There was a wedding at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. Jesus and his disciples were also invited to the wedding. When the wine ran short, the mother of Jesus said to him, "They have no wine." And Jesus said to her, "Woman, how does your concern affect me? My hour has not yet come." His mother said to the servers, "Do whatever he tells you."...When the headwaiter tasted the water that had become wine, without knowing where it came from, said to the bridegroom, "Everyone serves the good wine first, and then when people have drunk freely, an inferior one; but you have kept the good win until now." Jesus did this as the beginning of his signs at Cana in Galilee and so revealed his glory, and his disciples began to believe in him.
Reflection:
We identify with Mary's sensitivity in noticing that the wine was running short and Jesus'sensitivity in keeping the miracle quiet. The purpose of the miracle, then, wasn't to save the wedding couple's day or to draw attention to Jesus. The purpose runs deeper: the sign revealed Jesus' glory. The wedding feast as an opportunity for epiphany and belief. The epiphany (manifestations and revelations) of Jesus' glory is a sign of the persistence of God's overtures of love to us-God reveals glory to us in many ways to make sure we catch it-and the depths of God's love, so much so that we are espoused to God. Belief entails a Who rather than a what. Our own encounters with Jesus in prayer, through others, in struggling with daily living, are truly epiphanies of God's glory which also invites us to respond to divine Presence with belief. (Living Liturgy, p.42)
Vincentian Meditation:
Epiphany signs might come in many ways-through others in a cry for help, in a lonely person's plea for companionship, in the spontaneous laughter of delight, in the beauty of nature, in the love of family and friends. The challenge to us is to see these as revelations of God's glory, as epiphanies of God's love for us, and an opportunity to respond in belief. Yes, these common, ordinary signs of God's love are all around us. By responding to other persons, recognizing them as revelations of God to us, we ourselves also become signs of God's in-breaking, epiphanies for others.
Discussion: (Share your thoughts after a moment of silence)
What "Epiphanies of God's love" have happened in your life?
Closing Prayer:
Lord, thank you for all of the "Epiphanies of your Love" in our lives,
-May we find you in all of the common, ordinary signs all around us.
Lord, thank you for our call to be Vincentians,
-May we be the "Epiphany of your love" to those who are suffering.
Lord, thank you for our family and our friends,
-May we share together your hope and love, your laughter and joy. Amen.
Please go to http://www.svdpsa.org/Pages/Members/main.asp to check the status of whether or not your Conference has submitted their annual report or not. All Annual Report forms are located on the same page as well.
*If your Conference can host one of the training sessions, please contact either Mary Esther Jockers at jemmie57@sbcglobal.net or B.J. Polk at jrragman@aol.com.
INDIVIDUALS WHO WANT TO ATTEND CLASSES MUST RSVP (THOSE WANTING TO ATTEND MUST RESERVE A SPACE). THIS IS AN ABSOLUTE MUST FOR CLASSES THAT REQUIRE LUNCH AND THOSE WITH HANDOUTS AND BOOKLETS.
Classes will be CANCELLED
if no one hosts or RSVPs for the classes.
We are so excited to share with you that a representative from Texas Rio Grande Legal Aide will be presenting important information on "Understanding the eviction process", and "Steps that lead up to the eviction". The presentation is available to ALL conference's Presidents and/or designated individual(s); with hopes of educating our volunteers, and Brothers and Sisters. The presenter will cover information on the following:
Eviction Process
Required Notices
Court Case Filing
Appeal Time
RIT of Possession
Lock Out Rights
Tenant Rights
What a landlord can and cannot due
**Alternate Date will be February 18, 2016 - Everyone will be notified when a location has been set.
St. Ann's Annual Homeless Friends Holiday Dinner!
On December 19, 2015, St Ann's Conference held their Annual Homeless Friends Holiday Dinner.
This year, we were blessed with the attendance of 28 hungry and welcome Friends.
Everyone was treated to a full turkey dinner complete with all the trimmings, dessert and a drink.
