The Good Samaritan - a Vincentian Take

For a good part of my life, Jesus' parable of the Good Samaritan left me feeling very conflicted and burdened with guilt. On the one hand, I obviously did not want to be identified with the priest and the scribe. On the other hand, imitating the good Samaritan presented itself as involving heroic sacrifice that I doubted I am capable of. It was only relatively recently that I started gaining a certain insight into the words of Jesus: "Go and do likewise."

Clearly, Jesus cannot be asking us to slavishly look on the road for victims of robbers, and take them to a motel or hospital. What we are called to imitate is not the precise actions that the Samaritan did, but what he felt in his heart that energised him to take appropriate action: he was moved with compassion, literally, filled with pity, and then he just knew what he had to do, not because of a law or prescription, but because of his heart. Interestingly, this is exactly the same Greek word used to describe what Jesus felt when he looked at the crowds and was "moved with compassion" because they were like sheep without a shepherd.

Sheep without a shepherd

Saint Mother Teresa of Kolkata presents a wonderful modern day example of someone whose life was driven by her compassion. A very different take on where compassion can lead you can be found with Saint Dorothy Day whose heart was filled with compassion for workers and their families who were at the mercy of ruthless employers, and corporations who were out to maximise profits for shareholders no matter the cost to their workers. As Vincentians we can find great inspiration in the model of compassion offered to us in Blessed Frederick Ozanam, our founder. He manages to blend the best of both Mother Teresa and Dorothy Day by his example, firstly, of direct care and compassion for the poor, but also in educating the society of his day regarding the root causes of poverty, and the unjust circumstances keeping the poor in their poverty, and making them ever poorer.

Like the Good Samaritan, and Jesus himself, Mother Teresa, Dorothy Day and Frederick Ozanam did not approach their life's work as a burden demanded by any law or prescription, but as the natural outflow of hearts filled with compassion. Now Jesus tells us: "Go and do likewise."

Blessed Rosalie Rendu - February 7, 2021

This Sunday February 7th, is the feast of Blessed Rosalie Rendu, who was a member of the Daughters of Charity, an order co-founded by St. Vincent de Paul and Louise de Marillac. 

They were founded in 1633, when Louise de Marillac began systematic training of the women, particularly for the care of the sick. The sisters lived in community in order to better develop the spiritual life so as to more effectively carry out their mission of service. The Daughters of Charity differed from other religious congregations of that time in that they were not cloistered. They maintained the necessary mobility and availability, and lived among those whom they served.

It was this congregation of nuns that Jeanne Marie joined at the age of 16, and a few years later received the habit, taking on the name of Sr. Rosalie. Over the years Sr. Rosalie became known for her creative, relentless and effective work in some of the worst conditions, such as revolutions and epidemics, not to mention the horrible poverty and destitution in which the people whom they served were living.

But it was Bl. Sr. Rosalie’s guidance combined with the dedication of the students of the History Conference formed by Bl. Frederic Ozanam that led to the creation of the Conference of Charity, which eventually became the St. Vincent de Paul Society.

This guidance included her gathering the students together after their visits and discuss with her their immediate experiences, motivations and insights; always open to her advice. She would ask them to think and pray about the following questions:

How did I speak with/listen to this family? 

Did I help with an attitude of respect, without being patronising? 

How did my actions and attitudes reflect those of the Gospel? 

Where was God in this experience? For me? For the persons I visited? 

What were my reasons for becoming involved in the first place? 

What connections or otherwise reflected the life of St. Vincent de Paul?

She counselled patience, attentive listening and politeness as values which the young students should honour. 

These meetings contributed to the formation of a solid foundation for the Conferences in practice and in Faith. Rosalie welcomed these enthusiastic young men, and often would say to her Sisters: “How good these young people are. Oh, how good they are.” (Sullivan L. P. 209) 

(Taken from “Our Story, Our Mission: Blessed Frederic Ozanam and Blessed Rosalie Rendu” Prepared by Sr. Margaret Armstrong, Vincentian Leadership Program, Orientation, June 15th, 2015)

As we celebrate Bl. Sr. Rosalie Rendu’s feast, let us also reflect on these questions each time we are out on calls, or even take one question each day when we are praying to our Lord so as to draw closer to the Source, who is Love and who gives us the grace to do the work of the St. Vincent de Paul Society. 

