Formation & Training

St. Vincent teaches us to see Christ in the poor and suffering, so much so that the poor become our Lords and Masters and we their servants. Vincentian spirituality is centred around this concept. Jesus said “Whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me.” (see Matthew 25: 34-40).

So we honour our Lord Jesus Christ by serving Him both materially and spiritually in the person of the poor. Vincentians believe that true religion is found among the poor, and that as we attend to their needs, they inspire us and evangelize us.

To Be Evangelized By the Poor

“The poor have much to teach you. You have much to learn from them.”

St. Vincent de Paul

When we share in the life and goals of poor persons, we discover the presence of the Spirit of the Lord who renews us. As we speak with them, listen to them, and accompany them as the agents of their own way to liberation, we allow ourselves to be evangelized by them– we are inspired and humbled by their faith and hope in God under the worst of circumstances.

To Evangelize the Poor

Vincentians seek, in their relationship with those in need, to bear witness to the love of Christ for each one of us. The mission to the spiritually needy and the materially needy are integrally related and cannot be separated; one without the other is worthless. Our proclamation of the good news will resound in people’s hearts especially when we give vibrant witness:

through the language of works: performing the works of justice and mercy which are a sign that the kingdom of God is really alive among us: feeding the hungry, giving drink to the thirsty, helping to find the causes of their hunger and thirst and the ways of alleviating it;
through the language of words: announcing with deep conviction the Lord’s presence, his love, his offer of forgiveness and acceptance to all;
through the language of relationships: being with poor persons, working with them, forming a community that shows the Lord’s love for all.

Circular Letter from President General

circular-letter-2023-english Renato's Outgoing Message.pdf

Key Points made in Circular Letter 2023 from SSVP President General

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Point 2.1 – Bro. Renato highlighted the importance of the “second network of charity” which is us (among ourselves) after the “first network of charity” (with does in need). This is so true, as we focus on serving the people in need, we must not forget to build closeness among ourselves through love, knowing and valuing our Community / Society … that is why we strived to build this small Formation & Training community that communicates, shares, support and stay connected with one another in our work.

Point 2.3 – focus on the Vincentian youth has been a main effort of CGI in the past years and we can align our formation and training work to this initiative by looking into how we can serve and support our National Council in the development of our SSVP youth.

Point 2.5 – our Vincentian strengths has been “resilience in the practice of charity”. However, there are many changes and challenges in the last few years and thus, we need to adapt accordingly, especially to the challenge of “regression in virtue and morals”. Hence, the formation and development of spirituality becomes most important in our work and we should look at doing more to build a faith loving community.

Point 4.1 – the reminder that “good works increase divine grace in us” reaffirms the blessing that we receive in doing our work of charity in SSVP. Not forgetting that each us still need to live out the sacraments and build our relationship with God through our daily prayers and reading Holy Scriptures. Without doubt, we will be able to do our formation and training work well if we increase ourselves in our spirituality.

Point 5.2.2 – this paragraph highlights the need to “encourage our members and bring Vincentian training up-to-date”. It reinstates the importance of the work of formation and training and challenges us to update our training needs in a number of areas he highlighted.

Point 5.2.5 – suggested that we should be “opening up to collaborative effort with other organisations to be more effective” and this is just as relevant to us in the formation and training space, where can use resources, programs, workshops and courseware from other Church organisations and ministries where relevant to deliver to our SSVP training needs.

Formation & Training

Weekly Reflections

LITURGICAL YEAR C

SSVP Asia2 Common Monthly Reflection (BRUNEI, INDONESIA, MALAYSIA, PHILIPPINES, SINGAPORE, CAMBODIA, LAOS, MYANMAR, THAILAND, VIETNAM)

Reflection by topic

Article

Seeing the Face of Christ in the Poor

To Be Evangelized By the Poor

To Evangelize the Poor

Circular Letter from President General

Key Points made in Circular Letter 2023 from SSVP President General

National Office: