This spiritual reading is adapted from the
February Monthly Reflection titled, Now
is the Acceptable Time, by Denise
Bondy, Chair of the ONRC Spirituality Committee, which can be found on the
Ontario Regional Council website: http://ssvp.on.ca/en/thoughts.php?item=61
We
are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making his appeal through us...
As we
work together with him, we urge you also not to accept the grace of God in
vain.
For
the Lord says,
“At
an acceptable time I have listened to you, and on the day of salvation I have helped
you.”
See,
now is the acceptable time; see, now is the day of salvation.
(2
Corinthians 5:20-6.2)
‘We are ambassadors for Christ… working
together with him’. An AMBASSADOR is defined as an official envoy, a
diplomatic agent of the highest rank.
But, you
say, I’m just a regular Vincentian who visits people in their homes and brings
them what they need – food, conversation, a listening ear.
So many of
those we visit are estranged from any form of religion. Our Vincentian visits
are the only contact they have with anything associated with Church or with
God. When we engage with our neighbours who need us we are acting in the name
of Jesus. We are his agents as we speak with kindness, not judgment, and as we
listen as a friend, not as somebody who has all the answers.
That is
perhaps the most important component of this Vincentian life of ours. What a
privilege it is to be Christ to others and to allow them to be Christ to us!
Now is the acceptable time. Now is the day
of salvation.