 Blessed Rosalie Rendu, pray for us. 

May she say of us, “How good these young people are! Oh, how good they are.” To all you “young people”!!!!

- Deacon Steve Pitre, Conference Spiritual Advisor

All Saints and All Souls Day

 

- by Deacon Steve

As we celebrated All Saints Day yesterday and today as we celebrate and remember All Souls Day, I pray that we will all be able to take time out of our busy days and say a prayer for our family members and loved ones who have gone before us, remembering that they too are praying for us. 

Let us also remember those Vincentians who have gone before us, those who laid the groundwork for our Society and so faithfully continued the Mission of Christ to the people who suffer poverty and marginalization in our society. We remember St. Vincent de Paul, Blessed Frederic Ozanam and Blessed Sister Rosalie Rendu, who guided Bl. Frederic and his confreres on how to minister to the poor.

Of course we remember all those who served in our own St. John Chrysostom and St. Elizabeth Seton Conference and helped to create a vibrant conference serving the Newmarket and surrounding area and inspiring us as they lived out their commitment.

Be assured of my prayers for all of you, your families and the souls of your faithful departed.
Eternal rest grant unto them O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them. 

Deacon Steve Pitre is Spiritual Advisor to our Coneference

Go and Look at Misery - October Spiritual Reflection

 

An extract from the October Spiritual Reflection  by Alain Besner, National Spirituality Committee, Quebec Regional Council

What most astonished Frédéric Ozanam during his university years became a turning point in his life (as happened to Paul on the road to Damascus, Ac 9:1-19, but less dramatically). That was to run out of arguments against those who, in March 1833, were objecting that most Christians paid no attention to the misery of their contemporaries and did not even join forces to alleviate it. Let us read excerpts from his letter to Léon Curnier, Paris, February 23, 1835, where this is mentioned:

The savants have compared the state of the slaves of antiquity with the condition of our workers and proletariat and have found the latter to have more to complain of, after eighteen centuries of Christianity. Then, for a like evil, a like remedy. The earth has grown cold. It is for us Catholics to revive the vital beat to restore it, it is for us to begin over again the great work of regeneration...

The humanity of our days seems comparable to the traveller to whom the Gospel speaks; it also, although it took its way in roads marked out for it by Christ, has been attacked by the cutthroats and robbers of thought, by wicked men who have robbed it of what it possessed: the treasure of faith and love, and they have left naked and wounded and lying by the side of the road. Priests and levites have passed by, and this time, since they were true priests and levites, they have approached suffering themselves and wished to heal it. But in its delirium, it did not recognize them and repulsed them.

In our turn, weak Samaritans, worldly and people of little faith that we are, let us dare nonetheless to approach this great sick one. Perhaps it will not be frightened of us. Let us try to probe its wounds and pour in oil, soothing its ear with words of consolation and peace; then, when its eyes are opened, we will place it in the hands of those whom God has constituted as the guardians and doctors of souls, who are also, in a way, our innkeepers in our pilgrimage here below; so as to give our errant and famished spirits the holy word for nourishment and the hope of a better world for a shield.

That is what is proposed to us, the sublime vocation God has given us.

Read the full spiritual reflection here

A Little Good - a reflection by Deacon Steve

 

“In my life I want to become better and do a little good.” 
- Bl. Frederic Ozanam

In our gospel reading for today September 9th, the feast of Blessed Frederic, taken from Luke chapter 6, Jesus tells his disciples, “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.”

To experience the kingdom of God we are to grow in humility first. The quote from Blessed Frederic speaks to me of his humility. Despite his education and position, and more important, despite all he had done to serve the poor, he sees it as, “a little good”.

The kingdom of God is not only about some end of life or end of the world event. Instead the more we serve with humility and the more humble we become, especially as we walk with people who are poor and marginalized, we can begin to experience, albeit in small glimpses, the kingdom of God.

Deacon Steve Pitre is Spiritual Advisor to the New market Conference of St Vincent de Paul.

Precarious Work, Vulnerable Workers and COVID-19

 

Image credit: https://blogs.lse.ac.uk

Precarious Work, Vulnerable Workers and COVID-19


 

Precarious work is a term used to describe certain types of employment, usually, but not always, non-standard or temporary. It is precarious precisely because it is insecure and unprotected, it pays poorly and unreliably, and provides very limited or no social benefits and statutory entitlements.

