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Daily Prayers April 4 – April 8
Daily Prayers April 4 – April 8 940 788 SVDP USA

Monday, April 4:

Father in heaven, giver of all things
By my faith and through my works
I thank you every day
Amen

Tuesday, April 5:

Alone in the darkness,
Lord, hear my prayer.
As one voice of many,
Lord, hear my prayer.
To seek out the lonely,
Lord, see my prayer.
To care for the neighbor,
Lord, see my prayer.
For Your love alone,
Lord, be my prayer.
Amen

Wednesday, April 6:

Lead me, Lord Jesus,
When I lose my way.
Lead me to serve in hope.
Free me, Lord Jesus,
From the shackles of sin.
Free me to live in Your word.
Amen

Thursday, April 7:

Lord, help me to be gentle,
To offer words of comfort,
To always act with mercy
Especially to people
That I feel do not deserve it.
Make me Your gentle instrument, Lord,
Not because I deserve it,
But to do Your work through me.
Amen

Friday, April 8:

I saw You today at the grocery store
Adding up prices with care
Unsure if you had enough for the week
I didn’t expect You there
I almost walked past You this morning
Have You done something new with Your hair?
You were sitting alone on a park bench
And I didn’t expect You there
I heard You at Mass this morning
Along with everyone there
Crying so loud in the back of the Church
And I didn’t expect You there
I pray to You, Christ, to forgive me
For passing You by unaware
Help me to always expect You
As You have expected my prayer
Amen
Daily Prayers are written by Tim Williams, National Vincentian Formation Director. 
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04/07/2022 – SVdP Disaster Services Corporation Update
04/07/2022 – SVdP Disaster Services Corporation Update 940 788 SVDP USA

Besides responding to natural and manmade disasters, the role of SVdP’s Disaster Services Corporation is to educate SVdP Councils and Conferences about different types of severe weather. Be alert, so you can be prepared for spring storms!

Tornado Watch

A tornado watch means that tornadoes are possible in and near the watch area. Review and discuss your emergency plans and check supplies and your safe room. Be ready to act quickly if a watch is issued. Acting early helps save lives! Watches are issued by the Storm Prediction Center, and a watch area is typically large, covering numerous counties or even states.

Tornado Warning

A tornado warning means one has been sighted or indicated by weather radar. There is imminent danger to life and property. Move to an interior room on the lowest floor of a sturdy shelter. Avoid windows. If you are in a mobile home, a vehicle or outdoors, move to the closest substantial shelter and cover your head to avoid flying debris. Local NWS offices issue warnings. Warnings typically encompass a much smaller area, around the size of a city or small county. Warnings are issued when a tornado is spotted on the ground or identified by a forecaster on radar.

Severe Thunderstorm Watch

A severe thunderstorm watch means that atmospheric conditions are favorable for severe thunderstorm development. The severe thunderstorm watch outlines an area where an organized threat of severe thunderstorms is expected generally during a three- to six-hour period. Severe thunderstorm watches are issued by the Storm Prediction Center after consultation with local National Weather Service offices and can cover several counties to several states at a time.

During a severe thunderstorm watch, it is important to think about where you will be during the lifetime of the watch. If you are outdoors, develop a Weather Ready plan that includes directions to the nearest lightning and hail-proof shelter. Keep in mind that severe hail can smash car windshields, cause injuries and, in the extreme, punch holes in roofs.

Please Follow DSC

Our website: www.svdpdisaster.org
On Twitter @svdpusadisaster
On Facebook @DisasterServicesCorp

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04-07-2022 A Letter From Our Servant Leader
04-07-2022 A Letter From Our Servant Leader 1363 1363 SVDP USA

The establishment of the U.S. Census by our nation’s founders was a genius move. While originally designed to help apportion members of the National Congress, later Census tallies helped us all to know more about our growing country’s population, its shifts from one region to another, its ethnicities, and its economics over time. A lot can happen in the ten years between the full Census counts!

We are now at a time when such a Census of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul’s membership is vital to understanding our capacity to serve. We have all heard about decaying Church membership – our “member prospect universe” – and the anxieties over whether or not some of the U.S. Catholic membership can rebound or is lost forever. A national pandemic that shut down Mass attendance along with so many other faith-based activities certainly did not help.

Within the Society, we are proud that during the pandemic, we kept going. It was for us a simple matter: people were still poor, so we kept serving them. We adjusted with virtual Home Visits and Conference meetings where we could, though we missed seeing the Face of Christ in person. What, though, has been the lasting impact on our membership numbers? Recruiting was more difficult when we could not meet with anyone interested in joining us, and many of the informal service opportunities that attract future Vincentians were suspended for weeks or months at a time.

Conversations among some of the Society’s English-speaking National Councils uncovered a disturbing recognition that up to 70 percent of their membership has not returned to serve. Some died, some moved away and others changed their contact information, and this happens all the time. The disturbing big change was that the habit of Vincentian service was so severely disrupted that some members “dropped out” either to express their faith in different ways, to retire from active Society services, or to fade away from the Society and perhaps from the Church itself.

For years now we have maintained a membership of approximately 100,000 Society members in the United States, serving in nearly 4,500 Conferences and other locations. For the first time, I’m not very confident that these numbers are accurate. You likewise should not assume that your local numbers, names, and contact data are the same as they were just three years ago.

We aren’t structured to perform a national Society Census; we are a grassroots organization at our core. I ask you to please be intentional in seeking out everyone you believe are your members, see if they are still willing to serve, and if you have all the membership data you need to operate your Councils and Conferences. We can’t assume this data any longer; we need to verify it to see where we truly are and then plan, likely much more vigorously, for member and Conference growth. While we pray that we have not lost 70 percent of our members, we should not be surprised that some loss has occurred at least temporarily.

A Society member census can be performed not just to count, but to re-engage our members. Consider the counting as a series of wellness checks on where our members are, and also what they need to come back into Vincentian service and regular meetings. Let’s work together to re-count, re-engage, and re-inspire our members toward their own spirituality through Society membership and service to others. And by the way, if you encounter potential new members along the way, invite them in!

We will only know where we are nationally with our membership numbers after we start to know more locally. In your counting process, please take the time to send the information up the line toward your local Council and the National Council with updated database input, improved Annual Report completion, and subscriptions to this e-Gazette. All this has benefit for your members to stay informed and to stay connected with all levels of the Society nationally.

With today’s inflationary pressures, which always affect the poorest the most harshly, we are needed in our neighborhoods more than ever. We don’t intend to be “small but mighty” to do our works. We prefer the “many hands make light work” approach! No matter our membership size, can’t we always welcome, or welcome back, someone else who desires to be closer to God?

Yours in Christ,
Dave Barringer
CEO

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Contemplation – The Robbers’ Victim
Contemplation – The Robbers’ Victim 940 788 SVDP USA

In the Parable of the Good Samaritan, Christ tells of a man who stopped to care for a victim of a robbery who had been left naked and dying by the side of the road. Others had passed by, averting their eyes. Who, Christ asks us, was neighbor to the robbers’ victim? The one who showed mercy.

This parable is a Vincentian favorite as we seek to “go and do likewise”, to form mutual relationships “based on trust and friendship.” [Rule, Part I, 1.9] But if we are the Samaritans, the neighbors, who are the robbers’ victims?

The Samaritan had no helpline; he was, as far as we know, minding his own business on his journey. There was nobody else around but the man lying in the ditch, and he could have kept walking as others had. Unconscious, the victim did not cry out for help. Called only by his own conscience and his own mercy, he stopped and gave his time, his possessions, and himself. [Rule, Part I, 2.5.1]

As Vincentians, though, are we not called to do even more than the Samaritan? Our Rule, after all, says that we are “to seek out and find those in need and the forgotten…” [Rule, Part I, 1.5] Are “the forgotten” the robbers’ victims? How do we find them?

Bl. Frédéric believed that the victims of his time were the people who had been robbed of “the treasure of faith and love” and left so badly wounded that even the priests who stopped to help were turned away by the victims who could no longer recognize them. Frederic believed that we “weak Samaritans” might be able to soothe and comfort them, to welcome them into community, and to reassure them of “the hope of a better world”. [Letter 90, to Curnier, 1835]

Who are the robbers’ victims in our world? Who do we pass by, from whom do we shift our gaze, at whom do we look without touching? [Fratelli tutti, 76] It is easy to answer the phone, or to send a check – to solve a math problem. And while indeed we should never neglect to care for the necessities of the body, anybody can do those things.

