What a Family! – It Is On Fire!

What a Family! – It is on fire!

This second chapter of Fr. Maloney’s book “A New Century Dawns: Hopes for the Vincentian Family,” provides us with a quick overview of some basic facts about the Vincentian Family

Since 1617, about 304 institutes, groups and associations sprang into being. Remarkably, 58  members of the Family have founded other institutes. Over those 400 years, the Vincentian Family nurtured dozens of saints, well over a hundred who have been or soon will be declared Blessed and more than 100 who have been declared Venerable Servants of God.

But most members will never be canonized; yet they have touched and often transformed the lives of countless people living in need.

The followers of Vincent and Louise include Vincentian alumni, staff and workers in Vincentian Family schools, parishes, hospitals and mission territories, most of whom are Catholic,  but some of whom are Muslims, Buddhists, and of other religious persuasions.

Yes, it a Family on fire with the love of God and those who have been forgotten and lives on the margins.

Fr.Maloney writes…

How important it is that our Family have spiritual fire within. Fire brings light into the night. It warms us. It is the energizing center of homes. It prepares and gives taste to the food that we eat. In the chemical world, fire purifies and refines metals, like gold. It forges steel, making it strong. It molds pottery so that it becomes beautiful and lasting.

St. Vincent ignited a fire 400 years ago, a fire that he has communicated to us. Like him, we can be confident that the Lord loves us deeply in calling us to serve the poor, that the Lord is sharing his own vocation and his own vision with us. Like Vincent, we can let the spirit of Christ, his filial relationship with the Father and his charity toward the neighbor, dwell in our hearts. We can let the Lord’s love set us on fire. How grateful and joyful we can be that Christ, the Evangelizer and Servant of the Poor, has called us to this wonderful way of life.

Since most are reading this on the Internet it is worth providing and handy compilation of digital resources on the Internet.

The website of  Vincentian Family Office  provides ibinformationbout

• The Vincentian Family Executive Committee (VFEC), comprised of selected leaders of the Vincentian Family.
• The Vincentian Family Office (VFO), a newly developed initiative to assist the Family.
• The Vincentian Family Collaboration Commission (VFCC) and the Vincentian Family Collaborative Action Program (VFCAP) to train Vincentian family members in collaborative skills and planning.
• The Vincentian Commission for Promoting Systemic Change (VCPSC), promoting collaborative projects that change entire systems to alleviate poverty.
• The Vincentian Family Haiti Initiative (VFHI), a systemic change project now managed by an independent non-profit structure.

The Vincentian Family Office is also working on an updated and verified database of Vincentian Family Branches today.

Indeed it is a family that lives the words of the hymn composed by Blessed Cardinal Henry Newman. “And love light up our mortal frame, Till others catch the living flame.”

The Vincentian Family prays

Lord, Merciful Father
that instilled in Saint Vincent de Paul
a great concern
for the evangelization of the poor,
infuse your Spirit
in the hearts of His followers.
That as we hear the cry
of your abandoned children,
we may run to their assistance,
“like someone who runs to put out a fire.”
Revive within us the flame of the Charism,
That flame which has animated
our missionary life for 40o hundred years.
We ask this in the name of your Son,
Jesus Christ, our Lord,
“the Evangelizer of the Poor.”
Amen.

I hope you are stimulated to buy and read A New Century Dawns: Hopes for the Vincentian Family

Fr. Robert Maloney -Catalog #2017 $10.00

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