Third Sunday of Lent

Woman at the Well

• We all feel awkward at time – strangers – be not afraid
• Woman is known by Jesus, yet she doesn’t know him except as Jew
• He calls her from where she is, the heart of her awkwardness; sees GRACE
• Centuries later a group of students would come together
• College students, Christians – challenged to live out faith – Frederick Ozenam
• How do you care for the poor after a Revolution, in a time of Cholera?
• Go to Sister Rosalie Rendu – just as the woman heard from the teacher Jesus
• Group of College Students begin one of the world’s largest Charitable Orgs
• Here at COH new parish in the heart of the city, as was the first SVDP
• We come in our awkwardness to serve, care and be in Spirit
• The Mission of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul
• Inspired by Gospel values, the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, a Catholic lay organization, leads women and men to join together to grow spiritually by offering person-to-person service to those who are needy and suffering in the tradition of its founder, Blessed Frédéric Ozanam, and patron, St. Vincent de Paul.
• As a reflection of the whole family of God, members, who are known as Vincentians, are drawn from every ethnic and cultural background, age group, and economic level. Vincentians are united in an international society of charity by their spirit of poverty, humility and sharing, which is nourished by prayer and reflection, mutually supportive gatherings and adherence to a basic Rule.
• Organized locally, Vincentians witness God's love by embracing all works of charity and justice. The Society collaborates with other people of good will in relieving need and addressing its causes, making no distinction in those served because, in them, Vincentians see the face of Christ.
• As the woman at the well was invited by Jesus to live into her greatest awkwardness, a place of shame to share the message of Christ

• We come to live our call:  leadership, admin, home visit, calling, spirit, friendship, justice, advocacy.

• Meet and Join COH Vincentian team in lobby, be Jesus in the midst

"The question which is agitating the world today is a social one. It is a struggle between those who have nothing and those who have too much. It is a violent clash of opulence and poverty which is shaking the ground under our feet. Our duty as Christians is to throw ourselves between these two camps in order to accomplish by love what justice alone cannot do".

 It is our vocation to set people’s hearts ablaze, to do what the Son of God did, who came to light a fire on earth in order to set it ablaze with His love.

— Frédéric Ozanam

The question which is agitating the world today is a social one. It is a struggle between those who have nothing and those who have too much. It is a violent clash of opulence and poverty which is shaking the ground under our feet. Our duty as Christians is to throw ourselves between these two camps in order to accomplish by love, what justice alone cannot do.

— Frédéric Ozanam