From the Mouth of Babes

Chicago Tribune journalist Stacy St. Clair reports if Barack Obama does one thing during his tenure, little Aleshay Clay hopes our President helps the homeless.

The 7-year-old South Chicago girl worries so much about the destitute people in her neighborhood that she wrote a letter to Obama urging him to do something. Her two-line note is included in a new book called "Dear Mr. President," which features 150 letters and drawings from children around the world.

Aleshay, a 2nd grader at Bouchet Elementary Math & Science Academy, is the only Chicago student to be included in the book.

"Dear Mr. President," the little girl wrote on red, white and blue paper. "Could you please put homeless people in foster homes? It's good to be in a house because you can keep warm and you can have a bed to sleep in."

The other students in the book urged the president to, among many things, end war, make the planet greener and make it rain candy. Aleshay—who attends the same elementary school that Michelle Obama did—says she championed the homeless because she worries about them.

"I like homeless people," she said. "They are very nice, but sometimes they get cold."

While photos of Michelle Obama hang throughout Bouchet Academy, Aleshay has bigger dreams than becoming first lady. She says she wants to be president.

"If you're president you get to help people," she said. "I can give homeless people everything they don't have. I can give them a bed and food and water and they would be happy."
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The 411 on Wealth & Poverty

If we meditate on the poverty of Jesus Christ in His humble birth and death, we can start to see how ridiculous our wealth is here on earth. Most of us in America today crave after wealth and try to build it up as if we can take the stuff with us. We build wealth through our work, at home and even make our cars into some sort of idols. We compare our wealth to others. We compare our house and yard to our neighbors and either feel pride or despair. We are always trying to “keep up with the Joneses.” This is a silly game because everything we own will be rubbish one day. All of your toys, clothes, cars, video games, and movies will be destroyed. Nothing we have will last. So we work on building magnificent wealth, so we can sit on it and be worshipped for our success when in actuality our wealth is an absolute joke compared to the wealth of Jesus Christ who is seated at the right hand of the Father in heaven. No matter what I build or accomplish, it will all be rubble one day and even while it shines, it is nothing compared to Jesus Christ seated on his throne in glory.
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Another Picture of David - Please Pray for Him

See, I Met This Man David, Thursday, April 22, 2010

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I Met This Man David

I met this man today as I was helping another man that had been homeless for about 18 years. He said his name is David. He does not have hands and his face is scarred on the left. He is more than likely an American Iraq war veteran. I am sending this to as many people as is possible [and Homeless In America] in the hope that our prayers will help him.

I was able to give him a full meal, however he did not want to go get any other help (such as that which is available at the clinic near by). He is filthy and the clothes that he has on are held together with a bungee cord. He did not have socks or under clothing and he is out on the streets of West Los Angeles near La Cienega & Beverly Boulevard.

PLEASE PRAY THAT THIS CHILD OF GOD WILL ACCEPT ANY ONES HELP NOW.

He was able to answer a couple of questions (such as his first name). He did want something to eat. We went to the food court at the Beverly Center, however he wouldn't sit with us. David really needs our prayers!

GOD BLESS EACH THAT IS IN ANY POSITION TO HELP OUR HOMELESS BROTHERS & SISTERS, ESPECIALLY THOSE WHO ARE SUFFERING SO.

Thank you for your prayers for David! With gratitude and love, Marilyn
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Prayer From Another World

Lord, open our eyes that

we may see you in our

brothers and sisters. Lord,

open our ears that we may

hear the cries of the hungry,

the cold the frightened, the

oppressed. Lord, open our

hearts that we may love

each other as You love us.

Prayer of Blessed Mother Teresa

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A Church Mary Can Love

By Nicholas D. Kristof

It wasn’t inevitable that the Catholic Church would grow so addicted to male domination, celibacy and rigid hierarchies. Jesus himself focused on the needy rather than dogma, and went out of his way to engage women and treat them with respect . . .

