Odd News For Some

As odd as it may sound to some, there have been saints who, through the years have dedicated themselves to God with a strong desire for personal suffering and increased prayer. One example is Mother Mary Teresa of St. Joseph, the founder of the Carmelite Sisters of the Divine Heart of Jesus. She viewed suffering in such a spiritual light that she could say on page 284 in her autobiography, “It is my vocation to suffer and do penance for holy Mother the Church and for the freedom of the Church.”

At the death of her beloved spiritual mother, Pauline, in February 1874 from pleurisy Mary Teresa received the great grace to recognize the blessing of suffering so much so that she began to ask for crosses and sufferings for her whole life as she states on pages 17 and 22. She did this because she wanted to become nearer to God.

The homeless, by default suffer greatly because of lack of medical care and nutrition stemming from rigorous days of perpetual walking, lack of health insurance and poor nutrition. But what about the rest of us who are well-fed, well-clothed and medically made up? Would we be willing, like Mary Teresa to give up wealthy and middle-class comforts for a little or a lot of suffering?

Over the past nine months, bloggers and readers were polled the following question: “Would you pray for opportunities to suffer if you knew somehow it was good for you and for others?” Here is how they responded . . .

78% said, “Yes!”

21% said, “No.” More than likely, this group would prefer to take the suffering as it comes along in life, but not specifically to go out and look for it.

Thank you for participating in the poll. Please scroll down to near the bottom of this main page and respond to the other questions as well.
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Merry Christmas and Welcome to Our Family's Gathering In Pictures

Christmas Eve, the family had a big gathering. About 125 got together to receive gifts, talk, hug and even pray a little. As you can see, some came nearly naked, some were children and there were lots of youth and teens too. Angelina and Anthony played with the dog while the entire family received warm jackets, coats and sweaters that were generously donated by compassionate people at Our Lady of Guadalupe, St. Sebastian's, Sacred Heart, Corpus Christi and many other churches in So Cal. Some received packs of clean socks, underwear, prayer cards and rosaries. Everyone got a BIG gift bag "stocking" stuffed with cookie packs, Noah's Bagels, loaves of bread, Jello pudding and Dole mixed fruit cups, chip bags, water bottles, soda, fresh Sunkist oranges and more. The gathering was three hours and then everyone went their separate ways, a little happier and soaked in the Christmas Spirit. Happy Holidays from our homeless, broken, forgotten and abandoned family to yours!

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Christmas Gloves

by

Will Emaus

I see you every night.

You are part of my budget now.

I see you in the cold Michael, every night when I take my train.

I give you change every night, but tonight it's so cold.

I take my gloves off to reach into my pocket.

I see you shivering.

I give you the gloves instead.

Merry Christmas I say.

Now I'm the one shivering, now I'm the one cold.

The next morning a friend knocks on my door.

Merry Christmas he says and hands me a gift.

I open the box, it's a pair of gloves.

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Holiday Success!

On Sunday, November 28, 2010, the “Denny’s Holiday Experiment” was blogged here at HIA. In the article, we reminisced how this past Thanksgiving, it was discovered amidst cries of joy and tears of appreciation, the homeless really enjoyed receiving breakfast/lunch gift cards from Denny’s. In November, through a couple of generous donors, 26 - $6.50 cards were donated. The gift cards were randomly presented to homeless men and women sleeping on the streets and riverbeds of So Cal’s, Ventura County.

Since that article, one gentleman emailed and said, “What an inspiration, great idea!” He donated $10 online at http://www.servantsofthefather.org/ toward this coming Christmas outreach. God bless you. The owner of a restaurant in LA heard of the coming Holiday giveaway and donated $20. One woman, so touched by the idea, generously gave $50. A musician and his family sent in from Phoenix, AZ, $200 – all the proceeds from his recent music work.

All totaled, for this new Christmastime giveaway, $280 has miraculously arrived, thanks be to God. The good news? The Denny's cards will immediately touch 40 homeless men and women by providing them with the opportunity to experience a basic necessity that most Americans take for granted - a hot breakfast or lunch. The gifts will be passed out randomly over the Holidays and are loaded up with $7 each. Strategically, the $7 card value parallels the new Denny’s recession buster menu which provides for lots of choices. It’s called - $2 - $4 - $6 - $8 (photo). God bless everyone that participated!
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God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen, “Don’t Worry Be Merry!”

