Young Vincentians

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

May grace and peace of Our Lord Jesus Christ fill our hearts now and forever!

 I take this opportunity to address you, the Vincentian Family, with much gratitude for all we have experienced together recently. For us the month of August was filled with many blessings and we are thankful to God, the Virgin Mary and our Vincentian Saints.  And, of course, very grateful to you, young people from the different branches of the Vincentian family, sisters and confreres advisers who were involved in the organization of our EJV.

Thanks to everyone, who with the spirit of their prayers, brought life to us, especially in our Eucharistic celebrations.  It is at Mass, in particular, where we can reflect on our particular charism.  I saw in the bright and joyful faces of young people forming, like a puzzle, the face of San Vincent.  We felt proud to be part of such a healthy  Vincentian charism, so important for the world and the church today. It was the same, at the Eucharist honoring the Virgin Mary in the Basilica of the Miraculous Medal, as we understood the gift we have received as a Vincentian family, and the call to give this gift to others, especially young people, leading them to Mary, our Mother and sending them as disciples and missionaries.

Thanks for all the creative activities: workshops, catechesis, and shared experiences of Vincentian service. I was happy to see and experience with these young people their joy and hope, their enthusiasm and commitment.  It really has been a great experience: encouraging, rewarding and above all one that challenges us to continue on our mission to be good news for the poor.

 Thanks for being part of this family, thanks to each branch of the family for sharing their particular gifts so that together we are a transforming force in society that will generate life where most needed.

I invite you to reap the fruits of this meeting, so we can live our Vincentian identity, so necessary in today’s world.  May the poor have life through the each branch and country where we live our spirituality.  Because we bring with us the Word of God, we bring life in abundance!

 God bless you!

 Your brother in San Vincent,

G. Gregory Gay, CM

Superior General

Called, gathered and sent. These are the three characteristics that have in common all the consecrated persons who have shared yesterday their time with the youth. The Sports Palace of Madrid hosted the festival of  The Consecrated Life where religious men and women told the pilgrims what their vocation has made for them, through music and various testimonies. The spanish conference, through its area of ​​Youth and Vocation Ministry, has organized this festival under the title ” Come + Go” which has showen that religious life is full of vitality, charisma and plurality.

“What are you looking for?” said Royón Elias, president of the Conference as the key question to understand the trigger of vocations and invited young people to arise. With this question, the night started, a question that its answers was first found in the different testimonies then later through the music. Silvia Blanco, one of the nuns who intervened reminded the youth that “everyone has a call on this earth, we only have to listen and figure out what is it.” Also the singers who performed on stage Álvaro Fraile and Father Jony witnessed, as Sister Glenda, and shared how they can evangelize through their music.

The Vincentian Family was also present during this festival, and the testimony of one of the Daughters of Charity could not be heard by mistake. In small groups, the Vincentians joined together and sang songs from the stage of The Sports Palace. It was  clear how the religious man and woman was gathered with the youth, moving by the same rhythm and shaking by the same faith.

Music, a virtual visit to the Holy Family of Barcelona, spontaneous songs, lots of confessionals and naps on the ground… are just some of the scenes that happened yesterday in the park “El Retiro” of Madrid. To shelter from the heat, many pilgrims decided to walk through the Vocations Fair. It ends next Friday, and where you can find more than seventy religious orders and lay providing information about their charisma.

According to the organization of the WYD, the objective of this fair is to show the youth the diverse gifts and spirituality that are present in the Church. Grey, white and black cassocks mixed up with nun’s and sister’s habits that walked all over the park and between the numerous stands, full of posters, stamps, brochures and promotional videos. It is really significant the presence of lay associations because it shows the wealth of the Church, not only in the variety of charismas but in the diversity of vocations.

 The Vincentian Family participates in this fair. Their two stands provide information about all their branches. Throughout the day, many of the Vincentian people visited the stand to greet and share with the ones that were there. Young people from the Marian Vincentian Youth were also present. Through their joyful dances and songs they demonstrated that feeling a vocation is a synonymous of feeling alive.

