Charity and Justice

Charity and Justice

A Reflection for the St. Vincent de Paul Society meeting, Monday, August 3, 2015

By Dcn Bob Bonomi

I read an interesting story this morning about a Sister Blandina Segale, of the Sisters of Charity, who spent the greater part of her life in New Mexico where she died in 1941, and whose cause for sainthood was promulgated last year.  What caught my eye about her, other than she once faced down Billy the Kid, was how she tried to address not just the immediate problems of those in need, but the systemic problems of social justice issues.  She would work to feed and house railway workers, for example, but then she’d ask why they weren’t being treated fairly and needed help in the first place.

This is also the mission of the St. Vincent de Paul Society.  In the back of our minds there must always be, not only the question of “how to tend to those in need?”, but “why are they in need and what can we do to change the institutions that leaves them in need for our love and charity?”  Sr. Blandina founded schools and hospitals through her work in New Mexico; she was not afraid to personally confront situations of conflict in order to bring peace and justice, and to do so with love.  That remains our challenge today.

A couple of weeks ago, one of the prayer intentions at the end of the meeting was to pray for all St. Vincent de Paul advocates and their clients.  Last Friday, Pope Francis announced that the universal Church’s prayer intention for the month of August would be:  “That volunteers may give themselves generously to the service of the needy”; and his intentions for evangelization would be:  “That setting aside our very selves we may learn to be neighbors to those who find themselves on the margins of human life and society”.

Sounds like Pope Francis heard your prayers, and he is praying for you, too.