By Mark Chironna

The rich and powerful didn't get angels to visit them to announce that God had moved in the neighborhood...as a matter of fact, their intent was to kill this child (read the story). It was the "have-nots" that were given hope. I wonder how many "have-nots" are walking the streets homeless this Christmas that could use a flesh and blood angel to provide them a meal or a warm place to lay their head...or maybe there is no room for them in our inns anymore. The One who was born on this most celebrated day made some important statements at the end of His life. He often spoke about the least, the last, and the lost...and He said "insomuch as you have done it unto the least of these you have done it unto Me..." His idea of celebrating His life was visiting prisoners, clothing the naked, feeding the hungry. Those seemed really big issues on His agenda. Psychologist Carl Jung made a profound statement regarding "the least of these". For Jung, all judgment was projection. In actual fact he made it clear that you cannot give what you do not have. What if the "least, last and lost" was first and foremost you as an individual? So maybe the real meaning of Christmas will be found in those areas in your waking or sleeping life where messages about hope and possibility invite you to embrace a reality beyond the world that you see in front of your eyes. Perhaps my greatest enemies are the ones in my own soul.

What if part of Christmas requires reconciling all the parts of ourselves in the light of what it means to become truly human. What would it be like to come to a place where there were no enemies within you that prevented you from being the childlike dreamer that hoped against hope in believing Good News? What if the real meaning of Christmas is hidden somewhere in the reality that in order to be truly divine you have to become truly human, and the more human you are, the more you reflect the reality of the divine nature? Not sure if we are ready to explore all of those things, so in the meantime while you are out decorating the halls with boughs of holly, and listening to your favorite Christmas songs, the reality is that the holiday season has become a time of increased stress and pressure for many, and many people instead of being full of good cheer are filled with despair and need to know that it really is possible to dream again and believe in things impossible, and maybe the people that feel the most stressed are the closest to discovering that the real meaning of Christmas has been lost somewhere in the milieu of what we have made it out to be. It isn't worth the stress...the old carol says it well..."God REST YOU MERRY....gentleman" It doesn't say that they were "merry gentlemen" (or women)...the implication is that in the midst of crisis, conflict, and decision, if nothing else, Christ's birth is the promise of God bringing us to a place of rest that results in being merry. (Excerpt from Mark Chironna's December 14, 2009 article, The Real Meaning of Christmas, Huffington Post)
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Proud American Homeless Veterans Raise the Flag

American V.E.T.S., is a Ventura, California organization that uniquely helps homeless Veterans regain meaning and purpose by asking them to take part in something important and profound, like raising the American flag. The organization acts as a liaison between homeless Vets and organizations in the area who wish to hire the homeless as daily flag raisers at their corporation or government office building.

Statistics show that homeless Veterans make up about 30% of the homeless population in America. In the U.S., they total more than one million living on the streets and struggle for even the basic necessities of life; food, clothing, water, peace and safety.

To help raise funds for the homeless Vets, the organization also sells American flags for home and commercial use. For more information, visit http://americanvetflagpoles.org/.
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Greed and Confusion of the Christmas Season

The afflicted and the needy seek water in vain, their tongues are parched with thirst. I, the Lord, will answer them. I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them. Isaiah 41:47

The greed and the confusion of the Christmas season is only symptomatic of the ills of the 24/7 pagan world. It's a world in need of salvation. In prayer, let us cry out . . .

R Lord, help us!

In the endless demands of the season:
- remind us it’s all about you. R

In the conflict and confusion of family and relationships gone awry:
- teach us to love like you. R

When the hungry and thirsty cry out amidst the spectacle of holiday greed:
- become their bread and their wine. R

When refugees, migrants and immigrants walk in uncertainty and fear along unknown roads:
- come to take them by the hand and guide them to a place they can call home. R

Let us pray . . .

May the God in whose ways our fathers Abraham and Isaac walked, the God who has been our shepherd from our birth to this day, the Angel who has delivered us from harm, bless us and keep us in peace. Amen (Genesis 48:15-16)
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America’s Rich Volunteer to Become Poor!

The Associated Press reports today, another 17 of America's richest people, including Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg (photo), junk bond pioneer Michael Milken and AOL co-founder Steve Case, have pledged to give away most of their wealth.

They are the latest to join the Giving Pledge, an effort led by Microsoft founder Bill Gates and investor Warren Buffett to commit the country's wealthiest people to step up their charitable donations.

They've now signed up 57 people and their families. The list also includes New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, CNN founder Ted Turner and film director George Lucas.

Though not a formal contract, those who pledge are committing to give away at least half of their wealth to philanthropic causes either before or after they die.
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Saved by Works or by Faith?

We are not are saved by works, but by faith. However, works play a significant role in each person’s path to holiness, regeneration and sanctification. But first, in regard’s to justification by faith … Paul writes in Roman’s 3:20, “For no human being will be justified in his sight by works of the law, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.” Paul must be speaking here about the works of the law often connected with religious practices and observances. Although we may not be saved by works, however works of mercy and compassion toward the poor, the prisoner and the abandoned play a significant role in making us available to the grace of regeneration and personal sanctification. Personal suffering also contributes toward sanctification and holiness. Paul writes … “We rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces character and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us.” (Romans 5:3) Paul also states, “Just as you once yielded your members to impurity and greater iniquity, so now yield your members to righteousness (right living) for sanctification.” (Romans 6:19) He also writes, “But by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the flesh, you shall live.” (Romans 8:14) Life in Christ calls us to suffering, works of mercy, compassion and service to others that yield our members to holiness, sanctification and regeneration. The law certainly can make us aware of sin; however it can never sanctify us. Yielding our members to compassion and mercy will facilitate the Spirit’s sanctification process in our lives.
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A Message from Brother Lucidus that Homelessness is Okay, “Our Home is in Heaven”

Saint Francis [once] issued a letter “On the Ideal Friar Minor,” a letter which was not carved out of the air, but in which he employs traits and character of all his most faithful brothers. “The perfect Friar Minor,” said Francis, “must be as true to poverty as Bernard of Qunitvalle, simple and pure as Leo, chaste as Angelo, intelligent and eloquent as Massero; he must have a mind fixed on high, like Giles; his prayer must be like that of Rufino, who always prays, and whether he is awake or sleeping, his mind is always with God; he must be as patient as Brother Juniper, strong in soul and body as John de Laudibus, loving as Roger of Todi, and like Brother Lucidus he must not settle in any place, for when Brother Lucidus had been more than a month in one place, and found that he was beginning to like it, then he would leave at once, saying ‘Our home is in heaven.’” (Excerpt from the Doubleday Image Book, St. Francis of Assisi by Johannes Jorgensen)
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Why all of us are Technically Broken, Homeless and Unworthy Creatures

By Fr. Franciso de Osuna

“Do not let a day slip by without considering God's favors; praise and exalt his generosity, particularly in contrast with yours, for truly what you deserve is to be deprived of what you already have received. Do not delude yourself about being worthy in any respect, for whatever is meritorious in you is a gift from God. You are nothing but matter stripped of all good, and anything you might have is clothing God lends you because he wishes you to have it. Faithfully remember the gifts bestowed by nature as well as those you enjoy by chance and grace and by the promised glory that, unless you happen to lose it through your own fault, is as certain as the rest. Think intently about the special and general graces from the Lord and admit truthfully that you received them from his hand. Preserve them assiduously in the greatest possible purity and love them dearly, but even more, love him who so blessed you. Withdraw and guard against offending grace and the Lord of grace...

“A theologian who agrees with this says: 'Woe to those who remain silent and do not acclaim you, Lord, the source of all good things, for even though such people speak at great length, they are mute. Happy the tongue that thanks you, for it fulfills is purpose in life. It now begins the business of thanking your Maker in which it will remain forever.'"
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