Friday, October 20 : Saint Vincent de Paul

Never be obsessed about appearing to be superior or in control. I don’t share the opinion of someone who said to me a few days ago that, to keep a firm hold on one’s authority, one should let one’s superiority be seen. My God! Our Lord Jesus Christ never spoke like that! In both word and example he taught us quite the contrary, telling us that he himself had come not to be served but to serve and that whoever wishes to be first among you must become the slave of all (Mk 10,44-45)… For this reason, give yourself to God so that you can speak in the lowly spirit of Jesus Christ, confessing that your teaching is not your own, nor does it come from you, but is the Gospel’s. Above all, imitate the simple words and comparisons made by Our Lord in Holy Scripture when speaking to the people. Alas! What wonderful things might he not have taught the people! What secrets might he not have disclosed about the Divinity and its marvellous perfections, he who was his Father’s eternal Wisdom! But yet you see how he speaks intelligibly and makes use of familiar comparisons of laborer, vinedresser, field, vine, mustard seed. This is how you ought to speak if you would make yourself understood by the people to whom you are proclaiming the word of God. Something else to which you ought to give special attention is to rely heavily on the Son of God’s method of acting. In other words, when you have to do something you should ask yourself: “Does this conform to the sayings of the Son of God?” If you find that it does so, then say: “Let us do it when the opportunity arises”; but if not, say: “I’ll have nothing to do with it”. In addition, when there’s some question of carrying out a good work, say to the Son of God: “Lord, if you were in my place, what would you have done in this instance? How would you have taught this people? How would you have consoled this sick person in body or soul?”… Let us aim to make Jesus Christ reign in us.
maronite readings – rosary,team