Apostles for Today
Prayer and Reflection
February 2020
‘I know well,’ he continued, ‘but it is an imperfection voluntarily to waste anything, however small its value. Look at our good God, richer than any earthly monarch: He never permits anything He has created to be lost. The humblest drop of water serves to refresh a blade of grass or to quench the thirst of a little bird. And it is our duty to utilize everything so
that we may imitate our Heavenly Father! Tear off the bit on which there is no writing and put it in the basket.’
I obeyed rather unwillingly, when he spoke again: ‘That basket must be nearly full. Will you look out for one of the men who collects such scraps and send him up here?’ I did so, and the man offered about a dime for the whole lot, which was
accepted.”
As we know, the story ends with St Vincent purchasing a bag of biscuits with the money and using the biscuits to save the soul of a dying man. Was St. Vincent Pallotti the first person to recycle? I don’t know the answer to that question but in my view, he is the most famous person to have been involved in the recycling business. We live in a throw away, consumer society and we all need to change the way we think and act as individuals, before we can move out to the world at large.
When one reads the bible, it is hard not to think how stubborn and silly our Old Testament forefathers were when they continuously turned away from the God who loved them. Yet I wonder if we today aren’t equally as hard hearted as our ancestors. St. Vincent Pallotti’s writings and actions 200 years ago are just as relevant today and the parallels between Laudato Si and the charism, spirituality, writing and life of St. Vincent Pallotti are uncanny. The words of Sr. Monica at the UAC Formation Coordinators Meeting came to mind: “It is good to have a Pope who speaks like our Founding Father”.
Yes Sr. Monica, I agree, but it would be even better if we listened!
St. Vincent invited everyone to join the Pallottine Family, his writing and his philosophy was simple but very powerful.
We are called to be apostles by virtue of our creation not our baptism. “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you” (Jer. 1:5). It is comforting to know that God has a plan for everyone and every part of our lives, if only we would be open and receptive. St Vincent’s only entry requirement was that of love, to love God, and God’s creation. Similarly, Pope Francis’ encyclical is addressed to everyone, “now, faced as we are with global environmental deterioration, I wish to address every person living on this planet”. It is therefore written in simple language that we can all understand.
When caught in a rain-storm St. Vincent said to his grumbling friend: “Have you reflected that each drop of this rain was created by the Almighty with infinite wisdom for our use and our good?” How much time do we spend reflecting on the wonder and the beauty of God’s creation? If we did spend some time, I’m sure our reflection would galvanize us into action and our planet would be a lot better off.
Today’s society is an “all care and no responsibility” society, “they must solve the problem”, “the government must deal with it”. But what are we as individuals doing? Laudato Si is a call for collaboration, “everyone’s talents and involvement are needed.... all of us can cooperate as instruments of God for the care of creation”.
St. Vincent wanted to win souls for God all over the world however he sorrowfully admitted that faced with a world of secularism, agnosticism and sin, he alone would not be very effective. He realized that he could achieve his aim by collaborating with others and multiplying everyone’s talents “infinitely”. Pope Francis is well aware that St. Vincent started with twelve collaborators, and in the short space of two hundred years, the Pallottine Family has covered the globe and brought, maybe not an infinite number but certainly a very large number, of people to God. (We in Australia are forever indebted to the German Pallottine priests for bringing St. Vincent to our shores.)
Pope Francis calls us to consolidate St. Vincent’s teaching on love of God and God’s creation with his call for collaboration and urges us to all become involved “each according to his or her own culture, experience, involvements and talent.” Both Pope Francis and St. Vincent call us to do what we can, not what we can’t. St. Vincent said if you can’t do, you can still pray. Prayer is a pillar of Pallottine spirituality. Being part of the Pallottine Family has helped me, through prayer, to deepen my relationship with the Blessed Trinity, Mother Mary and the Angels and Saints. If we all examine our lives prayerfully then, with the help of the Holy Spirit, I am sure we will find opportunities to become “instruments of God for the care of creation”(LS).
Pope Francis provides us with some encouragement in the face of a very daunting situation, “In some countries, there are positive examples of environmental improvement: ... these achievements.... do show that men and women are still capable of intervening positively”. Likewise, St. Vincent encourages us: “When [an apostle] acts with true zeal and fervent love,
there is no temptation, no difficulty and no obstacle he cannot overcome.” St. Vincent gave us the model of the Cenacle.
Many parts of the Family meet in a Cenacle type environment to pray, discuss their apostolic endeavors, receive encouragement and plan before returning to their apostolic pursuits. Loving support and encouragement are never very far away when you are a member of the Pallottine family.
Pope Francis uses creation theology to explain that God loves all of creation, he calls us to be humble not domineering and points out the need to repair our relationships with God, our neighbor and the earth which sin has broken. St. Vincent has written at length on the need for humility, and indeed lived a very humble life putting God first and then his neighbor before any of his own needs. In a description of Vincent in an early Italian biography we read: “His prudence was most remarkable; but his great characteristics were his deep humility, and the most ardent charity towards all who were in need and trouble.” We are loved by God and having been created in the image and likeness of God, we in turn need to humbly love our neighbor and all of God’s creation.
St. Vincent did not want to start a new society in the church, but rather a way of being church. I would argue that it became much broader than that, that the UAC became a way of being with only one rule, that of love. Being part of the Pallottine Family doesn’t require us to perform great feats but rather to do all of the ordinary things in an extraordinary manner and for the greater glory of God.
St. Vincent’s “way of being” is achievable but not easy, even he had ways to remind himself to stay in focus. When asked why, when eating and drinking, he took only little drops or bits at a time St Vincent replied:
“When we eat and drink, it is certainly not sacramental communion: but I always think it is a sort of communion with God’s power, goodness and providence. Every mouthful of food and very drop of water contains all these things, for it is God who has given to our food the property to preserve and sustain life. Does not the Apostle tell us, even in partaking of our daily food, to seek in this, as in everything else, the glory of God? Now I in my weakness, am only too inclined to forget these things, I try by dividing my bread into little bits, to help my poor memory!” Yes, it is good to have a Pope who speaks like our Founder, because his encyclicals are our reminder of how we need to “be” in order to live the charism of St. Vincent Pallotti.
I will be reflecting on finding ways of loving all of God’s creation in an extraordinary way for God’s greater glory, as I go about my very ordinary life.
Steve Kay
Formation Co-ordinator UAC Australia
22nd January, 2020
_________________________
Segretariato Generale, Unione dell’Apostolato Cattolico
Piazza San Vincenzo Pallotti 204, 00187 Roma, Italia uacgensec@gmail.com
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