Nothing but the Facts!

From time to time you may run into a middle-class or wealthy person who may comment, "People choose to be homeless, don't they?" The reality is no, people do not choose to live in the throws of utter homeless poverty. In these types of conversations, it is always helpful to share the facts. And here they are ...

* At least 80% of the world lives on less than $10 a day.

* If there were only 10 people in the world, only two of them would have wealth and possibly come from North America or Western Europe. Eight of the 10 would come from poverty stricken countries such as India and Africa and would live at or below the poverty line.

* Almost half the world — over three billion people — live on less than $2.50 a day.

* According to UNICEF, 25,000 children die each day due to poverty. And they “die quietly in some of the poorest villages on earth, far removed from the scrutiny and the conscience of the world. Being meek and weak in life makes these dying multitudes even more invisible in death.”

Possibly the next time a person infers people choose to live in destitute homeless poverty, you can help them out by sharing the above facts. Ultimately, poverty and homelessness are rooted and grounded in injustice. About 20% of the world controls nearly 100% of its wealth. Each middle, upper-middle and wealthy person's surplus belongs to someone else. If one has $100,000 and only needs $75,000, the remaining $25,000 belongs to someone else. If one has two coats, but only needs one, the remaining coat belongs to a poor person. Hundreds of years before the birth of Christ, the Prophet Amos denounced these injustices and spoke up for the rights of the poor. Jesus himself at the very outset of his ministry told the religious leaders that he had come not for the rich, but for the poor - to set them free.

Right from the comfort of your very own home, you can do all the poor a BIG favor. Take a brief moment to send emails to family and friends suggesting they Subscribe! to Homeless In America.  More people need to hear what Paul Harvey termed, "the rest of the story."  HIA is the only blog and for that matter the only publication in the world today that chronicles everyone's brokenness, everyone's homelessness and gives triumphal insights into everyone's poverty.

________

What will you do with your Homeless in America?

VOTE – Scroll down & vote in the polls.
COMMENT – Daily insights, prayers, thanksgiving & praise.
SUBSCRIBE! –Top right column.

Homeless on Bliss Street

Staff writer Stephanie Barry of The Republican, a newspaper in West Springfield, Massachusetts, reports recently about a formerly homeless young man, 18-year-old William O'Neill. Some of his earliest childhood memories of being homeless include standing on a street corner at midnight, alone and waiting for a ride, struggling under the weight of a suitcase.

At 3, he coped with having a mother strung out on drugs. In later years, he made regular visits to a homeless encampment behind a discount store on the west side of Springfield to bring food and supplies to another family member. "We bounced around a lot when I lived with my mom," O'Neill said. "Maybe the most ironic names for the worst hell hole we lived in was Bliss Street." There were nights they lived at campsites and dinky apartments, until his mother gave him up to live with his aunt, Ellen O'Neill, in West Springfield.

Today, William is poised to enter Assumption College in Worcester with full financial aid, O'Neill has been vice president of his class and president of the National Honor Society. However, he is forever inexorably linked to the plight of the homeless. Since first donating a load of goods to a men's shelter in 2007 to earn his Eagle Scout badge, O'Neill has continued raising money for the homeless at an almost frenetic pace ever since. "I've seen how real it is. And that it can happen to anyone around here," he said. "So anyone can try to make a difference to change it." He volunteers at soup kitchens, and raises money for clothes and other supplies through church and school.

Ironically, O’Neill states …"Once my mom said: 'Your picture is up on the wall at the shelter, and I got a new pair of socks and they said they were from you,'" O'Neill recalled of a donation two years ago.

For O'Neill's part, seeing the problem up close has helped to shape him, and has branded him with a compassion that is rare for his years. Looking at a bedraggled collection of homeless dozing on retaining walls outside the Worthington Street shelter on Saturday, he said: "When I look at them, I see people who need another chance."
________

What will you do with your Homeless in America?

VOTE – Scroll down & vote in the polls.
COMMENT – Daily insights, prayers, thanksgiving & praise.
SUBSCRIBE! –Top right column.
LIST – Yourself as a blog “Follower” middle right column.
INVITE – Friends and family to Subscribe!
http://www.homelessinamerica.blogspot.com/

VISIT – http://www.servantsofthefather.org/

DONATE - http://www.servatsofthefather.org/donation

JOIN OUR TEAM – Vocations@ServantsoftheFather.org

Homeless In America is Rated by RSSMicro FeedRank in the top 8% of
Lifestyles/Religion Blog Feeds & Reads

1/2 Off!