People who are dependent on precarious work employment for their income find it extremely challenging to support a household and often need to take two or even three such jobs in their efforts to make ends meet. Such people are justifiably termed, "vulnerable workers".

Working Together and the Need for Friendship

Christian Verheyde, in his book, "15 Days of Prayer with Blessed Frederic Ozanam," has a chapter titled, "The Problem of Collaboration" (p. 84.) In this chapter he summarizes some of the challenges that Blessed Frederic and his companions and followers faced as their "Conference of Charity", as it was called, grew and matured and multiplied. "Charity" was not always in evidence in their meetings, as Blessed Frederic himself testified in his letters to friends. In one letter he wrote…

The Courage of Bl. Frederic Ozanam

Silk Workers' Revolt - Lyon

We pray at every conference meeting for the canonization of Bl. Frederic Ozanam, and we all know Bl. Frederic Ozanam to be a man for the poor. In the popular imagination this consists in giving alms to widows and orphans and those in need. While this is true, it is far from the whole picture that describes Frederic Ozanam. As a professor in Lyons and the Sorbonne universities with a doctorate in law, especially commercial law, Ozanam held forth in his lectures on the proletariat: the wage-earners whose only possession of significant material value is their labour-power. Regarding these workers Ozanam said in one of his now famous lectures at Lyons: "Exploitation occurs when the boss considers the worker not as a helper but as a tool that he has to drag the greatest possible service out of at the least possible price. Exploitation of a man by a man is slavery" (Lecture 24 at Lyons).

This was in 1840, eight years before Karl Marx published his Communist Manifesto. Frederic taught that workers had a duty to work in return for the right to a living wage for their families, including being able to educate their children and have time to relax to restore their strength. He was concerned not only with helping the poor in their need but also wanted to address the root causes of poverty. At the time, 26 year old Frederic needed much courage to teach this in his university lectures since the powerful wealthy political class considered this to be political gunpowder designed to stir up the working class to revolt as indeed some had in an earlier uprising by silk workers six years before. In those days, such teaching could have gotten Frederic Ozanam killed. It took another fifty years before official Catholic Social Teaching in the form of an encyclical by Pope Leo XIII validated what Frederic taught.


In the spirit of Blessed Frederic Ozanam, this Lent can be a good time to reflect on our attitudes towards the poor, and the assumptions, usually unconscious, which influence or govern our attitudes. We live in an age and society where many are trapped in precarious employment, many juggling two or even three low-paying, part-time jobs, many others are considered unemployable for reasons such as addiction and mental health, or simply because they are homeless, without an address and without a phone, where many children will leave school too soon and many others will not be able to take on the debt of post-secondary education; others who did are now hounded by debt-collectors. Our assumptions largely determine whether or not we merely want to help the poor in their material need or whether, like Blessed Ozanam, we also want to see social justice, to see the root causes of poverty addressed.

Three Essential Elements of Vincentian Life

Among the essential elements to our work and life as Vincentians there are, at least, three. The most obvious of these, in the public eye, is our ministry to the poor and vulnerable. This is the one that gets measured and reported on. It is also very easy for us to see the spiritual value attached to this ministry as when we read St. Matthew's gospel, chapter 25, about the judgement between the sheep and the goats when Jesus returns in glory as King. However, there are two other essential elements which we neglect at great risk to our very mission and ministry. I compare them to gasoline and oil in a motor car.

The first of the other two elements, which I compare to gasoline for a car, is our personal spiritual life - our connection with God our Father, with Christ our Lord, and with the Holy Spirit. This is the source of our power to minister to the poor. Without a spiritual life of regular prayer, Scripture and the sacraments our tank gets empty. You can only run on fumes for a very short while before you sputter and stop. Frederic Ozanam's spiritual life included daily reading and meditating on the Bible and regularly going to mass and communion. (His wife gives us this testimony: Despite his grave illness he never put aside his time of prayer. I have never seen him go to bed at night or rise in the morning without making the sign of the cross. In the morning he reads the Bible in Greek and meditates for half an hour. During the last days of his life he attended Mass on a daily basis and found support and consolation in doing this.)

The Society of St. Vincent de Paul - who are we?

New Corporate video of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, from the International General Council. The video is focused on the people who make up the society, their faith and their commitment to others.

