In the message from the Provincial, F. Marek Sobczak for the Lent 2024 we can read: “Lent is, for us, such a reset to get rid of the devil’s presence in our lives. To get rid of our failures, weaknesses, wrongdoings, and shortcuts. It is a time to turn around and become holy as [...]]]>

In the message from the Provincial, F. Marek Sobczak for the Lent 2024 we can read: “Lent is, for us, such a reset to get rid of the devil’s presence in our lives. To get rid of our failures, weaknesses, wrongdoings, and shortcuts. It is a time to turn around and become holy as we were holy during our Baptism”. 

[Newsletter No. 2/24] An Arab fable tells of a traveler startled by seeing a camel’s nose thrust in at the tent’s door where he was sleeping. “It’s frigid outside,” said the camel, “I only want to get my nose in.” The nose was allowed in, then the neck, and finally, the whole body.

Soon, the traveler began to be inconvenienced by such an ungainly companion in a room not large enough for both. “If you are inconvenienced,” said the camel, “you may leave; as for myself, I shall stay where I am.”

“Give but an inch,” says Anglican bishop Lancelot Andrews, “and the devil will take an ell; if he can get in an arm, he will makeshift to shove in his whole body.”

This happens in our lives much too often. In our busy lives, we compromise with the devil by allowing him to tempt us. And then we fall to the devil’s temptation quite often. And finally, we allow the evil spirit to enter our hearts and dwell within us.  The Holy Time of Lent is an excellent opportunity to eliminate it.

How often did our cell phone or computer freeze, get stuck, or become unresponsive? What did we do in such a situation? We had to restart or even do the reset of the equipment to make it work again.

Lent is, for us, such a reset to get rid of the devil’s presence in our lives. To get rid of our failures, weaknesses, wrongdoings, and shortcuts. It is a time to turn around and become holy as we were holy during our Baptism.

You may find it hard to believe, but I remember that my grandmother did not eat meat, cold cuts, sweets, and cakes, nor drank milk, coffee, sodas, or alcohol throughout Lent. On the other hand, she prayed a lot and went to Church for Lenten services such as the Stations and Lamentations.

According to historical sources, many early Christians rejected the pleasures of this world, the comforts of life, or good food by fasting 290 days a year. Their goal was to live in God, to sacrifice themselves to increase God’s glory.

In the Old Testament Book of Daniel 9:3, we read: “So I turned to the Lord God and pleaded with him in prayer and petition, fasting and sackcloth and ashes.”

The author reminds us that Lent is a time of prayer, petition, fasting, and repentance. And the purpose of Lent is to get closer to God, who wants to be closer to us.

During Lent the Church tries to lead us to a metanoia or true “repentance” and renewal of life through fasting, prayer, almsgiving, self-control, and practice of the corporal and spiritual works of mercy.

The Superior General, Father Gregory Gay, in one of his letters writes: “The Church offers us a precious gift: the season of Lent.  It is a sacred space, a time beckoning us to pause, draw back from life’s daily grind, and drink more deeply of Jesus’ story of our salvation: his life, passion, and resurrection. Simply put, Lent is a time of sabbatical for the soul.

As a people claimed by Christ and committed to the charism of St. Vincent de Paul, this holy season can help us better live out our Catholic faith and the Vincentian way. Like Vincent, our identity is rooted in Christ. These forty days of Lent are not only a time for prayer, penance, and almsgiving, but also for reflection, connection, and action”.

Referring again to modern achievements of technology in this digital age we may say that “We’re all connected” through all kinds of electronic media. How true it is. Our faith and charism challenge us to connect Jesus’ command to love God and serve our neighbor more profoundly. Lent calls us to examine the presence of the suffering Christ in the world more clearly so that we might understand their plight and be Christ to them.

Make your Lent a time for personal reflection on where you stand as a Vincentian in accepting the Gospel challenges in thought, word, and deed. Assess your relationships with the people you serve and the people who still wait for your help or services. Connect them with the love of God.

Examine whether you can make any positive contribution to other people’s lives.

Convert your Lent into a time for spiritual growth and Vincentian maturity.

Take up the fight daily against the evil within and around us, and never give up. Jesus has assured us that the Holy Spirit is with us, empowering us to achieve final victory through Jesus Christ.

In other words – get rid of your own evil and live in holiness of God’s love. This is what Lent is all about.

Marek Sobczak, C.M.

This story was first published in the Provincial's Newsletter February 2024 edition which you can find in our Library along with all previous Newsletters.

Father Gregory Gay is addressing Vincentian Family in his last Lenten Letter as Superior General of the Congregation of the Mission. He uses stories to help us reflect on Lent as a time for fasting and time for prayer telling stories from his personal journey and Jesus story. In all themes he [...]]]>

Father Gregory Gay is addressing Vincentian Family in his last Lenten Letter as Superior General of the Congregation of the Mission. He uses stories to help us reflect on Lent as a time for fasting and time for prayer telling stories from his personal journey and Jesus story. In all themes he invites us to writes new stories, our stories.

Rome, Lent 2016  

My Dear Brothers and Sisters, Members of the Vincentian Family,

Lent: a time for Fasting

A Story: During a visit to Venezuela where I met with members of the various branches of the Vincentian Family, people spoke about the country’s social and economic crisis and its impact on everyday life. People have to wait in long lines to buy basic foodstuffs such as bread, milk, rice, beans, etc.; people have to wait in long lines to purchase soap, toothpaste, paper products; people have to wait in long lines to obtain medicine and medical supplies; people have to wait in long lines at bus stations because of reduced schedules resulting from fewer spare parts and no new tires for those vehicles used in public transportation; people have to wait in long lines in order to obtain travel visas and again they have to wait in even longer lines at airports. Waiting for hours, however, provides no guarantee that one will obtain the desired goods and provides no guarantee that one will not hear those dreaded words: we have run out of bread (or whatever one is looking for). That declaration means that one will have to wait until the following week since one can only become part of “long line” when the last number of one’s personal identity card corresponds to a specific day of the week. At the same time, however, people have spoken about positive effects of this crisis, pointing out the fact that the bonds of solidarity have been strengthened. One of our confreres stated that the present situation has led them to adopt a simpler lifestyle and has brought the community closer to the reality of the poor. This social, economic, and political situation and its negative and positive elements can be viewed as a movement from the cross (the crisis) to the resurrection (solidarity and greater identification with the situation of those who are poor).

A Jesus Story:  And the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us (John 1:14). God, all loving, all merciful, all compassionate, never abandoned humankind. In times past, God spoke in partial and various ways to our ancestors through the prophets; in these last days, he spoke to us through a son (Hebrews 1:1-2). Jesus mingled among the people who formed the long lines of outcasts, waiting and hoping to participate as active members of society. Jesus fed the multitudes and not only was no one turned away but baskets and baskets of leftovers were gathered up (Mark 6:34-44). Jesus extended unconditional forgiveness to sinners, seventy times seven (Matthew 18:22) and exhorted his followers to be as compassionate toward their brothers and sisters as God was compassionate toward them (Luke 6:36). As a result of the Incarnation, Jesus today can be found in all those long lines that are found in countless cities throughout the world, long lines of men and women who cry out every hour of every day, demanding to be included as equal members of society.

A New Story: Yes, Lent is a time for fasting, but during this Year of Mercy our fasting must take on a new form, one that leads to personal and community conversion. Our fast should mean that we can never be accused of passivity, indulgence or culpable complicity regarding the intolerable situations of injustice and the political regimes which prolong them (Evangelii Gaudium, #194). Our fasting must penetrate our very being, must pain us to the very depths so that we can hear and understand anew the cries of our brothers and sisters. Then, as we listen to those cries, let us run to serve them as if we were running to a fire [note]Vincent de Paul, Correspondence, Conferences, Documents, translated and edited by Jaqueline Kilar, DC; and Marie Poole, DC; et al; annotated by John W. Carven, CM; New City Press, Brooklyn and Hyde Park, 1985-2014; volume XI, p. 25; future references to this work will be inserted into the text using the initials [CCD] followed by the volume number, then the page number, for example, CCD:XI:25.[/note] . Let us remember, however, that as we establish relationships with those on the peripheries, we have to sympathize with them in order to suffer with them … we have to … make them [our hearts] sensitive to the sufferings and the miseries of our neighbor, and ask God to give us the true spirit of mercy, which is the characteristic spirit of God (CCD XI:308). May our fast during this Lenten season give us, members of the Vincentian Family, a new heart, a heart of flesh, a heart that enables us to establish ever stronger bonds with our lords and masters, with the countless men and women who are forgotten and abandoned throughout the world. May our Lenten fast reflect that same movement that our brothers and sisters in Venezuela experience, a movement from the cross (our own situation of crisis) to the resurrection (solidarity and greater identification with the situation of those who are poor).

Lent: a time for Prayer

A Story: Last month, on the Feast of the Epiphany, I traveled to Notre Dame de Prime-Combe, a shrine that is administered by the confreres from the Province of Toulouse and by a well-prepared lay pastoral team. At one time as many as 50,000 people would gather together to celebrate the feast. Today, perhaps 300 people come to commemorate the Feast of Our Lady, but each Sunday, whenever possible, a confrere celebrates the Eucharist there. I was deeply impressed by the simple faith of the some 50 members of the congregation who had gathered there to celebrate the Eucharist. They were, all of them, 60 years of age or older (no young people were present). Sharing life with this community of faith is a group of Benedictine monks who, since the 1990s, have lived in one of the buildings on the grounds of our property. This group of monks, however, is a very special community. Each member lives with some handicap. Yet, these men lead their lives in a joyful and simple manner and provide the surrounding community with a powerful example of the manner in which work and prayer can be interwoven with one another.

