Spirituality

2021 Midyear Meeting
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Don’t Miss the 2021 Virtual Midyear & Business Meeting!
Don’t Miss the 2021 Virtual Midyear & Business Meeting! 1060 1401 SVDP USA

Don’t miss the 2021 Virtual Midyear & Business Meeting

March 3 – 6, 2021

It’s not too late to register for our 2021 Midyear and Business Meeting! The virtual program begins Wednesday, March 3 and ends Saturday, March 6. You’re also invited to join us Sunday, March 7 for a special presentation showcasing the Vincentian Heritage Tour. We hope you’ll join us! To register, click here.

Agenda Highlights

Wednesday, March 3
  • Disaster Services Training
    The continuing pandemic taught us that we must be prepared for all types of disasters. Learn how your Council can effectively prepare and respond during a Disaster. Disaster Services Corporation’s CEO Elizabeth Disco-Shearer, COO Kevin Peach, and Chief Program Officer Anthony Pluchino will provide an innovative webinar with a tabletop exercise. All attendees will receive a Certificate of Completion for their attendance.
  • Stores Program
    Introduction of Stores Committee, Opening a Thrift Store & Closing Policies, Using Drop Boxes for Revenue Generation, How to Drive Sales, and more.
  • Virtual Exhibitor Showcase
    One-on-One presentations with SVdP Vendors with Q&A Sessions (Separate registration required)
Thursday, March 4
  • Opening Session with President Ralph Middlecamp
  • History Presentation by Ray Sickinger
  • Regional Meetings (Eastern, South Central, Southeast Regions Only)
Friday, March 5
  • Morning Reflections/Spiritual Retreat
  • Public Policy Priorities From Our Bishops – USCCB
  • Workshops: Finding Servant Leaders: Recruitment & Discernment; First Things First: Governance Priorities for New Leaders; Where Have We Been with Systemic Change
Saturday, March 6
  • National Business Meeting
  • Strategic Planning Session
  • Workshops: Monthly Growth & Revitalization Sharing Opportunities; SVdP Housing Survey Update & Homeless Housing in the Pandemic; Formation Plans for Conferences and Councils
  • Sponsored Presentation: Music by John Angotti
Sunday, March 7
  • The Footsteps of Our Founders and Patrons: Vincentian Heritage Tour Preview
    This online virtual tour of Paris will highlight the places that will be visited on the Heritage Pilgrimage, which is rescheduled for September 2021. Ralph Middlecamp will give an overview of Paris today and yesterday, visiting the places where Blessed Frederic Ozanam, St. Vincent de Paul, Blessed Rosalie Rendu, and St. Louise de Marillac lived, worked, and are now at rest. Even if you are not planning on traveling to Paris, you will enjoy spending this hour exploring the Paris roots of our Society and the Vincentian Family.
Registration

If you’ve never attended a Midyear Meeting before, there’s no better time! Visit our registration page to sign up today.

**All Sessions will take place in Central Time Zone. Zoom links will be emailed to you prior to the start of each program.

spiritual twinning
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Black History Month Series – Spiritual Twinning, Part 2
Black History Month Series – Spiritual Twinning, Part 2 1080 1080 SVDP USA

Throughout Black History Month, the Society of St. Vincent de Paul’s African American Task Force wants to stress the importance of Vincentians coming together and sharing our faith. In the second of a two-part series, National Director of Formation Tim Williams shares with us the experiences some of the Spiritual Twinning participants from Holy Name Conference in Minneapolis and Immaculate Conception-St Cecilia in Baltimore.

Missed Part 1? You can find it here.

In the Words of the Participants

Vera Moukam
Immaculate Conception-St. Cecilia Conference

My appreciation for our SVDP Spiritual Twinning retreat is based on my experience from the two sessions I attended. The very first one on race dynamics with respect to the George Floyd sad incident was deep, emotional but yet graceful. I learned about my own biases, struggles based on my experiences with race and prejudice. Most of all I had the opportunity to learn from others.

