Quotable Quotes from Billy Joel, Mother Teresa ...

“In the name of the hungry, of the naked, of the crippled, of the homeless, of the blind, in their name, I accept the award.” Mother Teresa of Calcutta

“I was homeless when I was younger and I was suicidal when I was 21. Anything that has happened after that is like water off a duck's back.” Billy Joel

“The story is more than this bill. The story is homelessness. There's so much more we need to do.” Attorney General Steven Rowe

“Our house is standing, but it's totally destroyed ... We're homeless!” David Mason

“I met him when he was homeless, and I was homeless, and he kind of watched my back. You've got to have someone watch your back when you're homeless, especially when you're a woman.” Rita Baldwin

“The poor give us much more than we give them. They're such strong people, living day to day with no food. They never curse, never complain. We don't have to give them pity or sympathy. We have so much to learn from them.” Mother Teresa of Calcutta

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Home but Just as Homeless

[After reading the parable of the Prodigal Son many times] Frankly, I never thought of myself as the elder son, but once Bart [a friend] confronted me with that possibility, countless ideas started running though my head. Beginning with the simple fact that I am, indeed, the eldest child in my own family, I came to see how I had lived a quite dutiful life. When I was six years old, I already wanted to become a priest and never changed my mind. I was born, baptized, confirmed and ordained in the same church and had always been obedient to my parents, my teachers, my bishops, and my God. I had never run away from home, never wasted my time and money on sensual pursuits, and had never gotten lost in “debauchery and drunkenness.” For my entire life I had been quite responsible, traditional and homebound. But, with all that, I may, in fact have been just as lost as the younger son. I suddenly saw myself in a completely new way. I saw my jealousy, my anger, my touchiness, doggedness and sullenness, and, most of all, my subtle self-righteousness. I saw how much of a complainer I was and how much of my thinking and feeling was ridden with resentment. For a time it became impossible to see how I could ever have thought of myself as the younger son. I was the elder son for sure, but just as lost as his younger brother, [just as homeless] even though I had stayed “home” all my life.

Excerpt from The Return of the Prodigal Son, Henri Nouwen, Image Books, Doubleday, New York, 1994.
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I Will Choose Christ, I Will Choose Love

Click on the speaker icon to hear music with the slide show.

Save It!

JMO blogs from Adair, OK … "I will never understand why we have homeless people in America. And for those of you who might feel it your duty to set me straight and explain it to me... save it! Nothing you can tell me is a good enough excuse, especially when we send MILLIONS and MILLIONS and MILLIONS of dollars to other countries in aid every year. Charity begins at home. They are not "the homeless". They are people, just like you and me. They are children, just like yours. We are all created in the likeness and image of God. Unfortunately, way too many in this country judge people by what they have in material goods and possessions, when we ought to be looking to the heart of a man. If people were judged by their hearts, our idea of a "good man" might be very different, I dare to say." JMO

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A Slice of Who is Homeless in the City of Angels

* 59% Adult Male
* 24% Adult Female
* 24% Families
* 15% Children and Youth (10,116)
* 2% Transgender
* 50% African American
* 24% Hispanic or Latino
* 19% Caucasian
* 12% Veterans
* 23% Some College Education

Public Counsel Law Center, Los Angeles, California
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The Reality of Homelessness

* Population of Los Angeles = 10 million
* 73,702 people are homeless on any given night
* 141,737 people will be homeless at some point during the year
* 83% of the homeless population is unsheltered
* Only 17,000 emergency beds in L.A. County

Public Counsel Law Center, Los Angeles, California
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Hungry?

For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.

Matthew 25:35

We may take notice, that the wicked at the Day of Judgment, are said to be condemned for having omitted to perform good works. --- St. Augustine, in his 33d sermon, brings a beautiful reason why the kingdom of heaven is bestowed solely upon the works of mercy, and eternal damnation for the neglect of them … Because, however just a man may be, still he has many failings to atone for, on account of which the kingdom of heaven might be justly denied him: but because he has shown mercy to his neighbors, he deserves in like manner to have mercy shown him. But the wicked, not having shown mercy to their neighbors, nor redeemed their sins by alms giving, or the like, are thus delivered up to eternal damnation. --- Jesus Christ only mentions one species of good works, though others may be equally meritorious; for the means of salvation are not precisely the same for all the saints; some are saved by poverty, others by solitude, and each by that virtue which he shall have practiced in the greatest degree of perfection. (Excerpt from Haydock’s Catholic Bible Commentary)

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Homeless Heroes at the Resurrection

As we meditate this Holy Week on the passion, death and resurrection of Christ, we reflect ... Some say the predominately homeless disciples of Christ made up the whole story of Jesus’ resurrection. Why? What would they gain from it? They were homeless, publically hated, run out of town and eventually all but John would be killed. John was exiled to an island. What did they gain from proclaiming Jesus’ resurrection if it were not true? As they were being killed and tortured, would not at least one of them have recanted if the whole idea was somehow contrived for ulterior motives?