It is only on our home visits, face to face, person to person, that we can truly discover those left on the side of the road, forgotten. It is by setting aside our own plans, and needs, and desires, that we reassure them that they are important. Through our loving presence we show them that God has not abandoned them.

Our visit is proof that even on the side of the road, beaten down, with the world passing by, God sees them. He cares for them, He loves them, and He awaits them.

Contemplate

Am I truly giving myself to the neighbor in need?

Recommended Reading

A Heart on Fire

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News Roundup March 26 – April 1
News Roundup March 26 – April 1 1200 1200 SVDP USA

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

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 Prayers Week of March 28 – April 1
Daily Prayers Week of March 28 – April 1 940 788 SVDP USA

Monday, March 28:

My Lord and my God,
May I serve you always
In humble gratitude
For love alone
In the person of those in need
Amen

Tuesday, March 29:

Lord, I pray for the discouraged,
For those overwhelmed into inaction
By the many challenges they face.
Let me be Your voice,
Offering encouragement,
So that by the power of Your love
They may rise up and walk.
Amen

Wednesday, March 30:

Help me to act
In Your mercy, Lord,
To dry the neighbor’s tears,
To share the neighbor’s burden,
To show them Your love
Through my works.
So they, too, may live
In Your mercy, Lord.
Amen

Thursday, March 31:

O Lord, remember Your servant
Whose trust is greater than pride
Not only in Your Divine Providence
But that You will know what to provide
Amen

Friday, April 1:

Lord above me,
Holy and pure,
In You I place my faith.
Christ before me,
Source and summit,
Through You I see my hope.
Holy Spirit within me,
Breath of God,
Through me You share Your love.
Amen
Daily Prayers are written by Tim Williams, National Vincentian Formation Director. 
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3-31-2022 A Letter From Our Servant Leaders
3-31-2022 A Letter From Our Servant Leaders 1367 1520 SVDP USA

Dear Vincentian Friends,

For the past four and a half years, I have been privileged to serve as your National Council president. Now the process for identifying the candidates to be your next president begins. You will find the details of that process provided in next week’s edition of the e-Gazette. I have a year and a half left to continue in my leadership role. During that time, I plan to focus on advancing our Strategic Plan and strengthening the capacity of our network of charity to serve our neighbors in need.

An important element of a strong organization is a careful transition of leadership. The process for selecting the next president is established by National Council Resolution 131. The National Council Board has approved a committee chaired by Raymond Sickinger to oversee the process. Other trusted Vincentian members of the committee are Sr. Kieran Kneaves, Michael Syslo, Marie Wicks, and Gladys Hoerner, with David Barringer and me included as non-voting members. Please pray for the guidance of the Holy Spirit to be with us throughout the process.

If you or someone you know is interested in being nominated for the position of president, please carefully read the documents provided. I encourage any Vincentian considering this service to then have a conversation with me, Dave Barringer, or past National Council President Sheila Gilbert. This is a servant leader position that is complicated and time-consuming but also richly rewarding.

Four and a half years have passed quickly, and we still have some important work to do together. It has been a challenge to navigate the changing environment, but thanks to the work of the National Council’s board, committees, and staff, we have adapted to the restrictions of the past few years and have created many resources to advance the mission of our Society. I hope all members of our National Council leadership find ways to share these tools, which were highlighted at our recent Midyear Meeting in St. Louis. These presentations were recorded and can be accessed by clicking here.

To meet the challenges of the future, we must return to the basics of our organization. Belonging to our Society is a vocation. Right now, we must actively invite others to join us, but we must be certain that we are living the vocation we wish to pass on.

We need to be meeting in person to maintain our spiritual grounding and the friendships that bind us together. If caution has prevented us from visiting our neighbors in their homes, we need to return to that practice whenever possible. Sending a check to a landlord after having a phone call with the neighbor in need cannot replace our Home Visit. Helping a family with groceries should be more personally engaging than putting a bag in the trunk of their car. The Vincentian vocation is to develop personal relationships with those we are privileged to serve.

I hope each of you commits to renewing our Society to build a network with increased capacity to serve those in need. That is what I will be focusing on in the months ahead, and I will be looking for Society leadership at every level to join me in that endeavor.

Developing dedicated and trained leadership is crucially important at all levels of our organization, not just the National Council. I encourage each of you to discern how you might be called to a servant leadership role. To ensure our Society will remain viable, we especially need to encourage greater diversity among those who serve as officers at every level of the organization. The National Council presidents and National Council Board members of the future need to be called and encouraged to become presidents of our Conferences and Councils this year.

