"Blind Side"

Imagine driving down the street, it’s cold outside and you see a 6-foot 5-inch, 340-pound African-American teenager shivering in shorts and a T-shirt. Would you stop and help him? More importantly, would you offer him a place to stay if you knew he was homeless? Those were the questions that faced the Tuohy family in the movie “The Blind Side.”

“Blind Side” is a film based on a true story and the best-selling book by Michael Lewis, “The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game.” The movie is the story of Michael Oher, played by Quinton Aaron, a homeless teen living on the streets of Memphis, who is taken in by a rich family and given a second chance at life.

According to the Memphis school system, Oher, was a lost cause when he entered Briarcrest Christian School with a grade point average of 0.3. Oher, often referred to as “Big Mike” is the only African American at the private high school. His mother was addicted to crack and he didn’t know who his father was. He not only walks through the halls of Briarcrest alone, he walks through life alone. But, with the help of the Tuohys, he learns to depend on people, improves his grades and learns a new sport: football.

The film may look like just another football flick, but it is really the story about the remarkable Tuohy family and how the love and support they express for each other changes their lives and the life of a homeless teen, Michael Oher. The critics give two thumbs up and a grade of B+ for “Blind Side”!
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Got Plans for Easter Yet?

Instead of thinking about how we’re going to celebrate and how much we’re going to eat this coming Easter – how about planning a celebration that includes the homeless?

Take it from David and Olga Ott, Catholics who last Easter were the only two volunteers working the lunch shift at Faith Mission in Columbus, Ohio. “No big deal”, they said, but a good way to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

"I think it's what God wanted us to be doing," said David, 42, the human-resource director for the Columbus Developmental Center.

The Otts said they are trying to teach their children about the importance of service, especially in an economy where money is tight.

The mission, which provides food, shelter and counseling at 315 E. Long St., is operated by Lutheran Social Services of Central Ohio. Its community kitchen serves three meals a day to the poor and homeless, said Tony Williams, director of dining and volunteer services. "Holidays are special days, but our mission is to provide a nourishing meal every day," Williams said.

Since last Easter, the Otts made a decision to start volunteering regularly at the mission, where they served meals occasionally more than nine years ago.

So, join the Easter chorus this year at any local mission! Unite with David and Olga Ott as they heap piles of rigatoni and bow-tie pasta on plastic plates shouting out a "There you are sir," or "Happy Easter" to every homeless guest.

Last year, after everyone was fed, the Otts returned home to their family. They weren't sure whether the ham dinner his mother had prepared would still be warm, but it didn't much matter. They had already celebrated Easter.
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Good News! There are Blessings for Those Who Help the Poor

Prov. 22:9 He who is generous will be blessed, for he gives some of his food to the poor.

Jer. 22:16 Did not your father eat and drink, and do justice and righteousness? Then it was well with him. He pled the cause of the afflicted and needy; then it was well. Is that not what it means to know Me?" declares the LORD.

Deut. 15:10. You shall give generously to [your poor brother], and your heart shall not be grieved when you give to him, because for this thing the LORD your God will bless you in all your work and in all your undertakings.

Prov. 19:17. He who is gracious to a poor man lends to the LORD, and He will repay him for his good deed.

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A Great Prayer to Prevent Spiritual "Homelessness" Upon Your Death

By Brother Ildefonso M. Izaguirre O.P.

Prostrated to your feet and humiliated by my sins, with full trust I come to you, Oh Mary! I beg you to accept the request that my heart comes to present before you, for the last moments of my life. Dear Mother, I wish to ask your protection and maternal love. So at the final moment, you do all that your love suggests in my favor.

To you, Oh Mother of my soul, I consecrate the last two hours of my life. Hurry to my side and receive my last breath. And when death has destroyed the string of my days, present my soul to Jesus, saying: “I love it.”

That word only spoken by you, will be enough to insure the blessing of God; and the joy of contemplating you through eternity.

Oh my Mother and Hope in you I trust. And my trust won´t be in vain. Oh Mary! Pray for your son and guide him to Jesus!
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Lazarus

by Jean Vanier

I think there is a whole mystery which we find in Luke. Lazarus was an excluded outcast, a leper, and he is the one that enters into the kingdom. The rich man, who wasn't able to see him, rejected him. He goes into the place of torment. You see, the danger for rich people is that they become frightened and they build up barriers around their hearts, defense mechanisms, because they have to preserve their riches, preserve their image, preserve their power. So they become people of with lots of fear, whereas Lazarus has nothing to defend. He's just himself.

[But by Christ, the real sin was not wealth itself, but the fact that the wealthy do not see the poor, they are blind to the poor.]