In my travels around the world, I encounter two Catholic Churches. One is the rigid all-male Vatican hierarchy that seems out of touch when it bans condoms even among married couples where one partner is H.I.V.-positive. To me at least, this church — obsessed with dogma and rules and distracted from social justice — is a modern echo of the Pharisees whom Jesus criticized.

Yet there’s another Catholic Church as well, one I admire intensely. This is the grass-roots Catholic Church that does far more good in the world than it ever gets credit for. This is the church that supports extraordinary aid organizations like Catholic Relief Services and Caritas, saving lives every day, and that operates superb schools that provide needy children an escalator out of poverty.

This is the church of the nuns and priests in Congo, toiling in obscurity to feed and educate children. This is the church of the Brazilian priest fighting AIDS who told me that if he were pope, he would build a condom factory in the Vatican to save lives.

This is the church of the Maryknoll Sisters in Central America and the Cabrini Sisters in Africa. There’s a stereotype of nuns as stodgy Victorian traditionalists. I learned otherwise while hanging on for my life in a passenger seat as an American nun with a lead foot drove her jeep over ruts and through a creek in Swaziland to visit AIDS orphans. After a number of encounters like that, I’ve come to believe that the very coolest people in the world today may be nuns.

So when you read about the scandals, remember that the Vatican is not the same as the Catholic Church. Ordinary lepers, prostitutes and slum-dwellers may never see a cardinal, but they daily encounter a truly noble Catholic Church in the form of priests, nuns and lay workers toiling to make a difference.

It’s high time for the Vatican to take inspiration from that sublime — even divine — side of the Catholic Church, from those church workers whose magnificence lies not in their vestments, but in their selflessness. They’re enough to make the Virgin Mary smile.

More on the Internet at http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/18/opinion/18kristof.html?em&exprod=myyahoo
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New Poll: Do Non Sufferers Need to "Bring the Bottom Up"?

Medicine has mitigated suffering to a large degree for us moderns. There are pills for practically every type of pain and even morphine for times when nothing else will work. But is suffering underrated? Jesus and the apostles suffered. Nowadays, the homeless and many of the poor are in dire straits and hurting badly. Paul speaks about pain in 2 Corinthians as if it is an old friend. He laments . . .

"To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong." 2 Cor. 12:7-10

Scroll down to near the bottom of this main page and participate in our new poll. What do you think? Do non sufferers need to "bring the bottom up" so-to-speak? Would you pray for opportunities to suffer if you knew that somehow it was good for you and for others?

Thank you for participating in this and all the Homeless In America polls. Your opinion counts!

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How to Escape Solitary Confinement

By Jean Vanier

I believe that the forces of life and the desires for communion are greater than the forces of death and hatred. At some moment in each of our lives there is an event that calls us to freedom and openness. At that point of epiphany we want to get out of the hole of depression and anger. We realize we are imprisoned in ourselves or our group, finding it difficult to relate to others.

A few years ago, Fred, a man in prison wrote to me. He had committed a serious crime and had gone to jail. One day he became violent with other inmates and ended up in solitary confinement. Aware that he had lost everything – his family, his work, his mobility, as well as his dignity and self-respect – he wanted to die. But suddenly, there rose up in him what he called “tiny stars of love,” it was an urge to find himself and to rediscover love. It was a moment of grace. For many of us, it's only when we touch rock bottom, when all seems lost, that this tiny light of hope begins to shine. We become aware not only of all the darkness in ourselves, but also the light of hope. At that moment, ascension begins.

To open up to others implies not only an awareness of our own fears, darkness and brokenness, but also the presence of a Light [God], a Love and an Energy that will give the desire to move forwards to openness and not let ourselves be controlled by the darkness.

Jean Vanier is the founder of l’Arche, an international network of communities for the mentally disabled.

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True Reformation

Hundreds of years before any Protestant reformation took place, St. Francis was at the forefront of true reform – renewal of the mind and heart by embracing poverty was his message for each Christian he touched. Poverty he showed was at the core of the Gospel and at the heart of the Christ-like experience. It is also the guardian of humility – the opposite of the pride that has resigned many former angels and also humans to the unsettling reality of “hell.”

