Vincentians pledge to "Come together as family". We say it every time we recite our mission and values statement. What does it mean, though, to come together as family? I don't know about yours, but my family comes together for big reasons and for small ones, sometimes for no particular reason at all. We celebrate birthdays and anniversaries, holidays and special events, happy times and times of mourning. Heaven forbid that I should ever forget one of the milestones in my family!

Our Vincentian family has just as many special events to celebrate and we can probably come up with a few inventive, new reasons to celebrate if only we want to. Let's start with our patrons and their special days:

• February 7 is the feast day of Blessed Rosalie Rendu. Blessed Rosalie was born on September 19, 1786 and died on February 7, 1856. She was beatified on November 9, 2003. If her feast day in February doesn't work for you, celebrate her birth or her beatification. I am very much drawn to this exceptional woman who was spiritual advisor to the first conference of SSVP. If you haven't at least Googled Blessed Rosalie, please take a look at her remarkable life. She truly did ‘help in all possible ways'.
• March 15 is St. Louise de Marillac's feast day. St. Louise and I share a birthday (August 12) but she is a bit older, born in 1591.
• On April 23, 1833 the very first conference meeting of the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul took place in Paris. That was also Blessed Frederic Ozanam's 20th birthday. Blessed Frederic died on September 8, 1853 but because September 8 is a Marian feast day, Blessed Frederic's feast is September 9. Our founder was beatified on August 22, 1997.
• September 27 is St. Vincent de Paul's feast day. He was born on April 24 in 1581.

If that list isn't enough, remember that our Society is also under the patronage of the Blessed Virgin Mary, so all of Mary's special days should be celebrated by our members. The Canadian Rule specifically mentions December 8, the Feast of the Immaculate Conception. Thinking outside the box, why not celebrate the anniversary of the founding of our own conferences?

But what do we do to celebrate? As in our own families, we can celebrate any way that suits us. It only takes a few minutes to recognize a special day at a regular conference meeting. But why not go bigger? Share a meal. Bake a cake and sing Happy Birthday. Establish a prayer chain. Join with other conferences in your particular or central council in some kind of regional event. Perhaps the most effective way to celebrate is for Vincentians to come together for Eucharist. Our prayers, joined as one family, can inspire us and carry our Society into bigger and better things.

Last Sunday at 10:00 mass we sang Happy Birthday to Father Charlie and because it is his favourite, we sang a hymn that I was very fond of in the 1970's, Pass it On:

    It only takes a spark to get a fire going.
    And soon all those around can warm up in its glowing.
    That's how it is with God's love, once you've experienced it.
    You spread His love to everyone. You want to pass it on.

I think that celebrating who and what we are is one of the ways that the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul continues to pass it on.

Submitted by
Denise Bondy, Chair
ONRC Spirituality Committee