A new poll is launched today that is inspired by a U.S. Bureau of Labor survey. The study found that the poor—those making an average of $10,531 a year—give 4.3 percent to charity. The wealthiest Americans however make an average of $158,888 a year, but only give 2.1 percent of their income to charity. The wealthy give at a rate of less than ½ of the poor. In your opinion why is this so?

* The wealthy usually do not associate with or know many poor people.
* The poor by nature are more empathetic and feel for others in want.
* The wealthy generally live isolated and are unaware of social concerns.
* The poor send money home helping other less fortunate family members.
* All of the above.
* None of the above.

Scroll down to near the bottom of the main page and vote in this and all the HIA polls and surveys. Thank you for your participation!

________

What will you do with your Homeless in America?

VOTE – Scroll down & vote in the polls.
COMMENT – Daily insights, prayers, thanksgiving & praise.
SUBSCRIBE! –Top right column.
LIST – Yourself as a blog “Follower” middle right column.
INVITE – Friends and family to Subscribe!

"Give it all Back to God"

In response to Treetop Science (see Sunday, July 19, 2009), P.H. in Detroit, MI shares the following true homeless story from her neighborhood …

“A few years ago I was driving down a street near my home and I noticed a home all ablaze. The woman who owned the house was outside weeping and screaming. I stopped my car, got out and walked over to her and said to her, ‘Give it all back to God!’ She said to me, ‘Are you crazy?’ Others all around her looked also at me as if to say - ‘Where did this crazy woman come from?’ Well somehow she agreed to say one Hail Mary with me. Being it was winter and none of her neighbors there were obviously really thinking, I thought she must be cold. So I gave her a blanket from my car. She was grateful and I drove off. We ran into each other weeks later. She said she was worried she would never see me again. She said forever she would treasure the blanket I gave her! Then we ran into each other again a few months later. She was all excited. She said she had just won the lottery, and just the amount to have a new house built there on that same plot. She said I was the first person she thought of because I told her if she gave it all back to God He would provide for another! God Bless! P.H.

________
What will you do with your Homeless in America?
VOTE – Scroll down & vote in the polls.

Tree-top Science

Okay, Zacchaeus may be wealthy but genetics were not on his side. He's short. He reminds us of that one relative many have – the one lovingly nicknamed aunt or uncle "shortie." Clearly, he has learned how to compensate for being short by buying big houses, owning big chariots and powerful horses. “Today” is the day he will, compensate once again. Ahead of Jesus, Zacchaeus climbs up a tree that overhangs onto the highway. Finally they make eye contact. He sees Jesus. Wow! He has the beatific vision that we all hope for and it happens to this sinner. Jesus shouts, "Zacchaeus, come down." In essence Jesus says, "I see you. I love you. I want to come into your house. I want to dwell in the house of your very soul."

What happens next is both dramatic and powerful for a wealthy short guy that when he woke up was expecting a normal day like any other day. But this day became radically different. Because he has had the beatific vision of seeing God, he discovers there is only one response to make: Zacchaeus says, "Behold, half of my possessions, [mucho dinero] Lord, I will give to the poor and if I have extorted from anyone I shall repay it four times over."

So, Zacchaeus promised Jesus to give half of his property to the poor. About six months ago, a poll was launched and is now closed. HIA asked, “If a middle class Christian made the same promise of Zacchaeus’ in today’s economy, would God somehow provide? Or, realistically, would the person more-than-likely become destitute and live homeless?”

Here is how readers and subscribers responded …
58% believe that God would somehow provide.
41% believe that realistically speaking, the person would become homeless!

Thank you for participating. Scroll down to the bottom of the main page an participate in all our polls and opinion surveys.
________

What will you do with your Homeless in America?

VOTE – Scroll down & vote in the polls.
COMMENT – Daily insights, prayers, thanksgiving & praise.
SUBSCRIBE! –Top right column.
LIST – Yourself as a blog “Follower” middle right column.
INVITE – Friends and family to Subscribe!

Paul's Letter to the Romans

Often, it is the sin of self-righteousness, not lust that keeps a person unloving, unforgiving and impatient with others in their weaknesses. It is frequently this sinful condition that keeps us from relating to the poor, the homeless, the addict and the abandoned. In Romans chapter 2, the Apostle Paul provides us with strong insights into the dilemma of the sin of self-righteousness. Paul says, “You, then, who teach others, do you not teach yourself? You who preach against stealing, do you steal? You who say that people should not commit adultery, do you commit adultery?” Romans 2:21-22 If Paul were alive today, possibly he would add ... "You who condemn others that take drugs or alcohol, are you yourself a workaholic or shopaholic or do you have another drug of choice that you keep hidden?"

