Daily Devotion 27th September 2018

Born in 1581 at Ranquine in Gascony, Vincent was educated by the Franciscans and was ordained at the age of nineteen. He was something of a token priest until his conversion in 1609, when he resolved to devote himself and all he owned to works of charity. He founded communities for men and, with Louise de Marillac, helped to begin the Sisters of Charity, the first community of women not to be enclosed and which was devoted to caring for the poor and sick. Vincent worked for the relief of galley slaves, victims of war, convicts and many other groups of needy people. He became a legend in his own lifetime and died on this day in the year 1660.
Reflection
There’s a saying about being so heavenly minded that you’re no earthly use – but that isn’t a charge that can be leveled at St Vincent de Paul. Like so many of us, he rather paid lip service to his faith – until God got hold of him (and that was after his ordination – which, in his time, was a career move for younger sons, rather than a calling in and of itself) and God set him to work. So much so, that his name remains known today as a charitable institution, still doing good work, at least here in the north west of England. In our passage today, set after the return from the Exile, things were not going so well for the folk who had returned – the people who had been left behind when they were taken to Babylon did not welcome them back with open arms! They had had a tough time while they had been away, and now they had a new bunch of “lords and masters” who were not treating them too well….Meanwhile, the “returnees” got even more “religious” – because things were not working out in the way they had anticipated. This passage represents God’s response to an increasingly divided society – who were, at the end of the day, one people: God’s people.

Is any of this beginning to sound just a tiny bit familiar? It should do – because God is still calling His people out from behind their stained glass windows into the world to care for the people He loves, to create a society where none are homeless, none go hungry, and none go naked:. A society where all are treated with the dignity that humanity bestows upon them, and hurts are healed. 
Thank you for calling St Vincent de Paul,
despite his failings
for we know that you could use us.
Give grace that we never hide
behind our rituals, our doors
and fail to see what lies before us:
grant kindness  –
compassion for all who suffer,
a willingness to set aside our agenda,
our precious programmes
and put Yours first.
For You taught that we must love
our neighbour as ourselves.
Lord make it so. Amen

Today’s Writer
Dr Lesley Bailey, Lay Preacher St George’s URC, Maghull, Liverpool

Bible Version

 

New Revised Standard Version, Anglicised Bible: © 1989, 1995 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved