A different approach to my reflection this month.
As Catholics and Christians we’re expected to revisit sacred scriptures, especially the Gospels repeatedly for renewed inspiration and fresh insights. I’m taking the liberty this month to shift away from the convention of using scripture as the source for my reflection and instead visit a topic we all are, or should be very familiar with – specifically Blessed Frederick Ozanam.
Frederic is known to have invited his friends to join his cause of service to the poor by saying to them,
“If we are too young to intervene in the social struggle, are we then to remain passive in the middle of a world which is suffering and groaning? No, a preparatory path is open to us. Before doing public good, we can try to do good to a few. Before regenerating France, we can give relief to a few of her poor.”
We can easily apply this statement to ourselves…while Ozanam was referring specifically to the political powerlessness of the youth in France during his collegiate years, the idea that we are too few, too advanced and too limited to have an impact on poverty is directly in line with the challenges he faced then. His choice then drives our mission now – to not be numbed into resignation of “suffering and groaning”, but to exert ourselves to give relief to just a few, one fellow human at a time.
We can have our meeting, we can review our guidelines and study our rules. We can and we should do these and many other things. But we must, always we must, make note of the cascade of blessings bestowed upon us and remember we are gathered here today for one single purpose – to give relief to a few of the suffering and groaning poor.
Let us keep this in mind as we do the things necessary to serve this purpose.
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Closing Prayer:
O God, we stand in gratitude for our vocation to be a Vincentian,
– give us the grace to offer our heart and friendship to the poor.
May we have the desire to serve the needy by person-to-person contact,
– give us the grace to invite others to join the Society.
May we have the grace to put our faith into action, to meditate upon it,
– and to adapt it to our changing world. Amen.
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