September 27th -- Prayer reflection on feast of St. Vincent de Paul

SERVICE OF THE POOR and  PRAYER:

 

It is our duty to prefer the service of the poor to everything else and to offer such service as quickly as possible.  If a needy person requires medicine or other help during prayer time, do whatever has to be done with peace of mind.   Offer the deed to God as your prayer.   Do not become upset or feel guilty because you interrupted your prayer to serve the poor.   God is not neglected if you leave him for such service.  One of God's works is merely interrupted so that another can be carried out.  So when you leave prayer to serve some poor person, remember that this very service is performed for God.  Charity is certainly greater than any rule.  Moreover, all rules must lead to charity.  Since she is a noble mistress, we must do whatever she commands.  With renewed devotion, then, we must serve the poor, especially outcasts and beggars.  They have been given to us as our masters and patrons.

 

(from a writing by St. Vincent de Paul)

PRAYER REFLECTION FROM YOUR PRAYER FRATERNITY

(our statue of Mary is surrounded by crepe myrtle)

 

Every Man's Life is a Continual State of Prayer

 

 

Every man's life is a continual state of prayer; he is no moment free from it, nor can possibly be so.  For all our natural tempers, be they what they will, ambition, covetousness, selfishness, worldly-mindedness, pride, envy, hatred, malice or any other lust whatever, are all of them in reality only so many different kinds and forms of a spirit of prayer which is inseparable from the heart as weight is from the body.

 

For every natural temper is nothing else but a manifestation of the desire and prayer of the heart, and shows us how it works and wills.   And as the heart works and wills, such and no other is its prayer.

 

If, therefore, the working desire of the heart is not habitually turned towards God, if this is not our spirit of prayer, we are necessarily in a state of prayer towards something else that carries us from God and brings all kind of evil into us.  Pray we must, as sure as our heart is alive; and therefore when the state of our heart is not a spirit of prayer to God, we pray without ceasing to some or other part of the creation.

 

(written by William Law, an Anglican author from the 1700's in England)

POSTULANTS VISIT

ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST PROVINCE POSTULANTS VISIT

 

Our Prayer Fraternity welcomed the 6 new postulants (for the 2011-12 year) and their directors from the Province of St. John the Baptist headquartered in Cincinnati, OH.   They arrived on Sunday, the 18th of September, and were with us until Tuesday morning, the 20th.  They begin their year of formation with a two week trip around the province visiting a number of the friars and their ministries.  

 

We are grateful for their visit and we wish them blessings on their upcoming year of formation.