The second session was for me a fulfilling spiritual retreat that gave me an opportunity to examine where I am in my faith journey with serving the Lord in the poor and what I should do to be like Christ to others. Not yet there and thus the need for such spiritual exercises to awaken my lukewarm attitude.

Patti Klucas, Spiritual Advisor
Holy Name Conference

I was very impressed by the twinning experience. It made me feel connected to other Vincentians in a way that I hadn’t experienced. It was personal and caring. Oftentimes I feel overwhelmed and alone in our work, even as the spiritual advisor I find myself floundering in a feeling of lack of support from those who don’t really understand and lost in a way to express that spiritual strength that comes from community. This gave me a connection with what I thought might be a totally different group and made me realize that we all are floundering in our abilities to serve and to grow. It has been amazing to hear that we all have the same struggles. I looked forward to every meeting. We have decided to continue meeting quarterly. We don’t want to lose contact with that feeling that we are all community. The whole experience was well worth it and now I know I have friends in the East!

Marie Wicks
Immaculate Conception-St. Cecilia Conference

What a blessing the Spiritual Twinning Retreat has been for our Conference, Immaculate Conception-St. Cecilia-Baltimore. In preparation for this retreat, we met several times, via conference call and Zoom, to discuss our thoughts on racial injustice and our role in serving people in need.  As conference in Baltimore City, where Freddie Gray was killed, we wanted to be sure that our feelings about being black in America did not interfere with getting to know this white Conference, Holy Name, serving in the neighborhood of George Floyd. Our Conference was ready.

Well, it worked, thanks to our moderator, Tim Williams, National Director of Formation. (The conversation was different from what we expected, no racial tension at all.) Using lessons and quotes from the Society of St. Vincent de Paul’s founders, the Rule, and Fratelli Tutti, he encouraged us to look inward first, examine our feelings, describe how we serve, and think about how we want to serve. Both conferences found themselves discussing their inner feelings related to faith and serving. Immaculate Conception-St. Cecilia Conference members left each session feeling grateful that we had discussed our thoughts and expressed all our hurt to each other before-hand because that enabled us to listen with our hearts. We weren’t disappointed in the topics because through them emotional and spiritual connections were revealed that opened the door for developing a friendship with Holy Name Conference. Our preparation enabled us to be present in the moment to truly listen and respond to one another from a God space.

Of course, there were moments to express personal thoughts, too. Those moments were different and shed light on how we react to events in our lives as parents, siblings, and friends. We heard the knowledge, compassion, and grace that sprang from those events and believe they influence our service as Vincentians greatly. In those discussions, we found so many similarities, which we will treasure.

Finally, we all agreed that what makes us stronger as Vincentians are our combined experiences in our faith walk and ministry of service. As we celebrate those conversations, we look forward to more interactions. Who knows where God will lead us in our growth as Vincentians, together or apart! Wherever it is, we will be ready to join the conversation with open minds and hearts.

Judy Aubert
Holy Name Conference

It was a privilege to participate in two twinning retreats with the SVdP conference from Baltimore. By answering questions presented by Tim Williams in regard to how we felt about different topics, we were able to get an idea of how we are alike and how we can learn from each other. It is obvious that the Baltimore Vincentians care about each other and they were very supportive of us and our feelings. I am looking forward to spending more time with them in the future.

Joan Scott, President
Immaculate Conception-St. Cecilia Conference

When our Conference, Immaculate Conception and St. Cecilia Catholic Churches, was asked about twinning with the SVdP Conference in Minneapolis, we were so thrilled.  We thought, “What a wonderful opportunity to speak with some of the people in Minneapolis who would have firsthand knowledge about the events surrounding George Floyd.” After conversing back and forth with some of the key players, we learned that the meetings, at first, would be along the lines of a spiritual retreat.  We always welcome the opportunity to sit back and focus on our Lord, so we agreed to begin the process.  Our first meeting, via Zoom, was mostly an introduction and a sharing of ideas on diversity and inclusiveness.  We shared ideas and agreed to meet again.   We have met several times and both conferences agreed that we would continue the Twinning experience.  We decided that it would be beneficial to share ideas about fundraising, recruiting new members, home visits during this pandemic, and other activities. 

