant to be given away. Selflessness, as St. Louise expressed it, is to give “Him my full consent to operate in me by His power whatever He willed to see accomplished.” [Sp. Writing, 270]

Virtue begins with doing but ends with being. By emptying ourselves of self, we empty ourselves also of the doubts that can keep us from doing God’s will. We cannot will ourselves into heaven. We can only seek to make God’s will our own, and for God all things are possible.