The Holy Day of Forgiveness is also one of the activities that “El Retiro” offers these days. It takes place in a private and silent area where you can find two hundred confessionals attended by priests in twenty different languages. The calmness and respectful atmosphere really contrasted with the euphoria and excitement of the rest of the youth.

Clearly, the most characteristic picture of this day would be groups of people strolling or just sitting on the grass sharing experiences, singing or praying. This peaceful image was really overshadowed by an unfortunate demonstration against the Pope’s visit at Plaza del Sol. You can take a clear lesson from yesterday’s events: laying on the grass, eating ice-cream, and dancing rock music or singing…, it is not needed big paraphernalia to share Faith.

Before the Pope arrives in Madrid, pilgrims will be able to enjoy a broad offer of activities, such as cultural visits to temples and museums in the city, concerts, catechesis and even a vocational fair in the RetiroPark. From Thursday on, it will be the beginning of common celebrations. These celebrations consist of four special moments: Welcome Ceremony with Pope at Cibeles; Stations of the Cross, which will go from Colon Squareto Cibeles and where pilgrims will be able to visit the main baroque sculptures in Spain; Vigil with the Pope on Saturday night and the Closing Mass on Sunday 21^st at the Cuatro Vientos Airfield.

WYD is considered as a great opportunity to share the Vincentian charisma with the pilgrims and to get other gifts that build thisUniversalChurch. Besides, this is also an opportunity to show a real image of what it means to be Church, far away from prepared and exorbitant situations. Since we are Vincentians, with a “life style for today”, as we have discovered during our International Meeting, we have to be able to answer to the new poverties that we find along the way, feeling strong thanks to the Prayer and the Eucharist. As it was stated in the closing celebration, we are a family working together for a necessary charisma and we must impregnate with hope those who are at our side. The Vincentian Youth Meeting showed us a clear lesson: we are alive; we are life that must be shared.

Throughout these daysMadridhas become the epicentre of catholic faith. The Spanish capital city has always been a political, social, recreational and cultural reference point. Gastronomic routes, tens of cultural centres, theatres and places worth visiting are well enough known.

There is another alternative route that perhaps is not as known as the previous ones by most of the people. This alternative route goes all overMadridand its aim is the service to the poor. The Vincentian family has in the capital an important network of social and Vincentian works that shelter thousands of indigents, foreigners, refugees, children in the streets, old people…Apart from this, they also have hospitals in which the needy are sheltered.

Daughters of Charity, the Congregation of theMission, the Vincentian Marian Youth or the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul are some of the branches from the Vincentian Family that offer help and render a service during the whole year in the streets ofMadrid. For example, in the Young Centre JUMAVI San Enrique, children and young people from Estrecho neighbourhood can attend support classes in order to step up their education. In Santa Isabel Immigration Centre, Daughters of Charity receive during the weekends all those foreigners that register to get information.

On the other hand, in the Comprehensive Programme Vicente de Paúl, Daughters of Charity receive in Martínez Campos about 500 people, passers-by, immigrants, people and families with no means of support. In this dining room and day centre they can wash their clothes, have a shower, read, have a rest and, of course, have lunch. Not only does this centre deal with the daily necessities, but the Daughters of Charity have also created job vacancies and training courses that let people be educated at the same time as covering their basic requirements.

In the same way, the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul is heading the Santiago Masarrnau Care and Social Integration Centre, in which it is carried out a comprehensive attention service for homeless, from whom 85% are immigrants. All those who visit the centre receive a comprehensive help and education: social attention, wardrobe and dining room services, occupational workshops and career guidance.

As expected, the Congregation of the Missioncan also be found in the Vincentian net. One of their centres is the Club de la Tercera Edad (Elderly Club) and SAC in the Milagrosa parish church. In the club, the Pauls offer rooms for meetings, education and leisure activities for the elderly. The SAC is a supermarket that offers everything needed for these people’s daily life at a very low price, since it is the parish church that is responsible for the cost.