Jim Sharpsteen
Holy Name Conference

I’ve been very pleased with the opportunity for Twinning with the conference in Baltimore and to see and hear their vision of Vincentian Spirituality in their own lives.  Each of the Twinning Retreats have helped me to get to know the Vincentians in Baltimore, and have helped me to gain new insights into how the Vincentian experience deepens our spiritual lives through our conferences’ missions, and helps us to grow closer to CHRIST and to each other in the Holy Spirit. 

Learn More About the African American Task Force

The African American Task Force seeks to promote the thriving of servant leaders in the Society as well as to embody an inclusive love and openness to all members in the spirit of the Gospel and Catholic social ethics.

To learn more about how to connect your Conference or Council with the AATF, please reach out to your regional representative. They are:

 

 

 

spiritual twinning
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Black History Month Series – Spiritual Twinning, Part 1
Black History Month Series – Spiritual Twinning, Part 1 1080 1080 SVDP USA

Throughout Black History Month, the Society of St. Vincent de Paul’s African American Task Force wants to stress the importance of Vincentians coming together and sharing our faith.

In the first of a two-part series, National Director of Formation Tim Williams shares with us the background of the Spiritual Twinning Retreats between two Vincentian Conferences: Holy Name Conference in Minneapolis and Immaculate Conception-St Cecilia in Baltimore.

Building One Society Through Spiritual Twinning

In an 1833 letter to his friend Ernest Falconnet, Blessed Frédéric described a group of young men walking through the streets of Paris late at night, carrying on a conversation. A policeman might cast an uneasy eye at them, he said; passersby would not understand their language. “But I would understand them,” he said, “For I would be with them.”

Last May, when the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis touched off nationwide demonstrations, many Americans, and many Vincentians, were suddenly struck by a feeling that we do not all speak the same language.

Holy Name Church in Minneapolis sits just blocks from the scene of George Floyd’s death. The members of the predominantly white Conference that serves this neighborhood were heartbroken, overwhelmed, and unsure how to even respond. Spiritual Advisor Patti Klucas felt that she was “floundering,” and “lost in a way to express that spiritual strength that comes from community.”

In Baltimore, which had experienced similar demonstrations following the death of Freddie Gray five years earlier, members of the predominantly African-American Conference at Immaculate Conception and St. Cecilia Churches, saw what seemed like history repeating itself, and found themselves hoping that this time, we might learn more from each other; that this time, it could be different.

At the invitation of Pamela Matambanadzo, who chaired the Society’s African American Task Force at the time, these two Conferences agreed to gather for a series of retreats that was titled “Spiritual Twinning” in the hope that they might all gain greater understanding, while growing in friendship, and deepening their spirituality.

Spiritual Twinning Retreats

Joan Scott, President of the Baltimore Conference, recounts that they were thrilled at this “wonderful opportunity to speak with some of the people in Minneapolis who would have firsthand knowledge about the events surrounding George Floyd.”

The series of retreats, conducted via Zoom, began by letting members get to know each other, listening to brief readings from our Vincentian Saints and Blesseds, and sharing some of their personal experiences – not just Vincentian experiences, but life experiences, including their experiences surrounding the death of George Floyd and finding ways to move forward.

As Marie Wicks from Baltimore said, “We heard the knowledge, compassion, and grace that sprang from those events and believe they influence our service as Vincentians greatly. In those discussions, we found so many similarities, which we will treasure.”

