E-Evangelization

Source:  California Catholic Conference

"Pope Benedict XVI tied his World Communication Day letter to the Year for Priest celebration by urging greater use of new technologies to spread the Word:

'Priests stand at the threshold of a new era: as new technologies create deeper forms of relationship across greater distances, they are called to respond pastorally by putting the media ever more effectively at the service of the Word.' 

"The Pope and the Vatican have been available on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and other sites for some time now."

Caritas in Veritate (Charity in Truth)

His Holiness, Pope Benedict XVI offers another opportunity for reflection on social justice in his encyclical letter, Charity in Truth, Caritas in Veritate

An excerpt from the introduction of the encyclical letter:

2. Charity is at the heart of the Church's social doctrine. Every responsibility and every commitment spelt out by that doctrine is derived from charity which, according to the teaching of Jesus, is the synthesis of the entire Law (cf. Mt 22:36- 40). It gives real substance to the personal relationship with God and with neighbour; it is the principle not only of micro-relationships (with friends, with family members or within small groups) but also of macro-relationships (social, economic and political ones). For the Church, instructed by the Gospel, charity is everything because, as Saint John teaches (cf. 1 Jn 4:8, 16) and as I recalled in my first Encyclical Letter, “God is love” (Deus Caritas Est): everything has its origin in God's love, everything is shaped by it, everything is directed towards it. Love is God's greatest gift to humanity, it is his promise and our hope.

"The Church Herself Begins"

"The Church Herself Begins"

HOMILY OF THE MOST REVEREND TIMOTHY M. DOLAN
TENTH ARCHBISHOP OF NEW YORK
MASS OF INSTALLATION
ST PATRICK'S CATHEDRAL
NEW YORK
15 APRIL 2009

"The Resurrection, Easter, is the very foundation of our faith, our hope, our love. Everything in the Church commences when, like those two disciples on the road to Emmaus that first Easter, we recognize Jesus as risen from the dead. The Church herself begins."

Read the full text of the homily here.

Divine Mercy Sunday, April 19

[Source: EWTN]

In a decree dated 23 May 2000, the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments stated that "throughout the world the Second Sunday of Easter will receive the name Divine Mercy Sunday, a perennial invitation to the Christian world to face, with confidence in divine benevolence, the difficulties and trials that mankind will experience in the years to come."

Learn more about Divine Mercy Sunday.

Blessed Rosalie

Blessed Rosalie Rendu was born at Confort, France on September 9, 1786. She entered the Daughters of Charity on May 25, 1802, just after the Community was reestablished in France following the French Revolution. Her zeal for the poor drove her to establish the means to educate poor children, to care for infants, to support the elderly unable to care for themselves, and to supervise young working girls. One of her disciples in her mission of service was Frederic Ozanam, founder of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul. After fifty years of dedicated service to the poor in the Mouffetard district in Paris, she died on February 7, 1856. Pope John Paul II beatified Sr. Rosalie in 2003.

(for more information, click the picture)

In an era troubled by social conflicts, Rosalie Rendu joyfully became a servant to the poorest, restoring dignity to each one by means of material help, education and the teaching of the Christian mystery, inducing Frédéric Ozanam to place himself at the service of the poor. Her charity was inventive. Where did she draw the strength to carry out so many things? From her intense prayer life and the continuous praying of the Rosary, which she never abandoned. Her secret was simple: to see the face of Christ in every man and woman, as a true daughter of Saint Vincent de Paul and like another Sister of her epoch, Saint Catherine Labouré. Let us give thanks for the witness of charity that the Vincentian family gives unceasingly to the world!

- Pope John Paul II at the beatification of Blessed Rosalie

Conferences do not forget the one who undoubtedly can be called our first Spiritual

Adviser: the Blessed Rosalie Rendu, who knew how to stand by our young founders in the beginning, with her advice and her example, afterwards letting them walk on their own, in response to their lay vocation. She always remained at their disposal for everything they could need from her. She was an example of a mother who dreamed of the formal and responsible independence of those children who sought her help in the first moments of their journey.

