Personal Reflection Questions

UNIT I - INTRODUCTION AND LETTER

Letter to Daughters of Charity

..."Constitutions create a sacred dwelling place within you."

• What do you do personally to nourish that space?

• How does your community life nurture that space?

• How does your experience of that sacred space free you in your ministry?

"The goal of a constitution is not to control our lives, but rather to create an environment where we can express what is deepest within us."

Recall a time when you felt free to express that which is deep within you:

• What gave you that freedom? people? place? other?

"Constitutions are meant to free us to love." "...they seek to create a free and open space in your lives where God can touch you with his loving presence.."

• How have you experienced God touching you with his loving presence?

General Reflections

• How do the constitutions affect your daily living?
• Do the constitutions speak to you of Vincent? How?
• Why have constitutions at all?

UNIT II - CONSTITUTIONS 1 AND 2

Purpose of the Congregation

C1

..."make every effort to put on the spirit of Christ himself."

• How do people recognize the spirit of Christ within you?
• What do you do to nourish that spirit?

..."work at evangelizing the poor..."

• Who are the poor in your life?
• How are you poor?

..."help the clergy and laity in their formation..."

• What are you doing to further your own formation?

C2

..."the Congregation...should take care to open up new ways and use new means adapted to the circumstance of time and place."

• What are you doing to learn about and use "new ways and new means": personally? ministerially?

• How have changes challenged you to "resond to new needs"?

UNIT III - CONSTITUTION 3

C3

• How do your vows "...promote the evangelization of the poor"?

• How do you explain your Vincentian vocation as a "mission and a call to holiness in and for the world"?

• What impact do your vows have on your daily life? on your relationships?

• Who/what incluenced your choosing to be a Vincentian?

• Do you actively encourage others to choose religious life?