From Our Founders and Friends

Late summer brings celebrations of Mary’s Assumption (Aug. 15) and Elizabeth Ann Seton’s birthday (Aug. 28). Labor Day signals the informal end of summer; students go off to college, teachers prepare to return to school. Ordinary Time takes on a different rhythm.

From centuries ago, the words of our founders still resound, full of wisdom and insight for today. During these summer days, Saints Elizabeth Ann Seton, Vincent de Paul, and Louise de Marillac invite us to open ourselves to the Spirit’s life in us and around us.

ST. ELIZABETH ANN SETON

Keep your heart high with mine. Our God will turn all right for us, if only you will be faithful to him.
Every day of life more and more increases my gratitude to God for having made me what I am.
All nature speaks to us of heaven — the delights of the morning — a flower of the field.

ST. VINCENT DE PAUL

Honor God’s holy Providence in your conduct by not hurrying or bustling about.
Beg the Lord to bind your hearts together into one, which will be his own, and to strengthen you in your work.

St. LOUISE DE MARILLAC

Do not be upset if things are not as you would want them to be for a long time to come.
Do the little you can very peacefully and calmly so as to allow room for the guidance of God in your lives. Do not worry about the rest.

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Charity Wisdom from Our Friends

Hold your eyes on God and leave the doing to him. That is all the doing you have to worry about.
(St. Jane Francis de Chantal, contemporary of Sts. Vincent de Paul & Louise de Marillac)

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We are well aware that the ordinary, the humdrum, the sometimes dull and boring times, can call us back to focus on the very warp and woof of life. Who am I? What is God inviting me to? How can my life of love serve others and help prepare me for eternity?….The active hope of our hearts reminds us that the day to day, the one moment at a time, is where we often experience our most meaningful encounter with Christ….Ordinary Time invites us to retrace the unswerving contours of discipleship in our past lives, as well as the deep furrows of our evolving path of discipleship….The heart of the matter is always, “How can my life of love serve others in new and untried ways? (Leadership Team, July 2016 letter)

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The Holy Spirit grants us the courage to proclaim the gospel with boldness – Jesus wants us to proclaim the good news not only with words but above all by a life transfigured by God’s presence. (Pope Francis)

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Responding to violence with violence resolves nothing; it only escalates violence, anger and hatred. It is only with compassion that we can embrace and disintegrate violence. (Thich Nhat Hanh)

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In the midst of suffering, the Spirit appears as resistance rising above all hatred, hoping against all hope; the Spirit is that little flicker of fire burning on the bottom of the woodpile; rubbish is piled on, rain puts out the flame, wind blows the smoke away, but underneath everything a brand still burns on, unquenchable – the Spirit sustains the feeble breath of hope in the midst of the empire of death. (Leonardo Boff)

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