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.

Season of Creation 2020 - Jubilee for the Earth

 

Endorsed by Pope Francis in 2015 and supported by the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, the annual month-long ecumenical celebration entitled the Season of Creation will begin on 1 September (World Day of Prayer for Creation) and continue until 4 October 2020 (feast of Saint Francis of Assisi). 

The celebration calls on the global Christian community to promote prayer and action to protect our common home, and is one of the initiatives to celebrate the Special Laudato Si’ Anniversary Year which runs from 24 May 2020 until 24 May 2021. The theme for this year’s season is “Jubilee for the Earth”. 

For more information and resources on the Season of Creation, please visit the website at https://seasonofcreation.org/

Reproduced from the website of the  Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB)

An Invitation to the Margins

 A spiritual reflection on the 22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time by Carol J. Dempsey, Ph.D., a Dominican Sister from Caldwell, New Jersey and professor of Biblical Studies at the University of Portland, Oregon. 

This spiritual reflection speaks to everyone, but has special relevance for Vincentians.

Published August 29 in the National Catholic Reporter.

Mothers in Portland, Oregon. (CNS/Reuters/Caitlin Ochs)

Global communities have "woke," with voices from the margins shouting, reaching an ear-piercing pitch in the breathtaking struggle against injustice during a worldwide COVID-19 pandemic.

Everywhere people take to the streets, marching in solidarity against racism, sexism, ethnocentrism, gender and orientation discrimination, police brutality and militaristic law enforcement. The margins have had enough! They rise up, once again, and push against the seemingly impenetrable boundaries of hegemonic power that privileges the few and disenfranchises the many.

The margins make their presence known and felt. They expose the myriad of injustices that have plagued, riddled and marred the human community for eons, leaving the web of life tattered, torn and tottering on the threshold of extinction. The margins speak truth to power. They press in on comfort zones. They will not accept being silenced, bullied, pushed aside, discounted any longer. The margins resist.

This Sunday's readings invite everyone to and into the margins, if some of us are not already there.
Read the whole of Sr. Dempsey's reflection here:
Twenty-Second Sunday in Ordinary Time: Margins speak truth in National Catholic Reporter