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May the grace and peace of Christ be with you. Greetings from St. John’s University.
On the evening of October 18, I celebrated the student Mass here at St. John’s, which was followed by a St. Vincent de Paul Society dinner and a formation session led by Fr. Aidan Rooney, CM. It was truly encouraging to see so many young people gather for the Eucharist and then remain to discuss putting their faith into practice in the tradition of Frédéric Ozanam.
I spent the afternoon and evening of October 19 at the Miraculous Medal House with our three confreres and 10 seminarians, including three men from the Province of Vietnam. The house has a great spirit of prayer and community. After celebrating the Eucharist and sharing dinner, we had a conversation where the men shared what led them to choose the Vincentians. Among their reflections, they spoke about our mission to the marginalized and their desire to live and serve in community. Several highlighted specific Vincentians who served as role models, while others noted the impact of receiving a direct invitation to consider a vocation in the Congregation.
The reflections of these young men reminds the Vincentians of the Eastern Province of our commitment found in our Provincial Guiding Statement. This is a piece, which helps us orient our intentional efforts to live more fully our synodal identity as a Congregation, experiencing a deep, prayerful listening to the Holy Spirit, one another, and the poor. The third point states, "the urgency to continue to serve and live out our mission of integral evangelization moves us to seek out, invite, and form new brothers and priests for the mission amongst the marginalized. We accept this responsibility, affirming the importance of this sacred task being undertaken by all confreres of the province and our collaborators in the Vincentian charism.”
We pray and encourage everyone to recognize potential priests and brothers. And, may we all have the courage to directly invite them to join in the mission.
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