2nd meditation. Prayer Chain with the Virgin Mary and Blessed Antoine Frédéric Ozanam
The Council General requests Vincentians throughout the world to invoke the intercession of Mary in a very simple prayer, which we can say slowly and reverently:
- One Hail Mary
- And this prayer, dedicated to Vincentians around the world….
Our Lord and Father,
As Vincentians we are dedicated to doing your work to help those in need around the world.
Please protect all Vincentians from communicable diseases in our home visits and in the many other forms of service which we do in your name. Please protect those that are now afflicted with the Coronavirus and help this global pandemic to pass. For this we humbly pray. Amen
OUR LADY OF KIBEHO (RWANDA)
“You must endeavour to pray, and convert your own hearts. Pray with sincerity and without hypocrisy. […] Anyone who asks for something must ask humbly, openly and wholeheartedly […]”
Appearances of Our Lady at Kibeho (Rwanda) between 1981 and 1989
We entrust especially to you:
- The people whom we are visiting, or whom we meet, especially those living in social housing managed by the SSVP
- The most vulnerable and distressed of our brothers and sisters
- All those who do not have the Faith, those who are afraid or overwhelmed by trouble
- Our Conferences and Councils, our Charitable works, all our members and our volunteers
- The whole Church, our priests, our bishops, our seminarians and our deacons
- All health care professionals
- Our families, friends and work colleagues
- Those who will die today
- That the Lord may give us the grace of a true conversion of heart, and that we may live evermore deeply the virtues of Faith, Hope and Charity
LET US MEDITATE WITH BLESSED ANTOINE-FREDERIC OZANAM
Life and its trials,“a school where God teaches Christians”
“There is no merit in following the well-trodden path of an easy life without stumbling. I will go further; it is dangerous to live an entirely comfortable life; it makes us soft. On the contrary, effort is needed to bear heavy obligations; they keep the soul awake, they gradually instil the generous habits which create true virtues. You know, my love, that life is a school where God teaches Christians: in this school there are some tough, difficult years, with little time for recreation, much weariness, harsh lessons whose meaning is difficult to grasp. But you know too that the Teacher is good, that the lessons are only going to make us better and more perfect creatures.”
Blessed Antoine-Frédéric Ozanam, letter to his wife Amélie, 27 July 1844
The International General Council asks that this document reach all Conferences, Councils and Vincentian works around the world, and that the prayers contained in it be meditated on during the months of May and June 2020.