It was a complete success with the assistance of St Ann's Youth Group and a group of SAC students. You can see Virginia Villarreal, President giving them background of working with homeless and explaining our Ministry.
Before the meal everyone prayed together (homeless, Vincentians, Youth Group, SAC Group) and gave thanks for the delicious meal they were about to receive. A member of St Ann's Youth Group led the prayer.
St. Ann's would like to give a special thanks to Father Victor, Pastor of St Ann's, for the use of the Community Center, as well as St Ann's Youth Group and SAC Youth who provided decorations and Christmas cards for every guest.
The event was truly a wonderful experience for all of those involved and was much appreciated by the homeless Brothers and Sisters who enjoyed a fantastic holiday meal!
St. Joseph Honey Creek
Eagle Scout Project
Jamie Gonzales was kind enough to choose St. Joseph Honey Creek as the recipient of a shoe drive that he held in order to receive his Eagle Scout. Jamie and his family are parishioners at St. Joseph Honey Creek. Please read below to see why Jamie chose SVDP as the recipient of his shoe drive.
"I've been a scout since 1st grade and since then have participated in many service projects. My family, too, has been a tremendous example for me, for instance, I can remember as a young child accompanying my parents to numerous service and volunteer events like Feeding the Homeless under the Nolan Street Bridge downtown, Knights of Columbus events, and watching them and my siblings during their Eagle Scout and Girl Scout Bronze, Silver, and Gold Award projects.
My father often uses the term "servant-leaderership" and I am hopeful and prayerful that I am finally beginning to understand this concept. It is a long-held principle of many faith traditions, including our own, highlighted, for example in the Gospel of Mark..."For even the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve..." Mark 45. It doesn't escape me that I am incredibly blessed and that I, and all of us, really, are blessed exponentially more than we deserve.
So it is because of this, at least in part, that I wanted to undertake this project. My father told me about a young man at the University of the Incarnate Word, where he is a professor, who undertook a similar project a few years ago and that is what gave me the initial idea for this project. I also really like shoes, especially basketball shoes, and it is sad to imagine not having shoes, among the most basic of items needed for comfort and survival.
Another thing that my father often talks about is how one never really knows what an impact our actions can have on others. Even small, seemingly insignificant things can touch someone in deep ways and can really make a tangible difference. So it's my hope that whomever ends up benefiting from this project understands that they matter, that someone cares about them, and that they are of value and truly children of God, as we all are."
We offer Job Placement and Case Management Assistance for all students!
3 Locations in San Antonio
For more information please contact Felecia DeBravo directly at 210-924-8581 ext. 5215
SAINTS OF THE WEEK
Friday, January 8 - St. Angela of Foligno
Some saints show marks of holiness very early. Not Angela! Born of a leading family in Foligno, Italy, she became immersed in the quest for wealth and social position. As a wife and mother, she continued this life of distraction.
Around the age of 40 she recognized the emptiness of her life and sought God's help in the Sacrament of Penance. Her Franciscan confessor helped Angela to seek God's pardon for her previous life and to dedicate herself to prayer and the works of charity.
Shortly after her conversion, her husband and children died. Selling most of her possessions, she entered the Secular Franciscan Order. She was alternately absorbed by meditating on the crucified Christ and by serving the poor of Foligno as a nurse and beggar for their needs. Other women joined her in a religious community.
At her confessor's advice, Angela wrote her Book of Visions and Instructions. In it she recalls some of the temptations she suffered after her conversion; she also expresses her thanks to God for the Incarnation of Jesus. This book and her life earned for Angela the title "Teacher of Theologians." She was beatified in 1693, and canonized in 2013.
Saturday, January 9 - St. Adrian of Canterbury
Though St. Adrian turned down a papal request to become Archbishop of Canterbury, England, Pope St. Vitalian accepted the rejection on the condition that Adrian serve as the Holy Father's assistant and adviser. Adrian accepted, but ended up spending most of his life and doing most of his work in Canterbury.
Born in Africa, Adrian was serving as an abbot in Italy when the new Archbishop of Canterbury appointed him abbot of the monastery of Sts. Peter and Paul in Canterbury. Thanks to his leadership skills, the facility became one of the most important centers of learning. The school attracted many outstanding scholars from far and wide and produced numerous future bishops and archbishops. Students reportedly learned Greek and Latin and spoke Latin as well as their own native languages.
Adrian taught at the school for 40 years. He died there, probably in the year 710, and was buried in the monastery. Several hundred years later, when reconstruction was being done, Adrian's body was discovered in an incorrupt state. As word spread, people flocked to his tomb, which became famous for miracles. Rumor had it that young schoolboys in trouble with their masters made regular visits there.
Sunday,January 10 - St. Gregory of Nyssa
The son of two saints, Basil and Emmilia, young Gregory was raised by his older brother, St. Basil the Great, and his sister, Macrina, in modern-day Turkey. Gregory's success in his studies suggested great things were ahead for him. After becoming a professor of rhetoric, he was persuaded to devote his learning and efforts to the Church. By then married, Gregory went on to study for the priesthood and become ordained (this at a time when celibacy was not a matter of law for priests).
He was elected Bishop of Nyssa (in Lower Armenia) in 372, a period of great tension over the Arian heresy, which denied the divinity of Christ. Briefly arrested after being falsely accused of embezzling Church funds, Gregory was restored to his see in 378, an act met with great joy by his people.
It was after the death of his beloved brother, Basil, that Gregory really came into his own. He wrote with great effectiveness against Arianism and other questionable doctrines, gaining a reputation as a defender of orthodoxy. He was sent on missions to counter other heresies and held a position of prominence at the Council of Constantinople. His fine reputation stayed with him for the remainder of his life, but over the centuries it gradually declined as the authorship of his writings became less and less certain. But, thanks to the work of scholars in the 20th century, his stature is once again appreciated. Indeed, St. Gregory of Nyssa is seen not simply as a pillar of orthodoxy but as one of the great contributors to the mystical tradition in Christian spirituality and to monasticism itself.
Monday, January 11 - Blessed William Carter
Born in London, William Carter entered the printing business at an early age. For many years he served as apprentice to well-known Catholic printers, one of whom served a prison sentence for persisting in the Catholic faith. William himself served time in prison following his arrest for "printing lewd [i.e., Catholic] pamphlets" as well as possessing books upholding Catholicism.
But even more, he offended public officials by publishing works that aimed to keep Catholics firm in their faith. Officials who searched his house found various vestments and suspect books, and even managed to extract information from William's distraught wife. Over the next 18 months William remained in prison, suffering torture and learning of his wife's death.
He was eventually charged with printing and publishing the Treatise of Schisme, which allegedly incited violence by Catholics and which was said to have been written by a traitor and addressed to traitors. While William calmly placed his trust in God, the jury met for only 15 minutes before reaching a verdict of "guilty." William, who made his final confession to a priest who was being tried alongside him, was hanged, drawn and quartered the following day: January 11, 1584.
He was beatified in 1987.
Tuesday, January 12 - St. Marguerite Bourgeoys
"God closes a door and then opens a window," people sometimes say when dealing with their own disappointment or someone else's. That was certainly true in Marguerite's case. Children from European as well as Native American backgrounds in seventeenth-century Canada benefited from her great zeal and unshakable trust in God's providence.
Born the sixth of 12 children in Troyes, France, Marguerite at the age of 20 believed that she was called to religious life. Her applications to the Carmelites and Poor Clares were unsuccessful. A priest friend suggested that perhaps God had other plans for her.
In 1654, the governor of the French settlement in Canada visited his sister, an Augustinian canoness in Troyes. Marguerite belonged to a sodality connected to that convent. The governor invited her to come to Canada and start a school in Ville-Marie (eventually the city of Montreal). When she arrived, the colony numbered 200 people with a hospital and a Jesuit mission chapel.
