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MEET OUR NEW SS.CC. VOCATION DIRECTOR
Fr. Paul Zaccone, ss.cc. |
 What
is a vocation? A vocation is a life-path of service, chosen with the
guidance of the Holy Spirit as well as others in the Church, in order to
receive and share in the abundance of life promised by Jesus, when He
said, "I came that they might have life and have it more
abundantly." (John 10:10).
In our Congregation, that abundant life is closely
connected with the amazing and life-changing love of God, which we
symbolize by the Hearts of Jesus and Mary - joined together, consumed by
Love. Theirs is a threefold love, encompassing love for each other, love
for the infinite Creator God (called Abba by Jesus), and a loving
compassion for others. This three-fold love is what led
our founders, Father Pierre Coudrin and Mother Henriette Aymer,
affectionately called the Good Father and the Good Mother, to establish
a spiritual family in 1800. Approved and given a structure of
organization and life by Rome, we became a religious congregation. Now
over 200 years old, we have retained our original virtues of Family
Spirit, Eucharistic Adoration and Courageous Compassion, as we continue
to develop new pathways such as international solidarity and
peacemaking.
As a young man, Saint Damien De Veuster was called by the same love of
God that has always permeated our Congregation and he responded with a
unique zeal. Thus, despite the fact that his parents were counting on
him to carry on the family business, he asked them to give their consent
for his religious vocation. While in formation, our congregation grew in
Damien, giving him inner strength, practical wisdom, and tender
compassion. As a young missionary priest, when he encountered the
enormous deprivation and suffering of the leprosy (Hansen's Disease)
patients exiled to the Hawaiian island of Moloka'i, he was ready to
freely offer his life to serve them.
For sixteen years, Saint Damien became their caretaker, priest, nurse
and laborer until he himself lost his health and contracted Hansen's
Disease. Before dying, he said, "How sweet it is to die as a child of
the Sacred Hearts." Even in his suffering, he wanted the world to know
that that he had found the abundant life promised by Christ! By all that
he said and did, Blessed Damien made it possible for humanity to know
more fully the tender mercy and solidarity that comes from the Heart of
Christ! That is the reason he is called a “servant of humanity”! If the
Heart of Christ and your own heart are telling you to take a chance on a
vocation, please
contact me either by telephone, E-mail, or by a personal visit to our
SS.CC. Vocation office. See what your future could be. I would love to
help you know your own heart and the Heart that blesses and empowers
ours beloved Congregation with so much Love and Spirit!
I look forward to hearing from you,
Fr. Paul, ss.cc.
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