Spirituality

Contemplation — This Gentle Word

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One of the four permanent principles of our Catholic Social Doctrine is solidarity. [CSDC, 160] This word is often used in secular contexts to signify shared interests or goals within a group, for example among workers as in a labor union. It is also used to signify common interests between different groups, united on a particular interest or goal. For us as Catholics, this captures one sense of the term, but in a much narrower way than we are called to understand and live the principle of solidarity.

Our church’s social teaching begins with our foundational belief in the dignity of the human person, each us of made in God’s image, unique and unrepeatable. We are called by Jesus to pray to “Our Father” just as He does, uniting us as a human family; not symbolically, but truly as sisters and brothers, children of the one God.

And while our principle of solidarity, like the more commonly used phrase, does indeed refer to shared interests and goals, it is our interests and goals that distinguish solidarity in the Catholic view. Our common interest is our common origin as God’s precious creations, and our shared goal is our shared calling towards union with God in eternal life, and we share these interests with all people.

Our solidarity then, as Pope St. John Paul II explains, must be more than “a feeling of vague compassion or shallow distress at the misfortunes of so many people, both near and far”, and instead calls us to complete commitment to the good of all, and of each individual, “because we are all really responsible for all.” [Solicitudo Rei Socialis, 38] When any member of our family suffers, we suffer.

Solidarity calls us to truly love the neighbor, “even if an enemy, with the same love with which the Lord loves him or her.”[Ibid, 40] In this, as in all things, we have Christ’s example, as St. Vincent once explained: “‘Friend,’ He said to Judas, who handed Him over to His enemies. Oh, what a friend! He saw him coming a hundred paces away, then twenty paces; but even more, He had seen this traitor every day since his conception, and He goes to meet him with this gentle word, ‘Friend.’” [CCD XII:159]

Solidarity calls us to follow Christ’s example fully, to “be ready for sacrifice, even the ultimate one: to lay down one’s life for the brethren,” even if an enemy. [Solicitudo Rei Socialis, 38]

This is a call we are not likely to face with the neighbors we serve, but we are called, as Bl Frédéric once said, not to give our lives all at once, but in all of our actions, a little bit each day, to “smoke night and day like perfume on the altar.” [Letter 90, to Curnier, 1835] May our sacrifice be known by “this gentle word, Friend.”

Contemplate

Do I see my service in the Society as a willing sacrifice?

Recommended Reading

Faces of Holiness

A Week in Prayer August 28 – September 1

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Monday, August 28

Lord Jesus, walk with me.
Catch me when I stumble,
Lead me when I am lost,
Make light my burden,
And keep me on the path
To the kingdom.
Amen

Tuesday, August 29

Send me, Lord, to knock on the door,
To feed the hungry, to serve the poor,
To comfort those who mourn and weep,
Your life to follow, Your word to keep.
When I am weak, Lord, double my might.
When I stumble in darkness, Lord, be my light.
I share all I have, and from You receive more.
Through You, and with You, and in You, Lord.
Amen

Wednesday, August 30

Glory to You, O Lord,
Above all things.
Without fear, I walk beside You.
Without sorrow, I open my heart.
In faith, I stand before You.
In hope, I bow before You.
In love, I kneel before You.
Amen

Thursday, August 31

Lord, show me Your face
In the hungry, the poor;
Show me Your face in the weary.
Show me the face
Of Your suffering
In all of the neighbors I serve.
Show, then, Your face of salvation,
And light from heaven above.
Through me, share Your face
With the neighbor
Of hope and of limitless love.
Amen

Friday, September 1

I close my eyes in the gentle breeze
With the warmth of the sun on my face.
My thoughts are calmed by Your infinite peace,
And my heart is filled with Your grace.
Your power and glory, the sun and the wind,
Wash away all my worries and strife.
Thank You, my Lord, for this moment.
Thank You, my Lord, for my life.
Amen

Daily Prayers are written by Tim Williams, National Vincentian Formation Director.

Contemplation – From This Day Forward

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On milestone anniversaries, married couples sometimes renew their vows, not as a way to atone for falling short of them, but as a way to celebrate their fidelity by refounding their marriage, beginning anew in different circumstances, but with the same commitment. In a similar way, Members of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul are called to “annually renew their promise of service to the members and to the poor.” [Rule, Part III, St. 4] It only makes sense that we would so celebrate our “relationships based on trust and friendship” with the poor. [Rule, Part I, 1.9]

And so, individually and collectively, we begin anew once every year, celebrating what has gone before, and recommitting ourselves to serve not only as we have, but in new ways, “striv[ing] for renewal, adapting to changing world conditions.” [Rule, Part I, 1.6] This has always been the way of the Society.