The chances are, the more people who claimed that Jesus had been raised from the dead, the greater the odds someone would recant it; but that never happened. Some will argue that many have died for good causes and maybe they were duped into believing. What about Paul, who was on the fast track to becoming one of the top leaders in his country, why would he suddenly join his enemy and follow a homeless man with a bunch of homeless disciples? The homeless have always been suspicious in every society; labeled “losers” and “mentally unstable.” Why would a man of Paul’s standing align himself with people like that, if not for good reason?

Paul himself left his cushy life behind and joined the homeless vagabonds. He was ship wrecked, homeless, beaten, stoned, left for dead, impoverished, on the run, and imprisoned for one reason, and one reason only, he wouldn’t stop talking about the resurrection of Jesus. So when you see a homeless person, one may wish to respectfully serve them and then inquire how it might be that they are mystically united with the homeless Christ, His disciples and intregally tied to His resurrection. Happy Easter!

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St. Augustine on Superfluities

"God does not demand much of you. He asks back what he gave you, and from him you take what is enough for you. The superfluities of the rich are the necessities of the poor. When you possess superfluities, you possess what belongs to others." (Exposition on Psalm 147, 12).

"Go on making use of your special, expensive foods, because you have got into the habit of them, because if you change your habits you get sick. Go on making use of your superfluities, but give the poor their necessities. He looks to you, you look to God. He looks to a hand that was made as he was, you look to a hand that made you. But it didn't only make you, it also made the poor man with you. He gave you both this life as a single road to travel along. You have found yourselves companions, walking along the same road; he's carrying nothing, you have an excessive load. He’s carrying nothing with him, you are carrying more than you need. You are overloaded; give him some of what you’ve got. At a stroke, you feed him and lessen your load. So give to the poor; I’m begging you, I’m warning you, I’m commanding you, I’m ordering you. Give to the poor whatever you like." (Sermon 389,5-6)

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New Poll Inspired by Saint Faustina

Like Jesus, some saints are given the gift to see things beyond this life for what they really are. In her journal, St. Faustina was given a vision of hell (see Friday, April 3, 2009 - A Journey through her Diary - St. Faustina Reveals True Homelessness). What do you think? Like Saint Faustina, if you knew for certain the specifics of a place with eternal homelessness, "hell" - would you live your life differently than you are now? Would you be more kind to the poor, the homeless, the prisoner and the abandoned? Would you be more forgiving and patient with family and friends? Would you curtail judging others? Tell us what you think. Scroll down to the bottom of the main page and vote in the poll!

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A Journey through her Diary – Saint Faustina Reveals True Homelessness

How concerned we are for the less fortunate who may suffer homelessness or endure overwhelming poverty! But really, their suffering is only a shadow of the real pain that is experienced for an eternity by rich and poor alike who are “spiritually bankrupt” and unrepentant of sin while living in the here and now. Saint Faustina in one of her visions explains real "eternal homelessness" this way …

“Today, I was led by an Angel to the chasms of hell. It is a place of great torture; how awesomely large and extensive it is! The kinds of tortures I saw: the first torture that constituted hell is the loss of God; the second is perpetual remorse of conscience; the third is that one’s condition will never change; the fourth is the fire that will penetrate the soul without destroying it – a terrible suffering since it is purely spiritual fire lit by God’s anger; the fifth torture is continual darkness and a terrible suffocating smell, and despite the darkness, the devils and the souls of the damned see each other and all the evil, both of others and their own; the sixth torture is the constant company of Satan; the seventh torture is the horrible despair, hatred of God, vile words, curses and blasphemies. These tortures are suffered by all the damned together, but that is not the end of the sufferings. There are special tortures destined for particular souls. These are the torments of the senses. Each soul undergoes terrible and indescribable sufferings, related to the manner in which it has sinned. There are caverns and pits of torture where one form of agony differs from another … Let the sinner know that he will be tortured throughout all eternity, in those senses which he made use to sin. I am writing this at the command of God, so that no soul may find an excuse by saying ‘there is no hell’, or that ‘nobody has ever been there’, and so that no one can say what it is like.” St. Faustina (+1938), from her Diary, Notebook II, #751

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