Praying with the Vincentian Family …
One with the Universal Church, called together by our love for the mission and as Vincentians, we unite in prayer with the saints of our Family. Following their example, we are daily invited to give our life for our brothers, especially the poor and the needy.
O Savior of the world,
to you it was sheer joy
to fulfill the will of your Father.
We are your children,
we throw ourselves into your arms now,
for we want to do what you have done.
Please, give us that grace!
Because we can never do it by ourselves.
We are asking for your help now.
We hope for it in confidence
in our burning desire to do your will.
O Lord, if it please you,
grant us your Spirit,
so that we will make ourselves
ever more pleasing to you.
(XII, 164-65, Praying in St. Vincent’s Spirit. Published in 1990 by St. Thomas Seminary, Denver CO)
PRAYER OF THE VINCENTIAN FAMILY
Lord Jesus, you who willed to become poor,
give us eyes and a heart directed toward the poor;
help us to recognize you in them –
in their thirst, their hunger, their loneliness and their misfortune.
Enkindle within our Vincentian Family
unity, simplicity, humility, and the fire of love
that burned in St. Vincent de Paul.
Strengthen us, so that, faithful to the practice of these virtues,
we may contemplate you and serve you in the person of the poor,
and we may one day be united with you and them in your Kingdom.
Amen.
PRAYING WITH ST. VINCENT AND ST. LOUISE
O God eternal, who filled Saints Vincent and Louise, listen to our prayer. Give us your love. By their example, lead us to discover and serve Jesus Christ, your Son, in our brothers the poor.
At their school, teach us to love, to love with the sweat of our brows, to love with the strength of our arms, with humillity, simplicity and with charity.
By their prayers lead not our hearts to trust solely in our own strength or beat for our own selfish end but make us remember that we all one day will be judged according to our love.
Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
PRAYER TO ST. LOUISE DE
MARILLAC
God our
Father, the source and reward of love, through your Son who became man you gave
the new commandment of love to your Church. May we follow the example of St.
Louise; and by practicing your love on earth may we obtain the kingdom promised
to your people who are faithful.
We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son who lives and reigns with
you and the Holy Spirit, now and forever. Amen.
Whenever I go to the
chapel,
I put myself in the presence of our good Lord, and I say to him
"Lord, I am here. Tell me what you would have me do."
If he gives me some task, I am content and I thank him.
If he gives me
nothing, I still thank him
since I do not deserve to receive anything more than that.
And then, I tell God
everything that is in my heart.
I tell him about my pains and my joys,
and then I listen.
If you listen, God
will also speak to you,
for with the good Lord, you have to both speak and listen.
God always speaks to you when you approach him plainly and simply.
PRAYER OF THE MARIAN YOUTH MOVEMENT
Lord Jesus, we come to You with Mary Immaculate.
You, the friend of the insignificant and the poor, we praise You.
You regard each one of us with so much Love.
Teach us to LIVE TOGETHER with the dynamism of Your Spirit which commits us to the way of wonder, of truth and of action.
Grant us to LOOK AT others with the eyes of the heart, so as to recognize the wonders that You work in them and, in particular, in all those who are disadvantaged.
Help us to BUILD a fraternal world where no one may be put aside.
Make us act, not in a spirit of power or of domination, but humbly, in a spirit of service.
MISSIONARY PRAYER OF MISEVI
God, Father of goodness,
You who call each one of us by name,
help us to be faithful to the vocation received.
We want to be salt and light of the world,
always serving among the poor
with an affective and effective love.
We need your Son Jesus Christ
to preach your Word in the places we have been sent.
We want to be witnesses of the Kingdom,
living out the Beatitudes.
Send us the Holy Spirit so that, as Church,
we will live in communion and unity with others.
We, lay missionaries, want to welcome
the gift of community and renew ourselves
in the light of your Gospel.
May Mary, Queen of the Missions,
accompany and watch over the continuity
of our self-giving in the task entrusted
by Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
