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ENGLISH	POLSKI	ESPAÑOL	FRANÇAIS
PORTUGUÊS	ITALIANO	SLOVENČINA	DEUTSCH

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Lent'13 - ENGLISH (1815)	Wielki Post '13 - POLSKI (1894)	Cuaresma'13 - ESPAÑOL (1876)	Carême'13 - FRANÇAIS (1898)
Quaresma'13 - PORTUGUÊS (1846)	Quaresima'13 - ITALIANO (1863)	Pôst'13 - SLOVENČINA (1959)	Fastenzeit'13 - DEUTSCH (1869)

In his three volume book “The Life of the Venerable Servant of God Vincent de Paul, Founder and First Superior General of the Congregation of the Mission” Louis Abelly, Bishop of Rodez quotes his story of what happened in Folleville: “Monsieur Vincent said: It was January 1617, when all this happened, on the Feast of the Conversion of Saint Paul, the twenty-fifth of the month. This lady asked me to preach in the church of Folleville to persuade the local people to make a general confession. I did this, pointing out the importance and usefulness of this practice. I showed them how to do so worthily. God had such regard for the confidence and faith of this good lady (for the great number and enormity of my sins stood in the way of my effecting any fruit) that he blessed this sermon. All those present were moved by God, and came to make their general confession. I continued my instruction, disposing them to receive the sacrament well, and then began to hear their confessions. Even with the help of another priest who was with me, however, the press of those waiting to receive the sacrament was too great. Madame sent to request the Jesuit Fathers of Amiens to come help us. She wrote to the rector, who came himself, but not having enough time available he sent another Jesuit, Father Fourche, to help us in hearing confessions, preaching and catechizing. By the grace of God, these occupations kept us busy.
We next went to other villages in the vicinity which also belonged to Madame, to do the same as we had done in the first. We had large crowds, and God gave us his full blessing. This is how the first mission was accomplished. That it took place on the feast of the Conversion of Saint Paul was due solely to God’s design.” Read the whole chapter eight of book one

These two slideshows based on Theodore Maynard’s book “Apostle of charity:the life of St. Vincent de Paul” present the primary goals of the Congregation of Mission. Slideshows  are available in Polish, too. Find more documents on the origins and spirituality of the Vincentian Family at  Vinformation.famvin.org website.

“This mission in Folleville was the first given by Monsieur Vincent and has always been considered as the seed for all the others to follow. Every year, on the twenty-fifth of January, he and his Congregation thanked God for all the graces given in his infinite bounty to this first preaching. He always wanted this feast of the Conversion of Saint Paul to be regarded as the founding date of the Congregation of the Mission, although it was to be eight more years before this first seed grew and multiplied. He never thought that this tiny mustard plant would serve as the basis for the establishment of a new Congregation in the Church, as later came about. This is why the missionaries of the Congregation celebrate the feast of the Conversion of the Apostle, in memory of the way this new Paul, their father and founder, happily completed on this day his first mission.” (cf. Abelly, Book One, Chapter Eight)

CONCERN FOR THE FIDELITY TO THE VINCENTIAN VOCATION:
❖ Part I: Program of Ongoing Formation ❖ (coming soon)

❖Part II: Directions for Future ❖

☛ Wersja polska: TROSKA O WIERNOŚĆ POWOŁANIU WINCENTYŃSKIEMU

TROSKA O WIERNOŚĆ POWOŁANIU WINCENTYŃSKIEMU:
❖ Część I: Program formacji ciągłej ❖
❖ Część II: Kierunki rozwoju ❖

☛ For English go to: CONCERN FOR THE FIDELITY TO THE VINCENTIAN VOCATION

Część Pierwsza

Część Druga

Wednesday, July 14

~~ ~~ ~~ download PDF ~~ ~~ ~~ ~

Reverend Father Gregory Gay
Superior General of the Congregation of the Mission
and Reverend Mother Evelyne Franc
Superioress General of the Company of Daughters of Charity

„Whoever loves God, must also love his brother” (1Jn 4:21)

With these words of Apostle John, I would like to join in thought and prayer the entire Vincentian Family, as it celebrates in thanksgiving the three hundred and fiftieth anniversary of death of Saint Louise de Marillac and Saint Vincent de Paul. These words were lived out in the luminous way in the lives of your Founders. It is because they believed in charity they put themselves in the service of their brothers and sisters. May this same faith be your light and strength in your ways of service to the most abandoned and lowly in our so often heartless societies!

