In honoring Saint Vincent de Paul today let’s call to mind the myriad of ways he and his spiritual sons and daughters have served, and continue to serve, the Gospel by serving the poor and uneducated. Have you got your copy of the video “Charity’s Saint: St Vincent de Paul“? I pray in thanksgiving for the Vincentian priests in New Haven who were my spiritual guides as a child.
With glowing light sent from above,
O Vincent, how you guide our way!
Your virtues and example pure
Show us the path to heaven’s day.
With self-effacing modesty,
You made yourself of little state;
Your gentleness and simple life
Made you revered by small and great.
Amidst the graces of your life
Your charity sheds brightest fire:
How many of the poor it fed,
Filled many hearts with Christ’s desire.
Urged on by zeal and charity,
You preached in town and countryside,
Proclaiming all God’s mysteries
To poor and rich, both far and wide.
Beneath your wings you gathered those
Who longed to share both work and strife.
By word and deed you taught them well;
You formed and taught them by your life.
To God, the holy Three-in-One,
All praise and glory be addressed,
Whose life divine is best reward,
And light eternal for the blessed.
J. Michael Thompson
Copyright © 2009, World Library Publications
LM; WINCHESTER NEW, HAMBURG, ST. VINCENT