Drawing from the Gospels, letters of St. Vincent de Paul and Blessed Frédéric, the Rule, Catholic Social Teachings, Fratelli Tutti, and more, members contemplated and discussed:

  • Are there times you struggle to understand the neighbor’s “language?” Or struggle to be understood?
  • In thinking about your own Vincentian service, where is the Lord missing? Where is He most needed? Where do you look for Him, but do not see Him there?
  • Echoing Christ’s questions from Matthew 16: Who do you say that your neighbors in need are? And who do your neighbors say that you are?
  • Considering the Parable of the Weeds from Matthew 13: Have you tried to pull weeds (doubt, disappointment, and despair) from the wheat right away, or have you chosen to wait and deal with them later?
  • Thinking of Bishop Hying’s letter: How can I make losses in my life a sign of hope? How can I share my hope?
  • How can we listen and understand, as the Rule says, “with [our] hearts, beyond both words and appearances?”

“It made me feel connected to other Vincentians in a way that I hadn’t experienced. It was personal and caring,” said Patti Klucas. Judy Aubert felt that by answering questions on how they “felt about different topics, we were able to get an idea of how we are alike and how we can learn from each other.”

Vera Moukam reflected that “the very first one on race dynamics with respect to the George Floyd sad incident was deep, emotional but yet graceful. I learned about my own biases, struggles based on my experiences with race and prejudice. Most of all I had the opportunity to learn from others.”

Members of both Conferences expressed that they looked forward to these opportunities to share openly, as friends. As Jim Sharpsteen from Holy Name put it, they gained “new insights into how the Vincentian experience deepens our spiritual lives through our conferences’ missions, and helps us to grow closer to CHRIST and to each other in the Holy Spirit.”

The two Conferences plan to continue to meet regularly, as members of One Society, growing in holiness together, and speaking the same language, each understanding the other, because they are with them.

Please see Part 2 for testimonials from some of those who participated in this spiritual twinning endeavor.

 

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Contemplation – The Smallness of Our Alms
Contemplation – The Smallness of Our Alms 940 788 SVDP USA

At times it can be frustrating to think that the assistance we give to a neighbor in need will not only be insufficient to lift them from poverty, but may not be enough even to get them through the next week.

The efficient and plentiful distribution of goods and services isn’t our primary purpose, though. As the original edition of The Rule in 1835 explained, “we must never be ashamed of the smallness of our alms.” Rather, for each neighbor we assist, it is “our tender interest – our very manner, [that gives] to our alms a value which they do not possess in themselves.”

Our primary purpose since the beginning has been to grow in holiness, and our secondary purpose to bring our neighbors closer to God. Our service, in the form of the Home Visit, is the primary means towards both of those purposes.

“No work of charity should be regarded as foreign to the Society,” that 1835 Rule continues, “although its special object is to visit poor families.”

It is only through this special ministry of person-to-person service that “our tender interest” attaches to “the smallness of our alms.” What may appear small to the wealthy, is large in the eyes of the poor. More importantly, it is when we serve those in need personally, following the example and teaching of Christ, that we may also bring Christ to those in need.

“For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.” [MT 18:20]

Mahatma Ghandi once said, that “there are people in the world so hungry, that God cannot appear to them except in the form of bread.” The bread we offer, the bill we pay, the prayer we offer, can be the light of God when offered for love alone. It can begin to relieve the greatest poverty – the feeling that one is forgotten, or unworthy.

Our offerings to the poor, Christ assures us, will be received as if given to Himself. Our service to the poor is not about demanding a result, but about offering Christ’s love, and ours, in a spirit of selflessness and humility. It is about giving, not achieving.

“Our charity would be less meritorious, and might expose us to vainglory, if we saw it always crowned with success.” [The Rule, 1835, as reprinted 1906, Superior Council, NY]

Contemplate: What result do I seek in my Home Visits?

Recommended Reading: The Rule, Part I

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02-18-2021 Letter From Our Servant Leaders
02-18-2021 Letter From Our Servant Leaders 600 685 SVDP USA

Dear Vincentian Friends,

The Collect, or opening prayer, for Ash Wednesday Mass reads, “Grant, O Lord, that we may begin with holy fasting this campaign of Christian service, so that, as we take up battle against spiritual evils, we may be armed with weapons of self-restraint.”

I have come to value the Collect, which is a prayer that begins every Liturgy of the Word. It is a prayer written to position us to understand the scripture of the day. Notice that this Ash Wednesday prayer, which liturgically opens Lent, calls this season a “campaign of Christian service.”

This Lent, I am not in the mood to do much fasting. It seems I have already gone out into the desert and have given up a lot. So what value is there to even more deprivation? But this prayer invites me to consider fasting that would strengthen me for a campaign of service. Our Vincentian commitment to a vocation of service certainly has been tested this past year. So maybe this Lent is an appropriate time to rethink and recommit to that vocation. Maybe a new focus on self-restraint and fasting will help me on that journey.

Several years ago, Pope Francis suggested Lenten fasts, even in this year of isolation and deprivation, may improve our ability to serve our neighbors and be credible witnesses to the Kingdom of God. Our Holy Father asked us to:

  • Fast from hurtful words and speak kind words.
  • Fast from sadness and be filled with gratitude.
  • Fast from anger and be filled with patience.
  • Fast from pessimism and be filled with hope.
  • Fast from worries and have trust in God.
  • Fast from complaints and contemplate simplicity.
  • Fast from pressures and be prayerful.
  • Fast from bitterness and fill your heart with joy.
  • Fast from selfishness and be compassionate.
  • Fast from grudges and be reconciled.
  • Fast from words and be silent so you can listen.
    – Pope Francis (Ash Wednesday 2017)

Let’s all use this blessed season to renew and strengthen our belief in redemption and resurrection, so that we may be signs of hope to those we are called to serve.

Serviens in spe,
Ralph Middlecamp
National Council President

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02-11-21 News Roundup
02-11-21 News Roundup 1200 1200 SVDP USA

Through the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, Vincentians across the United States and around the world are finding spiritual growth by providing person-to-person service to those who are needy and suffering. Read some of their stories here:

INTERNATIONAL

NATIONAL

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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Contemplation – The Secret Work of God
Contemplation – The Secret Work of God 940 788 SVDP USA

When we think about our Vincentian virtue of humility, it seems sometimes that it may act against the interest of the poor if it results in fewer people donating to the Society. But this confuses humility with secrecy, a point Bl. Frédéric often discussed!

Indeed, while celebrating the rapid expansion of the Society across France in its early years, he noted that “we love obscurity without cultivating secrecy” [Letter 310, 1841]

He emphasized that “humility obliges associations as much as individuals.” [Letter 160, 1837] We must maintain the humble spirit of our founding, just as Vincent once admonished a priest of the mission for referring to it as “our holy company.” Vincentians, like all Christians, seek holiness, we do not proclaim it for ourselves!

Secrecy does not serve the work, or the poor. We work in obscurity, not as servants of an unworthy or illicit cause, but as what Bl. Frédéric called “weak Samaritans,” and what St. Vincent called “unprofitable servants.” Our work is worthwhile because it is truly the work of God!

What robs the poor is when we take personal credit for the God’s work; when we see ourselves as the cause. Our humility as a Society, Frédéric explained, “must exclude that collective pride which so often disguises itself under the name of esprit de corps…”[Letter 160, 1837]

We seek to do God’s will, and we should not be silent about the good that results, but any success we achieve is His alone.

Why wouldn’t we tell that story? Why wouldn’t we want to share this great gift we receive with everybody we know? It is a great story exactly because it is not about us.

“There is much pleasure in telling of the humble origin of great things. It is so wonderful thus to reveal the secret work of God.” [Letter 460, 1842]

Contemplate: How can I share our story?