The spirit of egotism or the spirit of sacrifice - October reflection

(Updated 8 October 2019)

Jesus told the pharisees: “You know the saying, ‘Red sky at night means fair weather tomorrow, red sky in the morning means bad weather today.’ You are good at reading the signs of the weather in the sky, but you can’t read the obvious signs of the times!” (Matthew 16:2-3)

Bl. Frederick Ozanam beautifully illustrated what it means to  read the signs of the times in this following extract from a letter  that he wrote to a friend in 1838. Listen to these words bearing in mind that the 2nd French Revolution occurred in 1830 and the 3rd revolt happened in 1848, the same year that the Communist Manifesto was published.

Barricades at Rue Soufflot on 24 June 1848 - Vernet

The question which divides people in our day is no longer a question of political forms, it is a social question—that of deciding whether the spirit of egotism or the spirit of sacrifice is to carry the day; whether society is to be a huge traffic for the benefit of the strongest, or the consecration of each for the benefit of all, and above all for the protection of the weak. There are many who already have too much, and who wish to possess still more; there are a greater number who have not enough, and who want to seize it if it is not given to them. Between these two classes of people a struggle is imminent, and it threatens to be terrible—on one side the power of gold, on the other the power of despair. It is between these two opposing armies that we must precipitate ourselves.

Talking to us about this quotation at our recent "Recharge the Batteries" event, Fr Roy commented that this letter was prophetic. Indeed it was, coming ten years before the "third" revolution and the publication of the Communist Manifesto.

Feast day of Blessed Frédéric Ozanam

September 9 is the feast day of Blessed Frédéric Ozanam.

A man convinced of the inestimable worth of each human being, Frédéric served the poor of Paris well and drew others into serving the poor of the world. Through the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul, which he founded, his work continues to the present day.

“Frédéric Ozanam believed in love, the love of God for every individual. He felt himself called to love, giving the example of a great love for God and others. He went to all those who needed to be loved more than others, those to whom the love of God could not be revealed effectively except through the love of another person. There Ozanam discovered his vocation, the path to which Christ called him. He found his road to sanctity. And he followed it with determination.” 
- Pope John Paul II

Ozanam was beatified by Pope John Paul II, in the Cathedral of Notre-Dame de Paris, on August 22, 1997.

When Religion Cannot Ignore Politics

Those of us who believe in the sacred inviolability of life from conception to natural death usually have no difficulty speaking out against politicians and governments on the issue of abortion. For some reason, we tend to tread more lightly and be less vocal when it comes to quality of life for children after birth. Newsweek sent me the following daily briefing in my email. I was appalled by what I read.

I hope Newsweek does not mind too much that I reproduce it here without comment other than to say, in my personal opinion, politics has crossed the line.

Spiritual reflection for June from National

Referring to the spiritual reflection for June from National Conference, Louisa Steele, our local conference president, writes: This Spiritual Reflection received from National contains important insight into how God is present while we perform our services to the poor as well as help one another to grow in the knowledge and love of God.

Here is the link where you can read the SSVP National Conference SPIRITUAL REFLECTION - JUNE 2019.

April 8, 2019 - Encounter with the Suffering Christ

On Palm Sunday we will hear in the second reading from Philippians: "Though he was in the form of God, Christ did not regard equality with God something to be grasped. Rather he emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, coming in human likeness; and found human in appearance, he humbled himself, becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross." (Philippians 2:6-8)

Blessed Frederick Ozanam found this humble and fragile Christ, stripped of honour and dignity, present in the poor and the outcasts, in those without a voice and in those exploited by society.

Feb 11, 2019 - Spiritual Reading - Frédéric Ozanam & Social Justice

Rule and Statutes

3.22 Working for Social Justice

The Society is concerned not only with alleviating need but also with identifying the injustices that cause it. Therefore, it is committed to identifying the root causes of poverty and contributing to their elimination. In all its charitable actions there should be a search for justice.

Affirming the dignity of each human being as created in God’s image, Vincentians envision a just society in which the rights, responsibilities and development of all people are promoted. The distinctive approach of Vincentians to issues of social justice is to see them from the perspective of those in need who are suffering from injustice. The Society helps those in need to speak for themselves. When they cannot, the Society must speak on their behalf so that they will not be ignored.