SVDP CONFERENCE OF OUR LADY STAR OF THE SEA

REFLECTION – APRIL 2021

Speak, Mary, declaring

What you saw, wayfaring.

"The tomb of Christ, who is living,

The glory of Jesus' resurrection;

bright angels attesting,

The shroud and napkin resting."

Easter Sunday Sequence

Joy and relief and tears. All at once. In so many moments of life, relief opens floodgates to feelings we were holding just under the surface. Hugging your family for the first time after quarantine. Finding out that the test was negative. Ringing the bell after a last round of chemo. When long waits and hard journeys are over, so many feelings come in that moment. Imagine the wild intertwined emotions of the disciples seeing the empty tomb and resurrected Jesus.

Even now we see light through the darkness of the pandemic. We have vaccines. Spring returns and the Earth comes alive before our eyes. God is turning our sorrow to joy, our desolation to a garden. Our hope for new life swells again, even if the threat is not fully diminished. Throughout the course of its history, many have marveled at the Society of St. Vincent de Paul’s great freedom of action, seeking always to help those in need in the best way possible. As our Rule says, “No work of charity is foreign to the Society.” [Rule, Part I, 1.3] There is only one explanation for this: love.

Our SVDP Conference has recently taken the opportunity to renew our calling to love and form relationships with those in need, to understand them as we would a brother or sister. Like brothers or sisters, like neighbors, like friends, we always want to do what is best for a person we value and love. In 1933, on the occasion of the 100th Anniversary of the Society’s founding, an editorial in The Tablet, a Catholic newspaper in Brooklyn, observed that “The Society is great because it follows in the footsteps of Our Lord and Savior… He was not interested in ‘cases’ or ‘clients,’ but in men, women, and children.” The resource we share in every single encounter, is ourselves. But the ultimate reason that no work of charity is foreign to us is that the greatest resource we have is one that multiplies as it is shared: love.

In the light and spirit of the Easter Season, we face the world with a new confidence and offer you the following prayer:

Spring is a metaphor for change. Some changes we eagerly await, and some we abhor. Some changes we plan and others arrive uninvited. To all these changes we ask the gift of Your perspective beckoning us to expectation, hope, and rebirth.

May the sunlight and the rain be reminders that You are at work renewing the earth.

As a God of renewal, You are ever at work in our lives, too.

Open our eyes and lives to the needed changes in our lives this Spring. Awaken us to new life and perspective, for we pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.

- Author Unknown

In service,

Lin Krell,

President, SVDP Conference of Our Lady Star of the Sea

The love here at St. Vincent de Paul, Bremerton is overflowing and multiplying each day. As vibrant as the Spring sunshine, our staff are radiating Christ’s love on a daily basis. Whether it is preparing our Thrift Store to open in a clean and tidy fashion each day or filling the working stock of our food bank for those who will be fed that day, or it is preparing our trucks for the workload planned for the day or restocking the pantry in our Women’s Shelter…the love here truly does multiply. It multiplies and reflects in the eyes of those served as we see the face of Jesus in each person that we are blessed to serve each day. We pause to thank our God for this opportunity, our staff for their hard work, our volunteers for their compassionate dedication, and our Board for their leadership and guidance.

Spring has certainly sprung here at St. Vincent de Paul!!! With this fresh season came an increased blessing to those we serve in the form of Easter meals and Easter Baskets for the children. We served 381 families for Easter this year and the baskets for the children were very well received and appreciated by the children. A special thank you to Felicia, our Assistance Office Manager, and our AO staff for making this Easter a very special holiday this year!

Our Thrift Store is hopping once again! (pun intended ) As you launch into your Spring cleaning this year, remember the convenience of our donation drive-through. With the entrance off of N Wycoff Ave, it makes donating your items to St. Vincent de Paul so easy! For those

who may not have been through in a while, we now have a covered awning so that even if we get some April showers, you will still have a dry experience! We have added all kinds of discounts and sales to our marketing line-up at the Thrift Store this year. You can stay current with each new sale by “liking” us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/St-Vincent-de-Paul-Bremerton-Thrift-Store-155194574516853

Joseph Crain

Executive Director

St. Vincent de Paul, Bremerton