Recommended Reading: ‘Tis a Gift to be Simple by Fr. Robert Maloney

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02-11-2021 Letter From Our Servant Leaders
02-11-2021 Letter From Our Servant Leaders 299 374 SVDP USA

“Charity must never look to the past, but always to the future, because the number of its past works is still very small and the present and future miseries that it must alleviate are infinite,” said Frédéric Ozanam.

How true those words ring today as we Vincentians face a future fraught with the uncertainty of the pandemic’s impact on our economy, our social interactions, and our ability to serve those in need. After a year in which our Home Visits have more often than not turned into video visits, our ability to serve the needs of the poor through food pantries, feeding kitchens, and thrift stores has been tested, and our volunteer base has been disproportionality impacted by the fear and reality of the COVID-19 virus, we must now look to the future and plan for how we continue our work in a world none of us has ever known, and which we cannot clearly envision.

I think we know that tomorrow will look nothing like yesterday. How many of us, in March of 2020, fully expected that by the end of that summer life would be back to normal? I know I did. Then it wasn’t. And it wasn’t at Thanksgiving, or Christmas, or now. The year went by and the world seemed to stand still. But it didn’t – it changed; dramatically.

And we changed with it. We found new ways to operate food pantries, serve meals, visit the poor, and comfort the needy. Our Conferences and Councils used new and innovative ways to raise needed funds to serve the poor. We found new volunteers; younger, more ‘tech savvy,’ more open to innovation and change. They have helped us change in real time for the new future. And what a wonderful thing that is to see!

Now, as we begin to see an end to this pandemic, it is critical that we “never look to the past, but always the future” and begin to make the systemic and structural changes to our Society in this new and changing reality that is our world. We must look at the innovative and creative ways in which we have operated these past months, analyze what worked and what did not work, and then build on the successes. This may cause us some degree of consternation as we are going to have to face the reality that one of our core principles, the Home Visit, probably is not going to look the same.

So, what could these changes look like? One way, I believe that we must make a conscious and concerted effort to increase our collaborative efforts with other organizations who can help us fill the gaps in our charitable ‘delivery model.’ Going to the poor does not always have to be going to their place of residence, as preferable as that may be. We can learn much about the sufferings of those in need by being in their communities and learning from others who serve.  I have seen organizations here in Georgia that have set up service centers in the local communities, using houses of worship and other physical locations to deliver assistance safely with appropriate social distancing and the ability to have better access to the technology necessary to provide access to needed services. Being in the community means that instead of relying solely on the parish property as our ‘base of operations’, we go to the poor where they live; not the house in which they live, but the community in which they live. I believe that will also give us a fuller and more realistic perspective on the challenges and realities that are faced by those we serve. And we can increase outreach and collaboration to become more effective in offering holistic and impactful support.

We also have the unique opportunity to create volunteer and service opportunities for those who in the past may have not considered the Society as they discerned how they wanted to live out their faith. We must be honest with ourselves and admit that in the past we have sometimes (oftentimes) not valued those who want to serve, but do not want to do Home Visits or attend bi-weekly meetings. That has, I believe, left many young people and people with unique and important talents, no choice but to look elsewhere. If we maintain a stance of rigidity and adherence to practices that are not aligned with the reality of tomorrow’s world, we will continue to see a decline in our membership and eventually see that new world reality pass by and leave us behind. The work we do is much too important for us to let that happen. Let us commit to finding new ways to leverage technology, innovation, and new thinking so that we can make a greater and lasting impact.

Some may balk at these ideas and say that we must adhere to the past to maintain our values and principles. But I say we can look to Frédéric for inspiration and guidance on that probable change. “Let us do without hesitation whatever good lies at our hands,” said Frédéric Ozanam.  And what is at our hands today and will be tomorrow is not what may have been at our hands yesterday.

So, let us continue that use of the ‘good at our hands’ to accomplish the one and only thing that matters; “We are here on this earth to accomplish the will of Providence,” said Frédéric Ozanam.