By placing this jubilee under the motto „Charity and Mission”, indeed, you have wished to indicate what is the heart of heritage which you have received. As I wrote in my first Encyclical, figures of saints such as Vincent de Paul, Louise de Marillac „stand out as lasting models of social charity for all people of good will. The saints are the true bearers of light within history, for they are men and women of faith, hope and love.” (Deus Caritas Est, 40). This is what I encourage you to be, in a daring way amongst the men and women of our time, so that your involvements in favor of human person be in fact the revelation of the love of God and simply the expression of humanism and philanthropy.

The intuition of Vincent de Paul in getting the priests, consecrated persons and laity to collaborate is a precious good in to which the Vincentian Family rightly engages itself to develop better service of the Church’s mission. So, you will ever be more effective in proclaiming the Gospel to all, so that each person might recover their dignity as Children of God in the world, in unity and solidarity. May God help you always to remain faithful to the heritage you have received to live it out with faith and generosity!

Entrusting you to the intercession of Saint Vincent de Paul, Saint Louise de Marillac and all the saints and blessed of the Vincentian Family, I give you all a full heart an affectionate Apostolic Blessing.

at Vatican, 14 June 2010

Benedict XVI

“To do or not to do”

Homily closing the General Assembly
by Superior General, Most Rev. Gregory Gay CM
July 16, 2010

Missal Readings: Is. 52:7-10, Ps 95, 1Cor 1:26-31, 2:1, Mt 25:31-46

«download the homily in PDF»
«watch the closing Mass (with recorded homily)»

“To be or not to be, that is the question?” so wrote Shakespeare. And what is our question? From the perspective of this General Assembly, from the motivation of its theme Creative Fidelity to the Mission, I would dare to say that our question is to do or not to do? Yes, that is our question, my brothers, to do or not to do the mission that the Lord Jesus Christ has entrusted to us as missionaries, priests and brothers, in the Congregation of the Mission.

“He went about doing good” (“Pertransiit benefaciendo.”) Our historians claim that this is the first motto that Saint Vincent de Paul chose for the Congregation of the Mission. In imitation of Jesus Christ, focused on the Word of God, Vincent de Paul was struck by this phrase from the Act of the Apostles. It was Peter who proclaimed how God had anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power and “he went about doing good.”

My brothers, “doing good” is what we have focused on in this General Assembly: how we have done good, how we can be better at doing good, and in what ways we might be able to accomplish that good, being faithful to our heritage and yet ever creative in its expressions. In my report to the General Assembly on the state of the Congregation of the Mission in these past six years, I said simply but clearly that one of the most important developments, not only for the Congregation but also for the Vincentian Family that we had worked on with much intensity, was and is the question of systemic change. Systemic change, as I said, is a contemporary way that we live out that which motivates us to do good, the charity of Jesus Christ crucified.

Fears have been expressed, saying that such a focus on systemic change we might become like another NGO. Such is not the case when we have clear what it is, Who it is that motivates us to do what we do. The need is for us to make that connection, that integral relationship between contemplating the goodness of the Lord, deepening our knowledge of His love for us, and transforming that to loving action for the poor both by word and by deed, through evangelization and service of the poor.

Gentlemen, let me recall for you what Saint Vincent has said to the Congregation about the Common Rules Chapter 1, Art. 1. “If there are any among us who think they are in the Mission to evangelize poor people but not to alleviate their suffering, to take care of their spiritual needs but not their temporal ones, I reply that we have to help them and have them assisted in every way, by us and by others, if we want to hear those pleasing words of our sovereign judge of the living and the dead: ‘Come, beloved of my Father; possess the kingdom that has been prepared for you, because I was hungry and you gave me to eat; I was naked and you clothed me; sick and you assisted me. ‘ To do that is to preach the gospel by words and by works. That is the most perfect way. It is also what our Lord did, and what those should do who represent Him on earth.”

The basis of our renewal, that is of our Creative Fidelity to the Mission is tied into: our love of God, being men of prayer: our love of the Congregation, being men who work at community life, that is participative and unifying: and men who draw close to the poor in order to listen to them, to be moved by their requests of us, being their servants: with a desire to be obedient to them as our lords and masters and therefore to open our hearts to that transforming experience of God’s love that takes place in our interaction with those who are poor. And we do so as a community. We do so motivated by God’s love.

As we are nourished by God’s word let us be nourished by God’s Body and Blood and go forth bearing the Good News. Let us do so as bearers of peace with a humble confidence that it is God who works in us, He who gives us the courage to break with our fears, being made afresh and moving forward, being only concerned to do what Jesus Christ did, “going about doing good” for these the least of our brothers and sisters. So be it for the Congregation of the Mission as it embarks upon a new era, a new period of six years of following Jesus Christ, evangelizer of the Poor.