And if you are blind to the poor, you become blind to God, and there is the mystery because the word became flesh, became little, became crucified. We know He is hidden in the poor and the weak and the fragile and whatever you do to the weak, whatever you do to the hungry, the thirsty, you do unto Jesus. There are those incredible words of Jesus, "Whoever among you who welcomes one of these little ones, welcomes me."
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The next StreetReach days helping the homeless living on our very own American streets are coming next weekend. Please partner with us to sponsor water ($20), van insurance ($50), Bibles ($75), and there is an urgent need for van upkeep. Donate at: http://www.servantsofthefather.org/donation_homeless or post checks to - Servants of the Father of Mercy, Inc., P.O. Box 42001, Los Angeles, CA 90042.

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Blessings for the Poor – Woes for the Rich . . . Your Words are Spirit and Life Oh, Lord

[Jesus] came down with them and stood on a stretch of level ground. A great crowd of his disciples and a large number of the people from all Judea and Jerusalem and the coastal region of Tyre and Sidon came to hear him and to be healed of their diseases; and even those who were tormented by unclean spirits were cured.

And raising his eyes toward his disciples he said: "Blessed are you who are poor, for the kingdom of God is yours. Blessed are you who are now hungry, for you will be satisfied. Blessed are you who are now weeping, for you will laugh. Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude and insult you, and denounce your name as evil on account of the Son of Man. Rejoice and leap for joy on that day! Behold, your reward will be great in heaven. For their ancestors treated the prophets in the same way. But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation. But woe to you who are filled now, for you will be hungry. Woe to you who laugh now, for you will grieve and weep. Woe to you when all speak well of you, for their ancestors treated the false prophets in this way. The Gospel according to Luke, chapter 6.
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Lynched by the Lawless and the Bigoted

The recent brutal assault and murder of a homeless woman in downtown Berkeley, California brings into sharp focus the terrible dangers faced by women living on the streets. Homelessness is dangerous and even a life-threatening predicament for everyone who undergoes it. But because of their vulnerability to the ever-present threat of assault, rape and murder, homeless women face a heightened risk of violence and death on the streets.

Mary Katherine King, a 45-year-old woman who had a master's degree in history and had worked as a teacher before becoming homeless, was sleeping near the corner of California Street and University Avenue in Berkeley. While she slept, all alone, four men came up to her after midnight, and two of them kicked her in the head and beat her into unconsciousness.

Possibly one good came from her death. Mary Katherine King died to make us understand the human costs of allowing thousands of women, men and children to remain homeless. We complacently allow our fellow human beings -- even disabled people, and women with children -- to face the hazards of street life, isolated and unprotected. We have grown increasingly unconcerned about the terrible dangers of allowing vulnerable people to languish on the streets. In a very real way, our society neglects people to death.

Everyone is at risk. Last July 18, Dalrus Joseph Brown, 52, was viciously murdered in the middle of the night by a group of young men, ages 15-16, who attacked him while he was sleeping along the railroad tracks in Oakland, California. The teenagers repeatedly kicked Brown, shot him with a BB gun, and beat him to death with metal pipes and boards, then tore apart his little shelter.

The murders of Mary Katherine King in Berkeley and Dalrus Joseph Brown in Oakland are local examples of a growing wave of violent crimes against homeless people. In California and across the nation, homeless people have been stalked, denounced as bums and drug addicts, then attacked, beaten, set on fire, slashed with knives and shot to death. Many of the attacks are committed by impressionable people who are influenced by the public defamation of homeless people by the media and politicians.

Over the last four years, the National Coalition for the Homeless has carefully documented 280 hate crimes against homeless people, including 131 murders. The crimes have ranged from beheading to drowning to firebombing.

A widespread prejudice makes up a "Continuum of Contempt" that stretches from the bigoted anti-homeless rants of talk radio, to the anti-homeless laws passed by city officials, all the way to the new wave of hate crimes and murders of people living on the streets. Apparently, it is socially acceptable today in mainstream society and in the media to make bigoted remarks against homeless people that could not be made in public against any other minority.

Where have we seen this very same pattern in American history? African-American citizens were vilified by racists at all levels of society, criminalized by segregation laws, and had their civil rights constantly violated. This prejudice found its most savage expression in the lynchings and murder of innocent people by racist criminals. Lynching has long been considered one of the most horrifying evils of our national history. But now homeless people are denigrated and denounced, criminalized by a new kind of segregation decree, and even murdered -- lynched -- by the lawless and bigoted.

More on the Internet:
http://www.thestreetspirit.org/April2005/murder.htm
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Charity Delivers from Death

"Give alms from your possessions to all who live uprightly, and do not let your eye begrudge the gift when you make it. Do not turn your face away from any poor man, and the face of God will not be turned away from you. If you have many possessions, make your gift from them in proportion; if few, do not be afraid to give according to the little you have. So you will be laying up a good treasure for yourself against the day of necessity. For charity delivers from death and keeps you from entering the darkness; and for all who practice it charity is an excellent offering in the presence of the Most High." Tobit 4:7-11

But when you make a feast, call the poor, the maimed, the lame and the blind. Luke 14:13

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Questions?

