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Thursday, March 31, 2011

I was hungry and you gave me something to eat - like granola bars, cheese crackers and Jell-O cups.

If you would like to donate supplies to the homeless, here is your list. Homeless In America’s StreetReach, any homeless shelter or rescue mission would love for you to email, call or drop off the good news of a donation. Be creative. Your church family may like to have a special Sunday theme, such as “Sock it to Me” and collect athletic socks for the homeless, or when the Bible readings or preaching has water in the theme, collect cases of bottled water. In the words of Jesus . . . “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: 35-36

  • CLOTHING: Underwear, Athletic socks, Sneakers, Jeans, T-shirts, Sweat shirts, Sweat pants, Jackets.

  • SLEEPING: Pillows, Blankets, Sleeping bags.

  • HYGIENE: Tooth Brush, Tooth Paste, Dental Floss, Band-Aids, Neosporin, Cotton Swabs, Deodorant, Razors, Nail Clippers, Anti-diarrhea tablets.

  • NOURISHMENT: Bottled water, Packaged snacks (Granola bars, cheese crackers, Jell-O cups, etc.), Fresh oranges.


  1. Invite your family and friends to Subscribe! to Homeless In America.

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  4. Donate! To the poor homeless at http://servantsofthefather.org/donate_2_homeless or post checks to - Servants of the Father of Mercy, Inc., P.O. Box 42001, Los Angeles, CA 90042. All Donations are Tax Deductible.

Sunday, March 27, 2011

Energize Your Lenten Journey

Traditionally there are three main components to a profitable Lenten journey: Prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. So, here are 10 ways to live the Lenten season in a spirit of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. There is no particular order to these 10 ways, and they may not be the best or most creative ways. However, if you’re looking for some ideas to energize your Lenten journey, hopefully you will find one or two here. So, how have you been entering into the spirit of Lent? We’d love to hear some of your ways, so please feel free to leave a comment. Your comments may be helpful to the readers of this blog as well.
1. Read a little scripture each day about caring for the poor. Here is a link that will take you there . . . http://home.snu.edu/~HCULBERT/poor.htm

2. Journey the season of Lent with a good book like, Under the Overpass by Mike Yankoski.

3. Reach out to the poor in your “world.” Have lunch with the person who is hurting or rejected in your office, church, neighborhood or school.

4. Pray the Stations of the Cross and enter the world of The Despised, Rejected, Stripped, Poor and Suffering. Check out a number of ways to do this on YouTube.

5. Volunteer at a rescue mission or food line.

6. Give up soft drinks or other daily favorite and then give the money saved at Easter to a homeless person.

7. Collect t-shirts, socks, jeans, blankets and sweat pants among your friends and family and donate them to a shelter.

8. Go to Mass an extra day or two each week and ask to receive the grace to “see” the poor.

9. Take meals as they come, especially if you eat out – be less picky and less demanding – be simple.

10. Turn off the radio when you drive and pray the rosary or Divine Mercy for all the poor homeless souls in your community, nation or the millions who are suffering in Japan at this time.

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Subscribe! to http://www.homelessinamerica.blogspot.com/ top right column. Invite your family and friends to Subscribe! Scroll down and vote in the polls. List yourself as a blog follower, middle right column. Donate! To the poor homeless at http://servantsofthefather.org/donate_2_homeless or post checks to - Servants of the Father of Mercy, Inc., P.O. Box 42001, Los Angeles, CA 90042. All Donations are Tax Deductible.

Thursday, March 24, 2011

Rend Your Heart Not Your Garments

“Even now,” declares the Lord, “return to me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning.” Rend your heart and not your garments. Return to the Lord your God. Joel 2:12

Just as it was thousands of years ago, even today, it’s easy to think one is religious by feeling morally and spiritually superior to others. But the prophet Joel admonishes us to, “rend our hearts” not our garments. The prophet Isaiah asks Sodom and Gomorrah to forget about their “sex” problems, but to look at the bigger issue; the fact that they ignore the poor, the orphan and the widow. Today, amidst modern I-pods, Blackberries, designer duds and automobile idols, the Lord silently speaks to our “it’s all about me” generation, asking us to make the poor a priority. Are we listening?

A vision concerning Judah and Jerusalem that Isaiah son of Amoz saw . . . Hear the word of the Lord, you rulers of Sodom; listen to the instruction of our God, you people of Gomorrah! “The multitude of your sacrifices—what are they to me?” says the Lord. “I have more than enough of burnt offerings, of rams and the fat of fattened animals; I have no pleasure in the blood of bulls and lambs and goats. When you come to appear before me, who has asked this of you, this trampling of my courts? Stop bringing meaningless offerings! Your incense is detestable to me. New Moons, Sabbaths and convocations—I cannot bear your worthless assemblies. Your New Moon feasts and your appointed festivals I hate with all my being. They have become a burden to me; I am weary of bearing them. When you spread out your hands in prayer, I hide my eyes from you; even when you offer many prayers, I am not listening.