Let us pray to the Holy Spirit to aid us in finding the servant leaders that Blessed Frederic Ozanam described when our founders looked for the successor to our Society’s first president, Emmanuel Bailly. Frederic suggested that our leaders must have the habit of devotion, the spirit of true fraternity, and the experience of good works. Our Society’s leaders, he observed, must join the zeal that founds with the prudence that preserves, and they must be able to maintain the Society in the paths of simplicity and prudent liberty along which God has led it.

Let those called to lead today continue to guide us along those paths.

Serviens in spe,
Ralph Middlecamp
National Council President

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Contemplation – Proof of Friendship
Contemplation – Proof of Friendship 940 788 SVDP USA

All of us have had many friends in our lives: childhood friends, work friends, teammates, Army buddies, fishing buddies, maybe you even have a “BFF.” Still, when we hear the word “friend” one or maybe a few come to mind first.

Often, we become much closer to people when we have a shared experience. From the examples above, the friends you sweated with on the practice field become much closer friends. Talking, or writing, to each other draws us closer. We share little pieces of ourselves – we give to each other.

So why do some friends stand out? Is it the friend who really bailed you out of jam? The one who stood by you when nobody else did?

Christ, after all, tells us that there is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for your friends – the very gift he gave to us! “Can we have a better friend than God!” said St. Vincent, and consequently, “Must we not love all that He loves and, for love of Him, consider our neighbor as our friend!” [CCD XI:39]

Friends help us, friends give to us, but (short of giving their lives) what are the greatest gifts they can give? We might remember that friend who got out of bed in the middle of a rainy night to come drive us home when we got stranded, but have you stopped to consider that the reason he did so was not that you were stranded. After all, how would he have known?

The reason your friend helped you is that you asked. The reason you asked, is that you knew only a friend would help. Bl. Rosalie once responded to a request for a favor by saying “I cannot tell you how you please me in giving me the opportunity to do something for your interests. Always act this way with me, without any hesitation. It is the proof of friendship that I hope for.” [Sullivan, 237]

The greatest favor we offer our friends is to ask for their help. In his will, written on his 40th birthday, Blessed Frédéric asked of the Society for the greatest of help: their prayers. “If I am assured of these prayers, I quit this earth with less fear. I hope firmly that we are not being separated, and that I may remain with you until you will come to me.” [Baunard, 386]

“The entire Society,” the Rule tells us, “is a true and unique worldwide Community of Vincentian friends.” [Rule, Part I, 3.3] And this community extends to the neighbors we serve; the ones who offer us proof of friendship: they ask for our help.

Contemplate

How can I be a better friend?

Recommended Reading

Book of Prayers by Frédéric Ozanam

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News Roundup March 19 – March 25
News Roundup March 19 – March 25 1200 1200 SVDP USA

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

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 Prayers Week of March 21 – March 25
Daily Prayers Week of March 21 – March 25 940 788 SVDP USA

Monday, March 21:

In daily struggles, great and small,
Lord, help me.
In times of sadness, pain, or loss,
Lord, comfort me.
Above all these worldly cares,
Lord, save me.
Amen

Tuesday, March 22:

Father in heaven,
Lord of the angels,
Creator of heaven and earth
Lord, have mercy.
Jesus my savior,
Redeemer of sins,
Son of heaven and earth,
Christ, have mercy.
Holy Spirit,
Breath of God,
Love of the Father and Son
Lord, have mercy.
Amen

Wednesday, March 23:

O God, I feel Your presence
In the stillness of the night
You comfort me, and bring me joy
In every quiet moment
In every passing cloud
In every drop of rain
You are here
Amen

Thursday, March 24:

I seek to do Your will, O Lord,
But not with a hanging head
Like an unwilling worker,
Whose eye is on the clock.
I seek to do Your will, O lord,
On earth as it is in heaven,
With the joy of the angels above,
Knowing no end but You.
Amen

Friday, March 25:

Lord, thank you for the gift of friendship
And for the friends you’ve given me
Who put my good before their own
Who ask my help without fear
Whose joy and pain I share
In whom I see Your face
Amen
Daily Prayers are written by Tim Williams, National Vincentian Formation Director. 

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