FROM THE PROVINCIALSUPERIOR

Lenten greetings and best wishes!

Dear Friends in Christ,

Perhaps as you read this letter, the words of St. Paul read at the Ash Wednesday liturgy are still echoing inside you: “In an acceptable time
I heard you, and on the day of salvation I helped you.” The future day of the Lord has become the “today”.  The terrible day is transformed by the Cross and Resurrection of Christ into the day of salvation.

The church gives us the Lenten season with its disciplines of prayer, fasting and almsgiving to assist us along the interior journey – the journey of conversion and reconciliation – in order that we might attain the glory of the heavenly Jerusalem where God dwells. These disciplines beckon us to settle ourselves, to look deep inside at those areas of our lives where God is calling us to conversion: “If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.” The disciplines also invite us to look around us as well. The mercy that God has lavished on us, we must be prepared to share with those less fortunate than ourselves.

This year has been designated as a Vincentian jubilee year as we commemorate the 350th anniversary of the death of our beloved founders St. Vincent de Paul and St. Louise de Marillac. As a way to give thanks to God for the gift of our Vincentian heritage and to give witness to our commitment to the poor, it was proposed that the worldwide Vincentian family focus its compassion during this jubilee year on the suffering poor of Haiti. Haiti has the distinction of being the poorest country in the Western hemisphere.

The recent earthquake that left tens of thousands dead, and hundreds of thousands homeless, starving and without medical services, has only heightened the need for us to reach out to offer comfort and whatever assistance we can to its people.

At our first meeting of the Western Province, I proposed that we make a long term commitment to spiritually accompany and financially support the Vincentian Province of Puerto Rico to rebuild its mission in Haiti. In the days to follow I plan to share with you the details of this commitment as they become more articulated. I hope you will join us in supporting the effort to help rebuild the lives of the Haitian people who have suffered so deeply.

As we begin our Lenten journey, I pray that our Blessed Mother be our constant companion along the way, and at the end of Lent we may contemplate the Risen Lord interiorly renewed, with hearts filled with gratitude and reconciled with God and with each other. God bless you.

Fraternally yours,

Father Perry Henry, CM
Provincial Superior