The Slow Work of Faith

I was nine years old when my parents signed me up as an altar server at our local parish believing it would give me a spiritual foundation I could draw on later. It would take forty years for me to enter diaconate formation. That transformation occurred not in an instant but rather within a substantial, ordinary gap that allowed me to slowly unpack my inherited faith into something I could call my own. During this time, I uncovered circumstances and experiences that slowly built on what my parents had started on my behalf years before.

The gap I describe is nothing uncommon or new. For example, consider Saint Vincent de Paul’s story. Two ordinary encounters in 1617 (one revealing the spiritual neglect of the rural poor, the other their material poverty) became not an isolated conversion experience but an awareness of something percolating inside him. The real work took sixteen years as he moved from the Confraternities of Charity to the Congregation of the Mission, to the Daughters of Charity. Much like all our journeys, Vincent’s path to holiness was not based on a single instance; it rested on incremental, sustained periods of clarity over years of service that moved him to act in small but meaningful steps.

In a tone befitting of this same gradual awareness, St. Paul offers an invitation in his letter to the Philippians: “… complete my joy by being of the same mind, with the same love, united in heart.” In these words, a sense of shared, ongoing labor emerges rather than separate insights. These simple but continuing revelations also marked Vincent’s pilgrimage. They remind us that it takes time for one’s relationship with God to develop into an established God-centered structure.

As I consider both Saint Paul and Saint Vincent, I realize that we can learn a great deal from each of them. Both lived by the same premise also found in today’s reading: “Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.” Each lived it in his own way, within his own abilities, but in a similar slow sustained pattern. In today’s world, we are likewise encouraged to participate fully in this call realizing that the opportunity is ours to grasp not for immediate and expected results but rather for the common good.

​I’m slightly older now, but I am still a work in progress. Sometimes, I find it difficult to discern exactly what God is asking of me. It is only with an open mind and heart that I can continue along my spiritual path leading to the best possible outcome … that is, if I pay attention and exercise patience. I remain unsure what life has in store for me next. 

. I do know however that God is not yet done with me. I do not know where I will be led but am certain it will be life giving. That same opportunity exists for everyone. This leaves just one question. What does God have in store for you?

Endless Blessings,
​Deacon Luc and Diana Papillon

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