I want to remember the Vincentian community in here in Connecticut, and particularly at Saint Stanislaus Church in New Haven.
My prayer is that the Vincentian priests and brothers fulfill what the Church prays in the Mass Collect (see below) so that their witness be bold and clear for the faithful following of Jesus Christ. We need the witness of Saint Vincent de Paul and his sons and daughters through the vowed life of the Vincentian Society today more than ever. In an age of diminishment in vocations, the love with which the Vincentians live their vocation needs to be extroverted.
With the Church we pray,
O God, who for
the relief of the poor and the formation of the clergy endowed the Priest Saint
Vincent de Paul with apostolic
virtues, grant, we pray, that, afire with that same spirit, we may love
what he loved and put into practice what he taught.
With the holy father Saint Vincent de Paul, we pray,
Prayer of Vincent de Paul for the Little Company.
Let us pray to the Blessed Virgin that she may pray to her Son for us all that He may give us the graces necessary to [do Your will].
O Blessed Virgin, who speak for those who have no tongue and who cannot speak for themselves, we beseech You, these good Sisters and myself, to assist this Little Company. Continue and perfect a work which is the greatest on earth. I implore You on behalf of those present and absent.
And, O my God, I present this petition to You by the merits of Thy Son Jesus Christ that You may perfect the work which You have begun. Continue Your holy protection over this Little Company. Continue to bestow all the blessings with which You have been pleased to load it even until now and grant, if it be pleasing to You, the Grace of perseverance to these good Daughters for, without it, they can never enjoy the merit which I trust, O my God, Your Divine Goodness will bestow on those who are faithful to this vocation.
Prayer from Saint Vincent de Paul’s Conference of August 8, 1655