In 1848, following a revolution, a second failed revolution, and in the midst of a cholera epidemic, the Society faced greater needs among the poor than ever before, and along with the poor, faced new societal challenges. Addressing his fellow Vincentians, Bl. Frédéric asked “Is it enough to continue to do the little which we have been accustomed to do? When the hardships of the time are inventing new forms of suffering, can we rest satisfied with old remedies?” [Baunard, 274]

By no means was he advocating throwing out tradition. On the contrary, he was calling on the members to do all they had done before and more: to be more inventive, to seek out even the poor who did not call for help. In the wake of a failed revolution, after all, there were many who didn’t wish to draw any sort of attention to themselves. Our Rule continues to call us to this very commitment, not to simply wait for the phone to ring, but “to seek out and find those in need and the forgotten, the victims of exclusion or adversity.” [Rule, Part I, 1.5]

Our annual recommitment, like a renewal of marriage vows, is first a celebration of our growing closer to Christ, of serving Him exactly as He calls us to serve – in the poor, the sick, the lonely, the least among us. With great joy, we acknowledge, as our regular Conference Meeting prayers remind us, “the many blessings which we receive from those whom we visit.”

Second, again like the married couple renewing their vows, we promise not to take our spouse for granted, but instead to proactively seek new ways to serve the neighbor, not for our own sake, but for love alone.

After all, we, the church, are Christ’s spouse, and the poor, to us, are Christ.

Contemplate

How can I better serve and better love the neighbor?

Recommended Reading

A New Century Dawns

A Week in Prayer August 21 – August 25

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Monday, August 21

My heart is restless, Lord,
Seeking comfort, seeking peace.
Lead me in my actions, Lord,
Lead me in my words.
Lead me, through the neighbor,
To the One True Peace in You.
Amen

Tuesday, August 22

Lord, lead me to riches
But not of this earth.
Instead, in Your kingdom,
Lord, give me new birth.
Grant me the riches
That eye cannot see,
For thine is the kingdom,
The glory, and me.
Amen

Wednesday, August 23

Lord, You bless me with Your presence
In the sick, in the healthy,
In the rich, in the poor,
In the young, in the old,
In my neighbor;
The image of your infinite glory,
Present in our humble humanity,
So that when I greet You,
I can look in the eyes of God
And smile.
Amen

Thursday, August 24

Lord Jesus, You gave me Your body.
You paid for my sins with Your blood.
You call me to enter Your kingdom.
Lord Jesus, I give You my heart.
Amen

Friday, August 25

You speak to me, Lord, through my neighbor,
Through the one that I love for Your sake.
You are present in all the events of my life
And through all of the actions I take.
I seek, Lord, the path to the Kingdom,
To the love that the eye cannot see.
My pathway to You is made shorter, O Lord,
For I know that You first came to me.
Amen

Daily Prayers are written by Tim Williams, National Vincentian Formation Director.

Contemplation — The Image of God

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The first of the four permanent principles of our Catholic social doctrine is the dignity of the human person. [CSDC, 160] What does that mean for us as Christians and as Vincentians? The word dignity comes from the Latin dignus, meaning “worthy.” In the normal interactions of life, we may not naturally apply this idea to everybody we know. We tend to apply terms like “dignitaries” or “worthies” mainly to a special few who have proved themselves in some way.

Yet our belief in the dignity of the human person – of every human person – derives from our belief that we are made in God’s image, each of us and all of us: “God created mankind in his image; in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.” He didn’t create only one of us, or only some of us, in His image. We all are worthy.

We can remember this more easily when we think of our family members and close friends. They needn’t prove their merit in any way for us to know, deep in our hearts, that they are worthy. We believe this not because of anything they have done to earn our esteem, but simply because we love them.

Vincentians are called to see the face of Christ in our neighbors; we are called to serve them for love alone. Our love is the reason we never adopt the attitude that the assistance we offer is our possession, or that the neighbor has “to prove that they deserve it.” [Manual, 23] We are serving the God whom we love, and just like our family and friends – even more so – we already know that He is worthy.

This is why Christ offered the Greatest Commandment to us in two parts. They are alike, He said, and the “whole law” depends on them: to love God with all of our heart, soul, and mind, and to love the neighbor as ourselves. Our love for the neighbor cannot be separated from our love for God because the neighbor – each neighbor, every neighbor – is the very image of the God who created us.

In poverty and in wealth we have a tendency to measure our worth by the things we possess, or by the things we lack. We can begin to believe we are more worthy because we have a nice job, home, or car, or we can begin to believe we are less worthy because we are unemployed, addicted, or homeless. Neither is true, but both can separate us from God. The bread we bring to the hungry belongs to them already, because God did not create anybody so that they should starve, but it is in the bringing, not the bread, that we reassure the ones we love that they are indeed loved, and that they are worthy. It is how we “[help] them to feel and recover their own dignity”. [Rule, Part I, 1.8]

In a similar way, God’s gratuitous presence and love assures us that we are worthy, too. At the heart of our vocation is love. At the heart of our love is God.

Contemplate

Do I approach every home visit as if it is worth my time and effort?

Recommended Reading

Mystic of Charity (especially “Home Visits in the Vincentian Tradition”)

A Week in Prayers August 14 – August 18

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Monday, August 14

Awaken me, Lord, from my slumber.
Lead me from night into day.
You are the Word of everlasting life,
Through Whom all my sins are repaid.
Amen

Tuesday, August 15

Mary Immaculate, pray for me,
That the Father may grant me patience.
Mother of God, pray for me,
That the Holy Spirit may grant me peace.
Queen of Angels, pray for me,
That Your Son Jesus Christ
May enter my heart, and I His,
Eternally.
Amen

Wednesday, August 16

Heavenly Father,
I set aside preoccupations,
I set aside myself,
To go and serve the neighbor.
This I do for You.
I set aside this worship,
But leave God only for God,
So my actions become my prayer.
This I do for You.
Amen

Thursday, August 17

Lord Jesus, awaken me from slumber,
Open my eyes and heart,
Lead me from darkness to light.
You are my strength in weakness,
My joy in sorrow,
And my life beyond life.
Amen

Friday, August 18

Lord in Heaven,
Lord on Earth,
Lord in my living heart,
In Your image
And by Your will
I live and move and am.
Amen

Daily Prayers are written by Tim Williams, National Vincentian Formation Director.

Contemplation: Doing More

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There is an old saying that nobody, on his deathbed, ever said “I wish I had spent more time at the office.” Yet in a famous scene in the movie Monsieur Vincent, St. Vincent, near his own death, tells the queen that he has done nothing in his life. She asks then, if he has done nothing, what should the rest of us do? St. Vincent de Paul replies, “More.”

Vincent’s life’s work, though, was not a job! Likewise, for us, our work of charity is not a job, nor are we simply “volunteers”. Instead, ours is a vocation; it isn’t what we do, it is who we are. There is no question of “clocking out” for the day, for ours is a “vocation for every moment of our lives”. [Rule, Part I, 2.6]

A vocation is a calling; the word itself comes from the Latin vocāre, meaning “to call”. Every person is called; our church teaches, to the common vocation “to show forth the image of God and to be transformed into the image of the Father’s only Son.” [CCC, 1877] This common vocation takes a personal form, leading each of us to our particular road toward the perfection to which Christ directs us.

Our road is the Vincentian pathway. It leads us to Christ; it is our way of being Catholic. We sons and daughters of St. Vincent are called by his example to “love God…with the strength of our arms and the sweat of our brows.” [CCD XI:32] With these words, Vincent recalls that labor is the common lot of mankind since being cast out of Eden, sentenced to eat bread only by the sweat of our brows, but as Blessed Frédéric Ozanam put it, this “applies as much to the nourishment of the soul as of the body.” [Letter 6, to Materne, 1829]

Ours is not a job for pay, but a labor of love – to serve Him in the poor, the hungry, the lonely, and the desperate; to dry their tears, to offer our hearts, and to share with them this great hope that lights our path. “That is what is proposed to us, the sublime vocation God has given us.” Frédéric said. “Would that we were a little bit worthy of it and bent easily to its burden.” [Letter 90, to Curnier, 1835]

We needn’t be ashamed that we tire, from time to time, at the labor required to visit the poor, to stock the pantries, to answer the calls, to talk to the landlords, and even to fill out the paperwork, but let us always remember the Savior’s call to “Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest.”

And let us also ask Blessed Frédéric to pray for us, as he did for his brothers, “that you may know your vocation and will not fail in the courage to follow it…” [Letter 387, to his brother Charles, 1842] In becoming Vincentians, we answered His call, and each time the Conference helpline rings, He is calling us again.

Contemplate

How can I seek to do “more”?

