
During this same year, as Vincent was serving as pastor at the country church in Chatillon, he was approached by some parishioners before Mass who told him of a family in which everyone was sick. Vincent preached such a heartfelt sermon about the need to reach out to help others that a large crowd of parishioners went to the family, bringing along food and aid. Vincent then realized the need to organize efforts on behalf of the poor and he began to write a set of guidelines. This effort grew into the "Confraternities of Charity." Today, these confraternities are known as the "International Association of Charity" (IAC) and are the largest and oldest group of volunteers in the Church.

The first was that Vincent's first organized work of charity was the creation of a lay organization to serve the poor. As I looked at the stained glass windows in the sanctuary of the church which depict Vincent giving the women of the first confraternity the rule which he had written, I was struck by how God's Providence began, through Vincent, to empower and inspire the laity to service in the Church. Then, I recalled that 300 years later, the Holy Spirit, through Vatican Council II, sought to restore the laity to their position of leadership and service in the Church.
The second realization I had was that it was not until 1633 that the Daughters of Charity were established as the first community of religious women to serve actively outside the cloister. St. Vincent often reminded the first Daughters that he never thought of founding a religious community, that it was God who founded the Daughters of Charity.
These pondering gave me a new appreciation of God's presence and action in our daily lives. I pray for the grace to be attentive to God's presence each day, just as St. Vincent was!
Written by Sister Mary Frate, D.C.
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