Charity inspires our life
According to the very words of the founder, Jean-Léon Le Prevost, the first work and the essential business among us is to love God. This charity for God must inspire our whole life as consecrated persons and apostles; it must make us men of the absolute, of true and pure love.
We have three big points to back up:
- the spirit of piety or interior life,
- family or community spirit,
- the spirit of zeal and devotion;
In our religious family, community life is still expressed by the community of prayer. For if life among brothers entails the sharing of sorrows and joys, our union finds its supreme expression in liturgical prayer.
- The Eucharist is the center and summit of our activities. By participating in the sacrifice of the Mass, we share in the glory that Christ renders to his Father; we join to the holy victim the offering of our labors, our pains and our whole life for the salvation of the world.
- Prolonged prayer, breathing of the soul, begins each day.
- The Liturgies of the Hours, a necessary complement to divine worship, essentially contained in the Eucharistic sacrifice, permeates every moment of human life.
- Visitation and adoration of the Blessed Sacrament puts us in intimate communion with the risen Christ.
- The Word of God is our food and accompanies our personal prayer. In the assiduous reading and study of Sacred Scripture, we will draw the eminent science of Christ.
- Our participation in the liturgical life will be further affirmed by the living celebration of the mysteries of Christ and the Feasts of the Saints.
- The Blessed Virgin Mary, whom we honor in a special way, occupies a unique place in God's plan.
- The main Feasts of the Congregation are: the Sacred Heart of Jesus; the Immaculate Conception; Mary Reconciler of sinners; Saint Joseph; Saint Vincent de Paul; Saint Francis de Sales.
We must tend to always put our work, our feelings, our life in common,so that the bond of true charity does not slacken between us.
The Religious of St. Vincent de Paul seek the fullness of charity within a community, a true family gathered together in the name of the Lord. This life led in common recalls the primitive Church where all had only one heart and one soul.
In the religious family of Father Le Prevost we will find this community of life, prayer and apostolate, this simplicity and this communicative joy which unites minds and hearts.