We have only mentioned some of the projects, but there are 17 different projects created by the Vincentian Family in Madrid: San Rafael Social Centre, San Francisco de Paula Old People’s home, San Isidro Refuge, San Carlos Clinic Hospital, Marillac Association Charitable Work, San Vicente de Paúl Comprehensive Programme, Casa de Belén, Lumbre’s project, Santa Isabel Immigration Centre, Santiago Masarrnau Care and Social Integration Centre, Nuestra Señora de Montserrat Old people’s home, Nuestra Señora del Amparo Shelter, Free Legal Service from the SSVP, JUMAVI-San Enrique Young Centre, Catalina Labouré Social Centre, Elderly Club and SAC inLa Milagrosaparish church and Parish Caritas in Cristo Salvador.

Without any doubt, this is a worthy visiting alternative route. All the members of the Vincentian Family who are attending the Vincentian Young Meeting and the WYD shouldn’t miss the chance and go all over it. At the same time, they should also invite the Faith brothers to visit them too.

Madrid, August 15^th 2011

The Vigil from last night shattered all kind of preconceptions. Who said the Church lives on empty rites? The one from last night was full of meaningful and unforgettable moments. Apart from the adoration of the Blessed Sacrament in the altar, we could enjoy the performance of the mime, who has been with us since last Saturday, sharing with us his process of openness to God and to the others. But there were many other moments of shared prayer and adoration, such as the performance in which some volunteers and pilgrims dressed up and played beautifully.

It was also unforgettable because of the stifling heat. Anyway, we could go deep into the Thanksgiving prayer to Mary and this prayer also continued throughout Monday morning.

The mass from today, Assumption Day, has been focused on the “Magnificat” of Mary, our Mother, the one who could keep a supernatural vision at all times of Jesus life, even during the hardest and most incomprehensible ones.

Catechesis after the Eucharist was lead by Father Astor Rodríguez, who revealed the happiness formula. Who said Coca-Cola was the owner of that formula? As any proper recipe, it needs some ingredients: you must find the sense of human pain, never lose faith in God, and feed hope by believing that everything can be changed.

Mary was an example of suffered and quiet happiness. This happiness was a synonym of Holiness, which she always displayed. As expected of any mother in the world, she was the most authentic fan of Jesus.

Madrid, August 14^th.

Free. That’s how all Vincentian pilgrims woke up today after getting rid of their masks. We have celebrated this freedom around the Sunday Eucharist in which have taken part all the linguistic groups. This unity turned the celebration into a melting pot full of spirituality and music. Enjoying the morning Sun and the heat of the Word, we have remembered we are a strong and united family, who lives on the alert and aware of our times. That is exactly what the topic day was reminding us, “rooted in Christ, after the example ofSaint Vincent”. Unemployment, hunger, loneliness, terrorism and immigration. These are some of the realities that our young people have been working throughout the morning in their own language catechesis groups. The most important topics that have been discussed during the catechesis spoke about the idea of considering what our role is and, above all, what is the model we should follow in order to put and end to all those realities. There was one idea that took priority over the rest as a proposal for all the Vincentians: “To reply with the fruits given by the love of God”. It sounds beautiful, but it sounded as something experienced for all those who gave their testimony. It sounded even louder in the hearts of those pilgrims who listened to it. Old people, the poor, children, immigrants or the sick are only some of the service options we can find. According to the testimony given by Patricia Camacho, “the more you live with them, the poor, the more you love our Lord”.

An experience of God, through the poor, that can also be found in the mission. As a part of our charisma, being able to give testimony and to approach the Word of God to other people is also considered a service. During one of the workshops today, they have been speaking about the shared mission. It’s been stressed the importance of living the mission from the community and of feeling sent by it. As it was pointed out, “when you share the mission, you can overcome all your obstacles”.

There’s not a better way to finish a day of work and reflection but with prayer. The Marian Vigil was the perfect culmination for a great day. It took place in the Basilica ofLa Milagrosa, which was absolutely crowded. All the pilgrims went there to pray with our Mother, who accompanied us. The prayer was shared by men and women from different languages.

The vigil was divided in three different moments. The night was increasing its intensity as we started to understand that we can always trust Mary, since she is an alive example of the Vincentian feelings. A telescope reflected the watchfulness needed while praying; the stars lit the night and Mary shined from the highest place to receive her sons in attitude of prayer.

What is your mask? Nowadays we live trapped by masks and concealments. When
finding them in his life, the Vincentian young faces a double challenge. On one hand,
he has to get rid of his own mask and his hindrances. On the other hand, one must
know how to give hope and life to all those situations by which he is surrounded.
Throughout the day, our family has prayed, has gone deep in the faith, has learnt and
has shared the meaning of “to be rather than to appear”. This has been a first step in
order to be an alive testimony.

It was an intense day in which reflection, forgiveness and the feeling of being member
of a huge family were always present. In the course of the Morning Prayer, pilgrims
received a mask that they had to wear during the entire day. Tourists and people from
Madrid looked in astonishment. However, that was the way the Vincentian youth had to
show that masks do really exist and that we all burden with them. These masks have
also been the main topic during the catechesis in different linguistic groups, in which
they have received several names such as globalization, attack on life or respect of
the human rights. These are the realities where the Vincentian young must give his
testimony and be spring of life, not only theoretically but also in practice.

It is necessary to break with all those things that don’t let us be real Vincentians. The
superior general, F. Gregory Gay, urged us to be radical in his opening speech. “Never
in the world had this mission been as necessary as now. We live in a world with
uncountable and huge poverty machines. Do the poor live with dignity? Are there poor
in the Earth? Those poor need the Good News from the kingdom of Jesus Christ in the
broadest sense of the term. This, brothers, is our Mission as a Family. Therefore, being
Vincentian is an identity that urges in the world”.

It is quite clear, as clear as or even clearer than the necessity of forgiveness and of
getting closer to the poorer. Yesterday afternoon we lived the Penitential Celebration,
where we could break those masks that bothered us so much along the day. Youth
could go to confession and eradicate those miseries that overwhelm them in their daily
life.

Before that, all the participants of the Vincentian Youth Meeting could visit some of the
Vincentian projects the family has in Madrid: the Immigrant Attention Centre from Santa
Isabel or the Daughters of Charity social dining room. Divided in linguistic groups,
they had time to participate in several workshops in which they could complete their
formation. They could go deep into the systemic change or Church public presence in
our society, which are topics really in vogue nowadays.

Night ended with a perfect idea to relax: an international party full of folklore that,
without any doubt, united even more this Vincentian family, who works to spread the
Kingdom.

Madrid, August 13^th

“To be rather than to appear”. This has been the motto used at the beginning of the Youth Vincentian Meeting, which has called together almost 1,500 members of the Vincentian family inMadrid.

The starting signal took place with the welcoming prayer celebrated in the BasilicaLa Milagrosawith a global participation in which Spaniards, French, Germans, Italians, Brazilians, Argentineans, Portuguese and almost fifty more countries got together to proclaim their faith in Christ as the centre of their lives and to express the importance of experiencing the Vincentian charisma.

The General Father of the Congregation of theMission, Gregory Gay, was in charge of the opening of the meeting with a speech through which urged youth to have a clear commitment to the service to poverty. “Never in the world had this mission been as necessary as now. We live in world with uncountable and huge poverty machines. Do the poor live with dignity? Are there poor in the Earth? Those poor need the Good News from thekingdomofJesus Christin the broadest sense of the term. This, brothers, is ourMissionas a Family. Therefore, being Vincentian is an identity that urges in the world”.

Those categorical words made a deep impression on us. The community prayer continued with lively songs and after that, we could live the moment in which appeared the motto that was going to be with us during this day: “To be rather than to appear”. Through a performance, young people could discover little by little that in life we cannot be two-faced; we must have only one personality and assume our mistakes. “Do we let God guide our lives?”, with that question in mind and surrounded by the performance of a group of mimes with white painted faces, everybody had to look at a mask they had just received and which should be placed in the back of their heads the whole day. The aim? That mask symbolizes different faces we can show in our lives.

This uncomfortable burden will make us think whether we are transparent or not, if we behave in a different way depending on the place we are or what kind of image from us we show to the others. The challenge is clear, our image cannot be multiplied, and neither can our Vincentian vocation.