Recommended Reading

Walking the Vincentian Pathway

A Week in Prayers August 7 – August 11

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Monday, August 7

Each day, Lord, and every night,
Your presence and Your love
Are the warmth within my heart.
Help me nurse into flame
This ember of faith.
Help me to spread it
Heart to heart, soul to soul,
To all Your children
Throughout the earth.
Amen

Tuesday, August 8

O Lord, make me Your instrument,
Make me the one You send;
One servant’s work divided
Among all the sheep You tend.
Yet all may know completely
Your grace from up above;
From a single loaf, a single fish,
A single act of love.
Amen

Wednesday, August 9

Heavenly Father,
I enter this day with gratitude,
In the light of the hope
Of eternal union with You.
Help me to share Your light
Through my actions
And my manner today.
Amen

Thursday, August 10

Praise to You, Lord Jesus!
My heart is filled with joy!
You are with me on the journey,
You await me at its end.
Through You, I am not weary.
With You, I am not alone.
In You, I shall live.
Amen

Friday, August 11

Each day, O Lord, I seek You,
In the neighbor, in the poor.
Each day, O Lord, I serve You,
In my actions, in my words.
Each day, O Lord, I give my life,
A little at a time,
With faith to move mountains,
With hope undiminished,
With love enough to share.
Amen

Daily Prayers are written by Tim Williams, National Vincentian Formation Director.

A Week in Prayers July 31 – August 4

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Monday, July 31

Tend to this seed, O Jesus,
That You have planted in my heart.
Water and nourish it,
Turning always as it grows
Toward the light of Your divine love.
Fill my heart completely, Lord,
So that the seed of sanctity
May fall upon all hearts,
Inviting them into Your garden.
Amen

Tuesday, August 1

Heavenly Father,
Grant me faith to persevere
Discerning Your will
Through fog of doubt
Doing Your work
Up steepest climbs
Seeking Your Kingdom
Tirelessly
Amen

Wednesday, August 2

Father, draw me closer to Your Kingdom.
Lord, implant Your will within my heart.
O God, be still the stormy seas around me,
As I strive, for love alone, to do my part.
Amen

Thursday, August 3

Lord, You are rest when I am weary,
Comfort in distress,
Peace in times of turbulence,
And direction when I am lost.
And when I am at peace,
Unburdened by worry or distress,
Still You are my beacon,
My direction,
And my hope.
Amen

Friday, August 4

On every step, Lord Jesus,
You are near.
I am never on my own in times of sorrow.
I am never all alone in times of strife.
At every time, Lord Jesus,
You are here.
My heart is never empty,
My burden’s not too much.
You are the light that guides me.
You are my hope.
Amen

Daily Prayers are written by Tim Williams, National Vincentian Formation Director.

Contemplation: Justice, Charity, and Subsidiarity

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One of the oldest traditions of the Society is our embrace of subsidiarity as our standard of operation. By this, we mean that Conferences and Councils have great freedom of action, empowering them to pursue local initiatives to help the poor spontaneously and effectively, without the burden of excessive bureaucracy. [Rule, Part I, 3.9] Bureaucracy, after all, is the hallmark not of Christian charity, but, as the word itself suggests, of what Bl. Frédéric referred to as “the assistance bureaus.” He explained that Conferences should instead keep in mind that each city “has different needs … and provides different resources” and not “tie [themselves] down with rules and formulas.” [Letter 82, to Curnier, 1834]

It only stands to reason, then, that it cannot be a remote Council that dictates the works of the Conferences, for it could have little basis to do so outside of “rules and formulas.” Councils instead exist not to supervise, but “to serve all the Conferences they coordinate.” [Rule, Part I, 3.6] As Emmanuel Bailly explained this relationship in an 1841 Circular Letter, Councils are “rather a link than a power” and in that link from Conferences to Councils and back, “there is neither authority nor obedience; there may be deference and advice; there is certainly, above all, charity; there is the same end, there are the same good works; there is a union of hearts in Jesus Christ, our Lord.” [Circ. Ltr. 14 Jul 1841]

Subsidiarity, then, works hand in hand with our Vincentian friendship, and our Cultural Belief in One Society. We are united by our Rule, by our Catholic faith, and by the celebration of our diversity in the many communities where we serve. We respect the Conferences’ determination of the best way to serve their communities in much the same way as Conferences are called to assume that the home visit team has “special insight into the best way to give help.” [Manual, 24]

Subsidiarity, of course, also is one of the four permanent principles of Catholic social doctrine, necessary to recognizing the dignity of the human person. It extends not only from Councils to Conferences, but to the neighbor, reminding us that it “gravely wrong to take from individuals what they can accomplish by their own initiative and industry and give it to the community.” [CSDC, 186]

This is one reason why, rather than dictating solutions for the neighbor, “Vincentians endeavor to help the poor to help themselves whenever possible, and to be aware that they can forge and change their own destinies and that of their local community.” [Rule, Part I, 1.10]

At times, it seems easier to simply dictate to others rather than allow them to make their own decisions, but subsidiarity calls Councils to respect the judgment of Conferences, Conferences of members, and members of neighbors. Subsidiarity, being rooted in respect for the dignity of the human person, is a measure of both justice and charity.

Contemplate

Are there times I become frustrated because I believe that “I know what’s best” for others?

Recommended Reading

The Rule, Part I

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