--Excerpt from Comment to Rule 4.3 The Vincentian Family

Papal Blessing on Conferences

THE SECRETARIAT OF STATE

Vatican. 12th November 2008

Sr. José Ramón DÍAZ- TORREMOCHA

Président Général

Société de Saint- Vincent de Paúl

PARIS

Dear President General

On the occasion of the CLXXV Anniversary of the Foundation of the Society of St Vincent de Paul, the Holy Father wishes to spiritually join the action of thanksgiving of this happy commemoration and at the same time to set forward an invitation to passionately renew the commitment of service to the Church in the unselfish love to the most needed brothers and sisters.

Since its birth in Paris in 1833, the Society of St Vincent de Paul with its local Conferences has wonderfully spread throughout the world, always answering the specific needs of poverty and instability, not “with words or tongue, but with actions in truth”, (1 John 3, 18). The pressing impetus of Christian charity, that is already present in the birth of this Society as is maintained as its authentic reason of being, should continue to be a true reflection of the love that God has for each one of His children and is a sure means of continuingly experimenting His merciful presence, as “everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God” (1 John 4, 7).

With the awareness of being living instruments of the Lord, bearers of the Gospel of charity, the members of the Conferences have to always look for the possibility to renew these deep meanings of faith, those that move Christians to perfect acts of charity, and continue to take Jesus Christ as a model of the Good Samaritan, therefore never allowing the acts of charity set forth so eloquently by the first members of this Society to flag; an experience that has always been present within your distinguished tradition.

In today’s world, people that suffer any kind of poverty, whether it is through new or traditional forms of destitution, continue to require the consolation of charity. Unselfish love towards thy neighbor, with sensitiveness developed from a deep spiritual life, will increase the necessary creativity and enough bravery in order to cure the wounds of those that most suffer. Charity, therefore, can not only be limited to material aid, but also goes beyond this and offers support and peace for the spiritual difficulties of humankind. Following the trail of the founder, the Blessed Frederic Ozanam, this anniversary will give new enthusiasm so that faith will neither be separated from action nor from the charity work of the brave and clear apostolate, as “They realize that a pure and generous love is the best witness to the God in whom we believe and by whom we are driven to love. A Christian knows when it is time to speak of God and when it is better to say nothing and to let love alone speak.” (Deus caritas est 31 c).

With these sentiments, the Holy Father invoking the intercession of St Vincent de Paul and the Blessed Frederic Ozanam, conveys a special Apostolic Blessing to all members of different local Conferences of the Society of St Vincent de Paul throughout the world.

I would also like to use this opportunity to manifest the testimony of my consideration and esteem in Christ.

Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone

Secretary of State of His Holiness

The True Gift

From the Vincentian Rule:

1.12 Gratitude to those we visit
Vincentians never forget the many blessings they receive from those they visit. They recognise that the fruit of their labours springs, not from themselves, but especially from God and from the poor they serve.

Commentary.-Many Conferences, at the end of their meetings, thank God for the good they receive from those who suffer. It is a great truth that, in our contact with the poor, we receive much more than we can bring them with our poor donations. Only the Lord's help, only His assistance obtained through deep prayer, individual and communal, can make us useful to those we try to serve. "Many times, the member gains more benefit himself from what he hears than is produced by what he says" (F.Lallier, circular to the Conferences, August 1837)

Reflection for Pentecost

May the Holy Spirit,

The Spirit of Pentecost,

Help you to clarify what is ambiguous

To give warmth to what is indifferent,

To enlighten what is obscure,

To be before the world true and

Generous witnesses of Christ’s love,

For “no one can live without love.”

Amen.

--from prayers of Pope John Paul the Great

Faith and Acts

Vicomte D’Hendecourt, former President-General of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, Circular Letter of December 12, 1915:

“The Society has two aims: to do a great deal of spiritual good to its members through the exercise of charity, and to do a little spiritual and temporal good to a few poor families in the name of Jesus Christ. If it did not continually seek to combine these two aims, it would lose its reason for being. If it were to seek only the holiness of its members through pious exercises, there is no lack of Confraternities and Third Orders to meet that need. If, on the other hand, it were to seek only the relief of the temporal miseries of the poor, it would only add one more to the list of public and private institutions founded for that purpose.”