St. Francis explains the gift of poverty in this way to Brother Masseo . . . “My dear and beloved Brother, the treasure of blessed poverty is so very precious and divine that we are not worthy to posses it in our vile bodies. For poverty is that heavenly virtue by which all earthly and transitory things are trodden under foot, and by which every obstacle is removed from the soul so that it may be free to enter into union with the eternal Lord God. It is also the virtue which makes the soul, while still on earth, converse with the angels in Heaven. It is she who accompanied Christ on the Cross, was buried with Christ in the Tomb, and with Christ was raised and ascended into Heaven, for even in this life she gives to souls who loves her ability to fly to Heaven, and she alone guards the armor of true humility and charity. So let us pray to the very holy Apostles of Christ, who were perfect lovers of the pearl [poverty] of the Gospel of Christ, that they may procure this grace for us from Our Lord Jesus Christ: that he who was an observer and teacher of holy poverty may by His most holy mercy grant that we may be worthy to be true lovers and observers and humble followers of the most precious beloved poverty of the Gospel.” The Little Flowers of Saint Francis, chapter one, #13.
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The Lofty Goes Lowly

It was not God’s pattern of being to remain lofty and above human suffering, our errors and evils. In Christ, God humbled himself and became poor like us. He entered our pitiable condition and became one of us in order to rescue each from eternal pain, suffering and death. Much in the same way, it should not be our pattern of being to remain lofty and removed from the suffering of the poor and homeless. God as our example, we are created to enter into the suffering of the poor, not to remain arrogantly above them, to consider them too much trouble or a burden.

Pseudo Macarius a fourth century monk tells it this way . . . “In the same way God, who transcends all limitations and far exceeds the grasp of our human understanding, through His goodness has diminished Himself and has taken the members of our human body. He withdrew himself from inaccessible glory. And through His compassion and love for humankind, he transformed His nature (Phil. 2:7), taking upon himself a body. He mingled himself totally with the body and thus He takes to Himself holy souls acceptable and faithful. He becomes “one Spirit” (1 Cor. 6:17) with them according to Paul’s statement – a soul, if I may so put it, in a soul, substance in substance, so that the soul may live in newness of life and become a participant of eternal glory.”

Pseudo Macarius (c. 390) was an Egyptian monk and hermit.

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Happy Homeless People Piss Me Off?

From time to time, Homeless In America blog gives other voices an opportunity to speak out about their impressions of the homeless. Below, a blog writer who is a daily rail commuter and who apparently lives in the New York area has a lot to say about the homeless in his city. Here is one person’s expressive gut reaction to these poor souls. It’s real!

Happy Homeless People Piss Me Off

So the other day I’m on the train going to work and sure enough I get greeted by a homeless person peddling for money. But today was a special day because a SECOND homeless person came in right behind him. To every ones surprise they then proceeded to entertain the people with a catchy medley about their current plight. Some of the lyrics went like this

“I’m out of luck
But I don’t give a . . .
Oh no no It’s mighty cold
A Ho ho ho that never gets old
It’s Christmas! Spare some change!
Do wap Do Wap Do Waaaaap”

Then they finished off the song with one of the guys popping a beat while the other gave a small speech about their current situation and with surprisingly good timing they both end it by saying “Smile! It won’t mess up your hair”.

Most of the saps and hippie tourists smiled at this sad display of beggary but me, I couldn’t help but be annoyed. It got me thinking of Chris Rocks stand up where he said if a homeless person has a funny sign, they ain’t been homeless long enough.

Instead of thinking about giving them money I was wondering, how did these two guys find each other? There is an interesting story there that would make a great movie. Check it out! A story about two homeless guys who come together to ROCK the train karts of New York with their joyful humorous medleys about the derelict. They become a sensation and gain media attention when one day the Mayor of New York hears them. Mayor Bloomberg loves them so much he invites them over for dinner. A strong friendship develops as they help a rich old man learn there’s more to life than millions and millions of dollars.