John Berry
National Council Vice President
Southeast Region

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Contemplation – What Great Reason We Have to Be Cheerful
Contemplation – What Great Reason We Have to Be Cheerful 940 788 SVDP USA

There is an old expression that “you can catch more flies with honey than with vinegar,” and I suspect most of us can confirm this from our own personal experience. Nobody wants advice from a sourpuss; many will even decline a helping hand offered from beneath a furrowed brow. As Ella Wheeler Wilcox put it in her poem Solitude:

Rejoice, and men will seek you;
Grieve, and they turn and go;
They want full measure of all your pleasure,
But they do not need your woe.

It turns out that cheerfulness is not simply a nice thing to offer but is a necessary component of our Vincentian virtue of gentleness.

It is true that some people, as St. Vincent de Paul once explained, are gifted by God with a “cordial, gentle, happy manner, by which they seem to offer you their heart and ask for yours in return,” while others, “boorish persons like [himself,] present themselves with a stern, gloomy, or forbidding expression…” [CCD XII:156]

But a virtue, our Catechism tells us, is “habitual and firm disposition to do good.” [Catechism:1833] Habits, good and bad, can be changed, and our disposition towards cheerfulness can be natural, or it can be acquired.

St. Vincent reminded his missioners of Christ’s great gentleness through His own sorrows, His own suffering. Throughout His passion “no angry word escaped Him,” and even at the moment of His betrayal He greeted Judas as “friend.” [CCD XII:159]

As in all things, we seek to follow Christ’s example, to accept our own suffering, as Vincent once said, “as a divine state,” confident that our true hope lies in doing His will. And if we truly seek to “serve in hope,” our very countenances should shine with confidence, hope, and good cheer – especially so every time we are blessed to serve Christ in the person of His poor.

As Vincent reminded Louise: “Be quite cheerful, I beg you. Oh, what great reason people of good will have to be cheerful!” [CCD I:84]

Contemplate: What is keeping me from smiling, and how can I surrender it to God?

Recommended Reading: Vincentian Meditations

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Contemplation – Our Gifts to God
Contemplation – Our Gifts to God 940 788 SVDP USA

We often use the term “charism” when describing our Vincentian Spirituality. During this week in which we celebrated the 404th anniversary of Vincent’s homily at Folleville on the Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul, which marked the first mission. it seems like an appropriate time to examine our shared Vincentian charism.

We sometimes simplify the meaning of charism to talents we may have, and surely our talents are gifts. But the gifts of the Holy Spirit run deeper.

The Church defines charisms as “graces of the Holy Spirit which directly or indirectly benefit the Church…” [Catechism: 799] Like the word grace itself, the root of the word charism comes from a Greek word referring to gifts or favors. These gifts are given to all of us freely and gratuitously.

If we think of our charisms as the seeds in the parable of the sower, we should seek to become the rich soil that yielded a hundredfold what was sown. [Mk 4:1-20] The gifts themselves are our calling – how we use them in the service of God and His Church is our answer.

Or to paraphrase the late writer and motivational speaker, Leo Buscaglia, “Your [charisms] are God’s gift to you. What you do with them is your gift back to God.”

We also recognize special charisms given to individuals or groups that inspire the founding of religious families within the church, such as the Congregation of the Mission, which dates its founding to that 1617 mission in Folleville.

At that time, and even more so as he contemplated it in his memories, St Vincent discerned the special charism that had been given to him, and that he freely shared with all who sought – and seek – to follow his way.

The Vincentian charism calls us to “love God with the strength of our arms, and the sweat of our brows;” to trust in God’s providence; and to follow Christ’s teaching to see and serve Him in the person of the poor. This is the specific way in which we, as Vincentians, seek to live the Gospel daily.

These things are not instructions, or burdens – they are gifts to us!

What we do with them, is our gift to God.

Contemplate: What personal charism do I try to return to the church “one hundredfold?”

Recommended Reading: Praying with Vincent de Paul

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