“Your hands are full of blood!

“Wash and make yourselves clean. Take your evil deeds out of my sight; stop doing wrong. Learn to do right; seek justice. Defend the oppressed. Take up the cause of the fatherless; plead the case of the widow.

“Come now, let us settle the matter,” says the Lord. “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.”
Isaiah 1: 1, 10-18
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Sunday, March 20, 2011

Touching Heaven On Earth

For many of us who live a middle-class or wealthy lifestyle, today we count our blessings for our food, shelter, affluence and abundance, but we should also include a “thank you” for our homeless family too. We are appreciative for these poor souls because without them, we would not have an opportunity to grow in the eternal virtues of love, mercy and compassion for others. The homeless are a gift! How so, you may ask? Because in them, is given an opportunity to fulfill the Lord’s command to clothe the naked, give food to the hungry, give water to the thirsty and shelter the poor.

Jesus said, “Blessed are the merciful, they shall obtain mercy.” The mercy of God is always right around the corner when we see the poor. It is through encountering their poverty that we become rich in the eternal qualities of holy charity. “For there are but three things that last, faith, hope and love, but the greatest of these is love.” We are thankful for the homeless, because in them, we are given the wonderful opportunity to touch the Lord’s emptiness, His abandonment, crushing and brokenness. We touch heaven on earth.
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Thursday, March 17, 2011

Dying to be Above the Law

“Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” Matthew 22:36-40

Let us pray . . .

R Lord, by knowing your love, let us give your love!

You loved us while we were yet sinners:
- Teach us to love those whom we often despise, reject & judge. R

You taught us endless, unfailing love through your death on the cross:
- Show us how to take up our own cross and follow you into the hearts of the unlovable. R

You gave us new life when we were dead to sin:
- Teach us to lay our lives on the line for the poor, the homeless, the sick and the dying. R

"Love does no evil to one’s neighbor; therefore, love is the fulfillment of the law." Romans 13:10

O God, because of your endless love and mercy, you sent your own Son to live among us and to die for us when we were trapped in the ways of sin and death. Through this Lenten season of fasting and praying, set us free from our selfish ways and to live your law of love as disciples of Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.
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Tuesday, March 15, 2011

It’s Raining Today


It’s raining today. It’s going to rain all day and all night. Me [I live in a house] - I’m going inside, but you? You live outside, remember? So, maybe you can just go to a shelter and stay dry. Actually, no you can’t. You have to be out of the shelter by 7:30am along with your 400+ temporary shelter-mates, rain or shine. How ’bout a library? Nope. Not an option. Okay, maybe you just find a doorway, or some steps, or maybe a bridge underpass. S**t! None of this sounds like fun.

Face it. Some days it’s going to rain while you’re out here. I’d be wary of going under a bridge to stay dry. You weren’t there first, and the folks that were aren’t very welcoming. Seeking shelter under a bridge is a great way to get your ass kicked, get mugged, raped if you’re a woman, or killed. Beware of the people under the bridge.

You’re just going to have to tough it out. There’s going to be a downside to each and every rainy day. Here it is. You’re going to get wet. So are your clothes. So are your shoes. So are your socks. No problem, just change clothes, right? Wrong. You’re homeless and you don’t have a spare pair of anything. By the way, you’re going to stay wet long after the rain has stopped.

Going barefoot! Good idea! Not.

Staying wet starts to get to you after a while–especially your feet. No matter what the temperature, your feet feel cold and they get swollen. And you have to keep walking so that you don’t get arrested for loitering. (Funny how that works! I could stand in the same spot all day long without a cop even noticing me, but you can’t – you’re homeless, and cops don’t like homeless people. They like to arrest them.)

You can feel the blisters starting to form. Your shoes, which weren’t the right size to begin with because you got them from a mission, start to get really heavy. It’s a labor to walk. S**t, this hurts. Don’t worry. After you’ve been out here for a while the blisters will turn to calluses. Today, your feet and legs will just get numb and they’ll stay that way as long as your shoes, socks and pants are wet–usually a couple of days.

Your pants are wet up to your knees. Splash! That’s what you get for walking too close to the road. Drivers love to splash homeless. Now you’re soaked. S**ks being homeless on a rainy day.
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Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Quite Possibly the Stormiest Winter in Over a Century

He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. Matthew 5:45

The winter of 2010 – 2011 will quite possibly go down in the history of weather journals as the stormiest in over a century. As it was thousands of years ago, humans feared the storms, especially the ones at sea. Now today, as it was this past winter, humans discovered in spite of all our fancy technology, we still lack the power to control our weather. We also discover that the poor and the homeless as well the rich and famous all suffer its wrath. Only God has the power to still the storm within or the tempests without.