A Jesus Story: Jesus often withdrew from the crowds and from his disciples in order to spend some time in prayer. He told his followers: pray for those who persecute you (Matthew 5:44) and he himself prayed that they may all be one, as you, Father, are in me and I in you (John 17:21). We are all familiar with the account of Jesus’ anguished prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane (Mark 14:32-42). At the same time Jesus extoled the humble prayer of the tax collector: O God, be merciful to me a sinner and stated that it was the tax collector who went home justified because those who humble themselves will be exalted (Luke 18:9-14). Jesus also praised the generous offering of the poor widow who went up to Jerusalem to pray (Mark 12:43-44). Before he departed this world, Jesus left his followers the legacy of a prayer that combines two great desires centered on God, with three cries of petition centered on the urgent basic needs of humanity. Jesus tells the Father the two desires of his heart: hallowed be your name and your kingdom come. That is followed by the three cries of petition: give us bread, forgive our debts, and do not bring us to the time of trial [note]José Antonio Pagola, Jesus: An Historical Approximation, translated: Margaret Wilde, Convivium Press, Miami, 2014, p. 313-316. [/note] . As a result of the Incarnation, God understands our needs, understands that we are broken and wounded, and in the person of Jesus all those realities are raised up to the Father!

A New Story: Yes, Lent is a time for prayer, and our prayer, like our fasting, must also take on a new form during this Year of Mercy, one that leads to personal community conversion. Without prolonged moments of adoration, of prayerful encounter with the word, of sincere conversation with the Lord, our work easily becomes meaningless; we lose energy as a result of weariness and difficulties, and our fervour dies out. The Church urgently needs the deep breath of prayer (Evangelii Gaudium, #262). Our prayer and fasting give meaning to our ministry/service and our ministry/service gives meaning to our prayer and fasting. My hope is that during these 40 days of Lent we might take time not only to listen to the cries of the poor, not only to serve and minister on behalf of the poor, but to pray with the poor. Furthermore, are not all of us like the members of the Benedictine community at Notre Dame de Prime-Combe, that is, are we not in some way broken and in need of healing, in need of the prayers of others? Therefore, like the Benedictine monks, our “handicaps” should not prevent us from contributing to the building up of our community, the association, the Congregation.

Finally, what would it be like to ask people, as Pope Francis continually does, please pray for me?  What would it be like to invite the poor into our homes to share with them a time of prayer? I would encourage you to do this and then during the Easter Season we could share with one another our experience of sharing prayer in such a manner with our lords and masters.

May our prayer and fasting enable us to die with Christ during this Lenten Season of 2016 so that we might rise with Christ on Easter Sunday and sing our song of Alleluia.

Your brother in Saint Vincent,

G. Gregory Gay, C.M.
Superior General

You may read and/or download the Lenten Letter
in one of eight languages clicking on these links or scanning codes

Rome, February 3, 2016

“The celebration of Saint Louise’s feast remains a solemnity and will be celebrated each year on 9 May” – Father Gregory Gay, CM announces in the Circular addressed to all members of the Congregation of the Mission. Read full text of his message:

Rome, February 3, 2016

To all the Priests and Brothers  of the Congregation of the Mission

Dear Confreres,

May the grace and peace of Our Lord Jesus Christ fill your heart now and forever!

Some time ago, the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments asked us to review the Vincentian Liturgical Calendar according to the new norms. The Procurator General, Father Shijo Kanjirathamkunnel, undertook this task and presented the list to the said Congregation. It was then requested that we consider changing the feast of Saint Louise de Marillac, because it always falls during Lent and it is preferable not to celebrate solemnities during that particular liturgical season.

Together with the Superioress General, Sister Kathleen Appler, and her Council, I and my Council searched for an appropriate date. We agreed on 9 May, the anniversary of Saint Louise’s beatification, because the anniversary of her canonization also falls during Lent. On 14 December 2015, Father Shijo presented the request for a change of date to the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments which issued a decree, dated 4 January 2016, consenting to our request. The celebration of Saint Louise’s feast remains a solemnity and, effective immediately, will be celebrated each year on 9 May.

In addition, we have requested that her feast be inserted into the Church’s universal calendar. We do not yet have a response to that request.

As we close this Year of Consecrated Life and continue in the Jubilee Year of Mercy, may we each draw strength from the many graces these special times afford us. God bless.

Your brother in Saint Vincent,

G. Gregory Gay, CM

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