Earlier in Romans chapter 2, this type of hypocrisy and self-righteousness among church members comes at a cost and it comes with a warning from Paul. “You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge the other, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things. Now we know that God's judgment against those who do such things is based on truth. So when you, a mere man, pass judgment on them and yet do the same things, do you think you will escape God's judgment?” Romans 2: 1-4
________

What will you do with your Homeless in America?

VOTE – Scroll down & vote in the polls.
COMMENT – Daily insights, prayers, thanksgiving & praise.
SUBSCRIBE! –Top right column.
LIST – Yourself as a blog “Follower” middle right column.
INVITE – Friends and family to Subscribe!
http://www.homelessinamerica.blogspot.com/
VISIT – http://www.servantsofthefather.org/
DONATE - http://www.servatsofthefather.org/donation
JOIN OUR TEAM – Vocations@ServantsoftheFather.org

Homeless In America is Rated by RSSMicro FeedRank in the top 8% of
Lifestyles/Religion Blog Feeds & Reads

Wow!

by
Troy Hamby
Homeless Volunteer

For the past couple of months, I have been driving a van for the local homeless shelter and it has really been an enjoyable experience so far. Basically, I pick up a van load of people from the shelter and take them to town, drop them off at the court house and they go their separate ways from there. During the course of our trips, I have the opportunity to engage in conversation with various people who find themselves homeless at the moment and this has been extremely eye opening but also VERY surprising! Take today for example:

A guy named Mike was sitting in the passenger seat next to me and as I usually do, I tried to strike up a conversation. During the friendly banter, he asked if I was volunteering from a church group in the area and I let him know that we were kind of just doing this on our own, but we are attending a church in the area. I asked him if he went to church and he said “nah, I think most of the churches around here are apostate!” Immediately, my curiosity was piqued! I realized how biased I was because I did not expect a homeless guy to know what the word ‘apostate’ meant, nonetheless use it in the correct context. So, I prodded him further by asking him what he meant by that.

What he said next hit me in the gut like a ton of bricks: “Well, most of the churches that I go to seem to be more worried about how their service looks rather than who they’re serving. I love the book of Acts and my favorite part is when it says that they were ‘all together, in one mind and one accord and they sold everything they had and helped each other’. To me, this is true Christianity and I just don’t see it in many churches around here.”

WOW! I really couldn’t respond … I think I muttered, “Wow Mike, I agree with you 100%!” I’ve said those things a million times but when I heard it come from someone who is DIRECTLY impacted by our selfishness and preoccupation with things that do not matter, it cut me to the heart. Here is a man who has gone to the church looking for that same community, love and compassion that he read about in the first church but instead he continually found “churches” that were more concerned with being blessed instead of being a blessing. We have co-opted the Gospel of the Kingdom for the American dream and it has rendered us inconsequential to the very people we are supposed to be reaching. Mike looked at the church in the book of Acts and the church of America and sees NO RESEMBLANCE!

________
What will you do with your Homeless in America?

VOTE – Scroll down & vote in the polls.
COMMENT – Daily insights, prayers, thanksgiving & praise.
SUBSCRIBE! –Top right column.
LIST – Yourself as a blog “Follower” middle right column.

The Supreme Law of Our Being

By

Msgr. Luigi Giussani

Above all, our very nature requires us to be interested in others. When there is something beautiful within us we desire to communicate it to others. When we see others who are worse off than we are, we desire to help them with something of ours. This need is so original, so natural, that it is within us before we are conscious of it. We call it the law of existence. We do charitable work to satisfy this need.

We become ourselves to the extent that we live this need and this requirement. Communicating to others gives us the experience of completing ourselves. This is so true that, if we are not able to give, we experience ourselves as incomplete beings.

To be interested in others, to communicate to others enables us to fulfill the supreme and, indeed, the only task in life: to become ourselves, to complete ourselves. We do charitable work so that we may learn to fulfill the task of becoming ourselves.

But it is Christ who has enabled us to understand the ultimate reason for this, revealing the ultimate law of being and of life: charity. The supreme law of our being is to share in the being of others, to live in communion. Only Jesus Christ reveals this to us, because He knows what everything truly is, who God, from whom we are born truly is, what Being truly is. I am able to understand the word “charity” when I remember that the Son of God, loving us did not send us His riches (as He was able to do) and revolutionize our situation; instead He became poor like one of us: He “shared” our nothingness. We charitable work in order to live like Christ.