Soon after starting a school, she realized her need for coworkers. Returning to Troyes, she recruited a friend, Catherine Crolo, and two other young women. In 1667 they added classes at their school for Indian children. A second trip to France three years later resulted in six more young women and a letter from King Louis XIV, authorizing the school. The Congregation of Notre Dame was established in 1676 but its members did not make formal religious profession until 1698 when their Rule and constitutions were approved.
Marguerite established a school for Indian girls in Montreal. At the age of 69, she walked from Montreal to Quebec in response to the bishop's request to establish a community of her sisters in that city. By the time she died, she was referred to as the "Mother of the Colony." Marguerite was canonized in 1982.
Wednesday, January 13 - St. Hilary
This staunch defender of the divinity of Christ was a gentle and courteous man, devoted to writing some of the greatest theology on the Trinity, and was like his Master in being labeled a "disturber of the peace." In a very troubled period in the Church, his holiness was lived out in both scholarship and controversy. He was bishop of Poitiers in France.
Raised a pagan, he was converted to Christianity when he met his God of nature in the Scriptures. His wife was still living when he was chosen, against his will, to be the bishop of Poitiers in France. He was soon taken up with battling what became the scourge of the fourth century, Arianism, which denied the divinity of Christ.
The heresy spread rapidly. St. Jerome said "The world groaned and marveled to find that it was Arian." When Emperor Constantius ordered all the bishops of the West to sign a condemnation of Athanasius, the great defender of the faith in the East, Hilary refused and was banished from France to far off Phrygia (in modern-day Turkey). Eventually he was called the "Athanasius of the West." While writing in exile, he was invited by some semi-Arians (hoping for reconciliation) to a council the emperor called to counteract the Council of Nicea. But Hilary predictably defended the Church, and when he sought public debate with the heretical bishop who had exiled him, the Arians, dreading the meeting and its outcome, pleaded with the emperor to send this troublemaker back home. Hilary was welcomed by his people.
Thursday, January 14 - St. Gregory Nazianzen
After his baptism at 30, Gregory gladly accepted his friend Basil's invitation to join him in a newly founded monastery. The solitude was broken when Gregory's father, a bishop, needed help in his diocese and estate. It seems that Gregory was ordained a priest practically by force, and only reluctantly accepted the responsibility. He skillfully avoided a schism that threatened when his own father made compromises with Arianism. At 41, Gregory was chosen suffragan bishop of Caesarea and at once came into conflict with Valens, the emperor, who supported the Arians. An unfortunate by-product of the battle was the cooling of the friendship of two saints. Basil, his archbishop, sent him to a miserable and unhealthy town on the border of unjustly created divisions in his diocese. Basil reproached Gregory for not going to his see.
When protection for Arianism ended with the death of Valens, Gregory was called to rebuild the faith in the great see of Constantinople, which had been under Arian teachers for three decades. Retiring and sensitive, he dreaded being drawn into the whirlpool of corruption and violence. He first stayed at a friend's home, which became the only orthodox church in the city. In such surroundings, he began giving the great sermons on the Trinity for which he is famous. In time, Gregory did rebuild the faith in the city, but at the cost of great suffering, slander, insults and even personal violence. An interloper even tried to take over his bishopric.
His last days were spent in solitude and austerity. He wrote religious poetry, some of it autobiographical, of great depth and beauty. He was acclaimed simply as "the Theologian."
Does your Conference have any news, events, or any other information that you would like to share in the Friday Five? **Please note, that events can be advertised if they ONLY support the SVDP Conference. Any events that are put on by a parish can no longer be advertised.**
If so, please email Rachel Esposito at rachel.esposito@svdpsa.org to be include in the next edition of the Friday Five! All information must be submitted by 3:00 pm on Wednesday. Thank you.
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Thanks to all who prayed for one of our Vincentian's spouse, Adan Polanco, from St. Stanislaus Parish. Praise God the family received wonderful news last week and he is now cancer free. Praise the Lord and thanks to all for your prayers.
Please continue praying for Yolanda and Ramiro Ramirez, Angela Angel and Gloria de Luna, all from St. Ann's Conference who are experiencing health issues.
