Rome 25 January 2021
Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul
Dear confreres,
May the grace and peace of Our Lord Jesus Christ be always with us!
On 25 January 2020, I wrote you a letter on the date that Saint Vincent de Paul marked as the beginning of the Mission and on which we celebrate the feast of the Foundation of our Little Company. In that letter, I invited all confreres to prepare spiritually for the General Assembly: “I … encourage each member of the Little Company to mobilize others and ourselves in a prayer chain for the upcoming 43rd General Assembly of the Congregation of the Mission that will take place from 27 June – 15 July 2022.”
A year has passed already and, at that moment, we could not imagine all that we would experience and what the whole world would suffer. The COVID-19 pandemic totally changed our lives and, due to all the difficult situations we have had to face, we were forced to modify completely many of the projects, programs, meetings, gatherings, and visits that were planned. All this has generated boundless creativity in us. We have tried to respond in many ways to new pastoral services, means to accompany processes, to be closer to those who suffer all kinds of poverty. It has been a year full of challenges that we have had to face with inventive charity in collaboration with the Vincentian Family.
We begin the year 2021 with hope, with an invitation not to let our guard down in what Pope Francis has called the “Culture of Care”:
“Solidarity helps us to regard others – whether as individuals or, more broadly, as peoples or nations – as more than mere statistics, or as a means to be used and then discarded once no longer useful, but as our neighbours, companions on our journey, called like ourselves to partake of the banquet of life to which all are equally invited by God.”
One of the most important objectives for this year is the immediate preparation for our XLIII General Assembly to be held in Rome from 27 June to 15 July 2022, whose motto is:
“Revitalizing our Identity at the beginning of the 5th Century of the Congregation of the Mission”
The Preparatory Commission has continued its service in a virtual way and in the previous months has carried out much work, which is reflected in the website of the Congregation (www.cmglobal.org) on which all the material for the 2022 General Assembly has been arranged and which is open for consultation by all confreres.
There each missionary will find: the Prayer for the Assembly, consultation and working documents, a library with articles for reflection on the theme, and memories of the 2016 GA. Little by little, it will be completed with more reflections and materials, as this preparation is carried out in the provinces, vice-provinces, regions, and international missions. Everything is ready to give life to the Domestic and Provincial Assemblies.
I invite and ask each confrere to read and delve into, on an individual and community level, the materials prepared for the 2022 General Assembly on the site: https://cmglobal.org/en/xliii- conventus-generalis-2022/.
Last year I invited you to begin a journey of prayer and I want to recall it at this time:
“I invite each confrere personally, each local community, each province, vice- province, region, and international mission to mobilize in prayer within the Congregation, as well as beyond our Congregation. I ask you to reach out to all branches of the Vincentian Family on the local, national, and international levels. In addition, ask the members of the Vincentian Family in the wider sense of the word, our relatives, friends, parishioners, students at all our schools, and collaborators to pray with us. We also might extend this request to join us in prayer to male and female Contemplative Congregations, as well as other Congregations that do not belong to the Vincentian Family, so as not to leave anyone behind, not to leave any stone unturned.”3
Through the mobilization of prayer, trusting totally in Providence, and wholeheartedly involving ourselves at various levels in the process of preparing for the General Assembly, we can humbly expect a “new Pentecost” for our Little Company!
I wish you a wonderful celebration of the Feast of the Conversion of Saint Paul, the feast of the foundation of a company that originated to follow in the footsteps of Jesus Christ, the evangelizer of the poor, and that wants to revitalize that call today, at the beginning of its pilgrimage toward the Fifth Centenary.
May Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal, Saint Vincent de Paul, all the Blessed, Saints, and Servants of God of our Little Company and of the entire Vincentian Family intercede for us!
Your brother in Saint Vincen
P. Tomaž Mavrič, CM
Superior General