Msgr. Luigi Giussani, a priest from Milan, Italy, died in 2005 and was the founder of the Catholic movement "Communion and Liberation".

________
What will you do with your Homeless in America?

VOTE – Scroll down & vote in the polls.
COMMENT – Daily insights, prayers, thanksgiving & praise.
SUBSCRIBE! –Top right column.
LIST – Yourself as a blog “Follower” middle right column.
INVITE – Friends and family to Subscribe!
http://www.homelessinamerica.blogspot.com/

VISIT – http://www.servantsofthefather.org/
DONATE - http://www.servatsofthefather.org/donation
JOIN OUR TEAM – Vocations@ServantsoftheFather.org

Homeless In America is Rated by RSSMicro FeedRank in the top 8% of
Lifestyles/Religion Blog Feeds & Reads

This is America!

by

Chuck Warnock

[Homelessness in America] is the sin of a society where executives of a failed global enterprise take home millions in “bonus” earnings, passing the victims of corporate greed and criminality in their BMWs and Mercedes-Benzs. This is America. This cannot, must not, should not continue to be the only America.

We who still have jobs, homes, cars, checking accounts, cell phones, computers, warm meals, a bathtub, dry socks, a toothbrush, a clean toilet, and who sleep peacefully at night, unafraid of being robbed, beaten, or killed — we must not let this continue. We must act, give, pray, cry, organize, open our churches, do whatever it takes to care for those kicked down by a system not of their making.

Our shame should stalk us like death until we repent, reach out, and restore those who have been displaced ... We are God’s people. This must not stand.

________

What will you do with your Homeless in America?
VOTE – Scroll down & vote in the polls.
SUBSCRIBE! –Top right column.

What Has Happened?

by

Isabella Miller

What has happened ... They ask when they see me ...
I am homeless ... They think I did it to myself ...
They think I am scum to be put on a shelf ...
A shelf of denial ... A shelf of pain ...
They look down on me as I stand in the rain ...
For I once too had what you had ... A job , a car, a family too ...
But that was all taken by no one, not even you ...
For I came from the bottom and worked my way too the top ...
Then by no fault of my own it had to drop ...
So here I am as I stand in the rain ...
You can look upon me with all the pain ...
For no one is safe from this one disease ...
Homelessness can happen as fast as you can sneeze ...
So the next time you see me on the street threadbare ...
Just remember not to judge me for we all can be here ...

________
What will you do with your Homeless in America?

VOTE – Scroll down & vote in the polls.

SUBSCRIBE! –Top right column.

The Last Penny

Just prior to her death a few years ago, an Austrian woman Maria Simma spoke with an American writer, Nicholas Eltz in detail about her advice to popes, priests and other Christians since the 1940s based on hundreds of encounters with what she has termed, “The Poor Souls,” apparently in Purgatory. After these numerous supernatural experiences, she has become a believer in Jesus’ words … “I tell you, you will not get out until you have paid the last penny.” Luke 12:59

In the book “Get Us Out Of Here” by Nicholas Eltz, Maria Simma states on page 162 …"A soul came to me once during the day. I was walking home one afternoon up in the woods and along came an extremely old woman. My first thought was, ‘Goodness, does she ever look old!’ She wandered toward me and looked sad and somewhat lost. I greeted her and asked why she was up there on her own and that it was getting late. She answered, ‘No one cares for me. No one takes me in and I have to sleep on the streets.’ I then thought her marbles must be loose. I considered for a second and then offered to take her with me, knowing that if she was a nuisance she wouldn’t be around for that long. ‘I will take you, but my place is small. It is all I have but it is a roof, and I can feed you.’ She cheered up instantly and said, ‘That is all I needed.’ And she was gone.

"Later I learned that she, at some point in her life, had turned someone truly needy away, and therefore had to go to Purgatory until the day that another person took her in. In this way [by offering to take her in] I made up for her sin [of neglect of others]. My offering this to her was reparation for her neglect. Reparation is ALWAYS necessary and if we do not do it voluntarily, God will arrange for it."

________

What will you do with your Homeless in America?

VOTE – Scroll down & vote in the polls.
COMMENT – Daily insights, prayers, thanksgiving & praise.
SUBSCRIBE! –Top right column.
LIST – Yourself as a blog “Follower” middle right column.
INVITE – Friends and family to Subscribe!

The Life of a Priest who Served both Union and Confederate Soldiers Inspires us on the 4th of July

Fr. Peter Whelan sacrificed everything to bring Christ to others. He saved thousands of souls, clothed the naked, fed the hungry, visited the prisoner.

Fighting the Good Fight DVD is the first and only documentary presentation of the life of the remarkable and truly inspiring Fr. Peter Whelan, a Civil War chaplain and parish priest, whose life was lived according to St. Paul's words "No longer I, but Christ who lives within me." Peter Whelan left his life in Ireland and journeyed to the American South in 1830 to serve in the poor Catholic mission parishes.

Fr. Peter was more than a military chaplain, he was also a parish priest and even the administrator of the diocese of Savannah for two years. When offered the Episcopal appointment to the diocese of Savannah himself, he humbly declined. He served indiscriminately imprisoned soldiers of both the Union and Confederate armies - actually living with the men in the difficult conditions of the prison camps - both Union and Confederate. He was the only chaplain at the notorious Andersonville prison camp in Georgia; perhaps the most amazing part of his life. The horrors at Andersonville caused the death of over 13,000 Union prisoners of war.

Fr. Peter is another superb example of a Catholic priest of heroic virtue - he said "When I give for Christ's sake, I give the best!" and he lived his life that way. In the jubilee Year of the Priest, there is no better time than now to tell the awe-inspiring story of his life and work with the poor, the prisoner and the abandoned.

________
What will you do with your Homeless in America?
VOTE ! Scroll down & vote in the polls.

Everyone is a First-hand Expert in Woundedness and thus, a Potential Expert in Helping others in their Woundedness

by
Mother Elvira Petrozzi
Founder of Comunita Cenacolo, Caring for the Lost and Desperate in Fourteen Countries

"I have to take care of this [others’] wounded existence, and for me the first wounded existence I must heal is my own. Today if we are not specialists, nobody will listen to us. Our competence to enter into this wounded nature is the mercy that we have received to be healed of our own wounded nature. Which one of us cannot say we are wounded in some way? Who among us still does not have open wounds? This wounded existence is us, every one of us. It is the first school for being able to close to the wounds of others.

"Today we are credible only if we have experience. We can say that we are experts. Personally I assure you that I feel that I can love only because I am continually filled up by God’s Divine Mercy. You know what mercy means? It means to become wounded by sin. This is my experience. The wound of my sin guarantees that the love that I give to my brothers is authentic. You know that I work with those who are addicted to drugs and that I live with them in a material and physical sense, but I live in their wounds. I get dirty in their mud, and I suffer in their darkness. The healing of these wounds cannot come from my natural compassion, from my human comprehension, or from the love of a consecrated woman.

________
What will you do with your Homeless in America?

VOTE – Scroll down & vote in the polls.
COMMENT – Daily insights, prayers, thanksgiving & praise.
SUBSCRIBE! –Top right column.
LIST – Yourself as a blog “Follower” middle right column.
INVITE – Friends and family to Subscribe!
http://www.homelessinamerica.blogspot.com/
VISIT – http://www.servantsofthefather.org/
DONATE - http://www.servatsofthefather.org/donation
JOIN OUR TEAM – Vocations@ServantsoftheFather.org

Homeless In America is Rated by RSSMicro FeedRank in the top 8% of
Lifestyles/Religion Blog Feeds & Reads

It's a Question of Mission

Throughout the ages of Christianity it seems as though Christians have struggled with defining their core mission. For instance, was it building church buildings or even achieving world domination? Of course Jesus said at the outset of his ministry what his mission was … from day one he stated … that he had come to “preach good news to the poor and to set the captive free” (cf. Luke 4:16-21). But is our mission to the poor the same as Christ’s or is there different expectations for our lives today?

About six months ago, Homeless America set out to poll subscribers and readers their opinion about concern for the poor. We asked the question: “Jesus commanded that His followers clothe, feed and care for the poor. Who does that apply to today?” Here is how they responded …

82% believe that every Christian everywhere is responsible for Jesus’ command that His followers should clothe, feed and care for the poor.

7% responded that specialists like missionaries are now responsible to carry out His command.

7% thought that Church poverty committees are best suited for the task.

3% are not sure.

Thank you for participating! Please scroll down to the bottom of the page and participate in all the Homeless In America polls. New ones are forthcoming.

_______

What will you do with your Homeless in America?

VOTE – Scroll down & vote in the polls.

SUBSCRIBE! –Top right column.