“A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped. Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, 'Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?' He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, ‘Quiet! Be still!’ Then the wind died down and it was completely calm. He said to his disciples, ‘Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?’ They were terrified and asked each other, ‘Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!’” Mark 4:37-41
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Sunday, March 6, 2011

Newsboys Revisited

By Peter J. Eckel

It has been one hundred and twenty-three years since the death of Fr. John Christopher Drumgoole, the unofficial patron saint of the homeless newsboys of New York City. We will never forget his life and the children he served.

The homeless newsboys were a tragic story of poverty, exploitation and hardship that occurred in the 1800s, when they lived as a forgotten generation of street urchins — children without dreams, who were victimized by abuse, corruption, poverty and disease.

Keep in mind, the 19th Century saw an influx of immigrants into New York City – the population tripled in just twenty years. Much of the migration came from countries where conditions were poor. In Ireland at this time, during the potato famine, 750,000 persons were believed to have died. Many of the people seeking a new life were weak and sick when they left their native land. Many parents died during the long, hard voyage to America, or soon after landing, leaving their children in a strange country without family or friends.

There are no real accurate figures, but a good estimate would be 30,000 deserted kids lived on the streets of lower Manhattan; sleeping out homeless, like alley cats, exposed to extreme cold in the winter and sweltering heat in the summer. This terrible saga continued on for more than fifty years.

Coincidentally, it was also the Golden Age of the American press and saw the establishment of New York's great newspapers. The New York Sun was the first penny newspaper and also the first newspaper ever sold by newsboys on the streets of the city. Soon there were over fifty dailies creating great competition among the editors. In addition, there were thirty-two foreign papers and 120 weeklies being published in the city. This atmosphere gave birth to the newsboys and thousands of homeless children tried to earn a living selling newspapers.

Some were as young as six years old. They bought the papers from dealers and lost money on any that they did not sell. They were aggressive, shoving the paper under the nose of every passerby, but who could blame them? Most were homeless and depended on the money to survive. In the biting cold of winter the newsboy could be found yelling the lead story of the day while his teeth chattered.

All the boys were known by nicknames. As a rule, these names indicated some personal characteristic. A thin fellow would be called "Skinny". A studious boy would be called "Horace Greeley", "Professor" or something similar.

The first organized effort to help the homeless newsboys was made in 1853 when Charles Loring Brace, a Protestant minister, started a newsboys' lodging home, and founded the Children's Aid Society. In a period of seventy-five years, they sent 100,000 New York children to the Mid-West on orphan trains in order to get them away from the streets of the city.

Another pastoral hero of these forgotten boys and some girls too was Fr. John Drumgoole. Prior to his ordination to the priesthood, he was born and raised in poverty and knew the needs of the poor. For over twenty-one years he was the janitor for Saint Mary's Church on the lower East Side where he permitted the newsboys to gather in the basement for shelter.

Fr. John entered the priesthood late in life and was ordained at the age of fifty-three. Two years later he was named chaplain for the Saint Vincent's Newsboys' Home on Warren Street which was near Printing House Square. It was an old warehouse that the Saint Vincent De Paul Society converted into sleeping quarters. This was located just five blocks north of the former World Trade Center site. He went on to found a number of shelters, orphanages and organizations raising funds for an increase in services for the poor children.

Father Drumgoole was one of the first commuters between Staten Island and Manhattan. In March, 1888, on one of his trips, he got caught in the "Great Blizzard". A few weeks later, at the age of 72, he died. With his death the newsboys lost their best friend.

It is estimated that one hundred thousand people came to pay their respects. The Mass at Saint Patrick's Cathedral was crowded with hundreds of priests, bishops, and thousands of the poor and orphaned. Father John is buried at Mount Loretto in a mausoleum overlooking Princes Bay.

In 1941 a major highway in Staten Island was named in Father Drumgoole's honor. In 1973 the New York Board of Education renamed Public School 36 the Father John C. Drumgoole Annadale School. To keep his memory alive, a tower was erected at the church of his baptism in Abbeylara, Ireland where he was born.
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Tuesday, March 1, 2011

"Enriched by all you have given away."

Every day ask God to pour love for your brothers into your heart and put love for you into theirs. God can deny nothing to a community that prays this way, because it is his will that we love each other has he has loved us.

Where there is no love, put love and you will reap a harvest of love. Susceptibility is charity’s worst enemy, humility its best ally. You should be intelligent and holy enough to be the first to give way in a quarrel; and never let squabbles over trifles harm your deep union with your brothers. You may be in the right, but your duty is not to let the sun go down on your anger. Resolve each day anew to pray for your brothers. Pray that you may love, and love while you pray, and the grace of his love will find a way in.

Look on the call to brotherly love as the entry into an immense mystery, since it is your gateway into God himself. Where love is, there is God. You, with your brethren, give God a body, express his presence, and signify his action. Let your whole community in this way become a Theophany of his love.

To express this love in authentic action, you must live sharing. Share your time, table, roof, salaries and belongings. Possess nothing so that one day you may, like Christ, be enriched by all you have given away. Likewise, you should be able to say to each community member; all that is mine is yours. (Excerpt from the Jerusalem Community Rule of Life.)
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