Hobos, bums, vets, bag ladies, hippies, runaways, drug dealers, somebody's grandmother lying there on the pavement...old winos and men without identity, drunks and lost souls, mentally ill and mentally challenged, crazy and insane, lost and alone...men, women and children look for a safe place to lay their heads...

Where is the tax money?

Where is the Church?
Where is God for these people?
Where is compassion?
Where is brotherly love?
Where is help for the less fortunate?
Where is Red Cross?
Where is Blue Cross?
Where is any Cross?
Where is my brothers keeper?
Where is Human Services?
Have we lost our humanity?
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He came to Comfort the Afflicted and to Afflict the Comfortable

Jesus had a special sense of mission to poor and oppressed people. At the outset of his ministry, sometimes referred to as Jesus' “mission statement,” the gospel writer Luke states that Jesus stood up in the synagogue at Nazareth and read from the prophet Isaiah: “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.” (Luke 4:18-19)

Clearly, God’s ways are not our ways. Although perverse by middle class and wealthy standards, Jesus spoke in twisted, inside out, turned around and upside down ways - “shock talk” so-to-speak. Essentially, in this “mission statement” as quoted by Luke, Jesus in effect is announcing – the purpose of my gospel is to comfort the afflicted and to afflict the comfortable! In the poor’s humiliation, I have come to give power to the powerless over the powerful. [But be aware] "My kingdom is not of this world."
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Go and do Likewise

For thus says he who is high and exalted, living eternally, whose name is the Holy One: On high I dwell, and in holiness, and with the crushed and dejected in spirit, To revive the spirits of the dejected, to revive the hearts of the crushed. Isaiah 57:15

Jesus Christ is the Word-made-flesh, Emmanuel, God-is-with-us. As it was 2,000 years ago when he walked among us, so too, today he dwells among the poor, the lowly, the broken-hearted and the crushed in spirit. He brings them peace and heals all wounds by the power of his divine consolation and word. His disciples are commanded to “go and do likewise.”

When the just cry out, the Lord hears and rescues them from all their distress. The Lord is close to the brokenhearted, saves those whose spirit is crushed. Many are the troubles of the just, but the Lord delivers them from all. Psalm 34:18-20
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We are not God!

by

Jean Vanier

"I think fundamentally we're all lonely but we cover up our loneliness. What I have lived is anguish and I think we all live anguish. Anguish is inner agitation. It affects sleep. I think that we are called to discover anguish. You see, anguish is the reality of human beings because we are not God. We haven't all the power in us. We haven't got all the resources that we need. We are people who are mortal and, therefore, there is an element of disintegration which is inside all of us. But we are very frightened of mortality. We're frightened of anguish so we cover it up. We go into the world of dreams or we go into the world of work. We become workaholics. We're frightened of touching."

Jean Vanier is the son of the late Governor General of Canada. He served in both the British and the Canadian Royal Navies, and in 1950 left the navy to study and teach philosophy in Paris, France. There, through his friendship with a Dominican priest, Father Thomas Philippe, he became aware of the plight of thousands of people institutionalized with mental disabilities. Jean felt God's call to do something about it, and invited two men to leave the institutions where they were living and share their lives with him in a real home. That simple act was the beginning of an international movement called L'Arche, French for "The Ark"— a network of more than 100 faith-based communities in 30 countries. At L'Arche, men and women with mental disabilities live together with their care givers in loving and spirit-filled homes.
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Henrietta could have Asked Obama to Fill up the Gas Tank Too!

In spite of the frequent playing of politics in the nation's capitol, every now and again someone comes out a winner. That's exactly what happened to Henrietta Huges (photo) and her son living homeless in the Sunshine State. Last year, a story emerged from a Town Hall Meeting in Fort Myers, FL where [Henrietta] Hughes was offered a home by Chene Thompson, wife of Florida State Representative Nick Thompson, who heard the homeless woman’s pleas for help to President Obama before a local and national crowd.

The house, said to be worth $150,000 is in LaBelle, Florida the first home Thompson bought after law school. She told Hughes, “Just give me the opportunity to help you.”

Hughes broke down in front of thousands when she told the president that she and her son have been homeless for more than a year. They are living in a pickup truck.

On the flip side of the story, Blogger Michelle Malkin, in a story on her Web site TownHall.com said that if Hughes "had more time, she probably would have remembered to ask Obama to fill up her gas tank, too." Politics aside, at least two people now have a home of the 3.5 million this year that will be homeless in America.
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