Trouble ensues when one of the homeless guys feels like he’s ‘selling out to the Man” and goes back to the dumpster that made him the hobo he is. A fine lesson in integrity is in there somewhere, anyway the bums eventually come back together and become a national symbol for hope, inspiration and most importantly…shampoo.

I would totally watch that movie…

Excerpted from the blog, “Confessions of a Furious Mind” located at http://fotffthoughts.blogspot.com/
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Jelly Bean Prayer

Jelly Beans have been a popular spring giveaway candy at our Homeless In America outreaches, serving homeless living under bridges, in alleyways and on city streets with food, water, clothing and spiritual supplies. Now, at Fourth United Methodist Church in York, Pennsylvania, the folks there have enjoyed a happy combination of Easter solemnity and fun this year. They have come up with the "Jelly Bean Prayer"!

Jelly Bean Prayer
Red is for the blood He gave.
Green is for the grass He made.
Yellow is for the sun so bright.
Orange is for the edge of night.
Black is for the sins we made.
White is for the grace He gave.
Purple is for His hour of sorrow.
Pink is for our new tomorrow.
A bag full of jellybeans colorful and sweet.
Is a prayer, is a promise
Is a special treat.

Happy Easter!

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Interest Bearing Poverty

For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, so that you through His poverty might become rich. 2 Corinthians 8:9

Jesus set the gold standard for Christians and wealth. In spite of the lust for luxury we see around us, what is the norm? Well, you know the gracious act of our Lord, don't you? Though He was the King of Glory, he left all His wealth behind and became a man - a hobo here on earth. He went from town to town, begging for His every need. As a result, Jesus also set the standard for “interest bearing” poverty. How is that possible? How can a deficit be grown into an asset? Read on . . .

If there is any encouragement in Christ, any solace in love, any participation in the Spirit, any compassion and mercy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, with the same love, united in heart, thinking one thing. Do nothing out of selfishness or out of vainglory; rather, humbly regard others as more important than yourselves, each looking out not for his own interests, but also everyone for those of others. Have among yourselves the same attitude that is also yours in Christ Jesus, Who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God something to be grasped. Rather, he emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, coming in human likeness; and found human in appearance, he humbled himself, becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross. Because of this, God greatly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, of those in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Philippians 2:6-11
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Those Who Suffer Now Will Most Certainly be United with Him in His Resurrection

Apparently it is God’s design that, like Christ we suffer a little while with Him on the Good Friday Cross so that we may also share with Him in the Easter Sunday Resurrection. (cf. Romans 8:17) Father John Tauler (+1361) a popular Dominican preacher and theologian of his time puts the purpose of suffering this way.

“What if a person, who has given himself up entirely to God as the source of all his being and is lost entirely in his divine will – what if he does not always experience the sensible emotions of piety and of love; he is nonetheless pure of heart, none the less pleasing to God. The more God leaves a person in a state of natural desolation of spirit, the stronger does he establish him in supernatural grace. The more a person is tried by natural feelings of dread and anguish – as long as these are not intolerable – the more do these very sufferings become an element of security in his spiritual life by nourishing holy humility. They hold him back from ruin, they are like a stout wall built up between him and the danger of losing all the graces that have been granted him. These trials hinder him from rashness and over-security. May God’s eternal love, overflowing and ever faithful, thus be given to us.”

For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. Romans 6:5

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Lamentations of the Poor Christ

He was pierced for our offenses, crushed for our sins. Isaiah 53:5

I am the man who has seen affliction
by the rod of his anger.
He has driven me away and made me walk
in darkness rather than light;
indeed, he has turned his hand against me
again and again, all day long.
He has made my skin and my flesh grow old
and has broken my bones.
He has besieged me and surrounded me
with poverty and hardship.
He has made me dwell in darkness
like those long dead. Lamentations 3:1-6

Yet it was our infirmities that He bore, our sufferings that He endured. Isaiah 53:4

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