By Aldo Barletta, National Vice-President of Vincentian Spiritual Growth and Enrichment
Even after the National Assembly, I still feel like I’m floating in the air. For me, last year, Mary Our Blessed Mother was the protagonist, and this year, it was the Holy Spirit.
The anointing of the Paraclete we did not have to wait, it was in the sessions and workshops, especially on: 1) Wednesday, the day dedicated to Formation [where there was confirmed testimony of God’s message], 2) the workshop of “Home Visits – Part 1: Encounter with the Holy Spirit”, 3) before the Blessed Sacrament exposed every day at lunchtime, and 4) in the celebrations of the Eucharist, and by praying the Most Holy Rosary, especially with the Morning Prayer.
We know that, in our neighbors in need, we encounter the Crucified Christ, and we always long to be able to reflect God’s love in our encounter with our brothers and sisters. But we must recognize that to be able to see the face of Christ, and for us to be able to reflect on His face, we can only do so by being enlightened and inspired by the Holy Spirit. For this, it is essential, first of all to promote intimate encounters with God as often as possible. We will not be able to achieve those moments, if we allow ourselves to be caught up in the noise and high speed of this earthly world. More and more often, we must pause and raise our gaze to the sky.
To better honor our Vincentian heritage, we must rest on the promise of the Father and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, our advocate, source of light, power, grace, anointing, gifts, and charisms. We can spend our lives trying to understand how great He is, but it’s best for us to call on Him, try to learn how to better recognize Him, and surrender ourselves to Him. The Holy Spirit will fill us with what we need to better love, adore, serve God, our brothers and sisters in need, and members of our beloved Society.