Walking Advertisements

“I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.” Ezekiel 36:26

As we walk through our city streets, the primary place where the wealthy live and work, the homeless that we see on street corners, outside of shopping centers and pushing their carts down busy thoroughfares are walking advertisements. What are they advertising? They are proliferous lot of messages from God who cries out for the wealthy to have a heart. For it is so: without a heart of love, one cannot see God.

“Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.” 1 John 4:8

“If anyone says, ‘I love God,’ and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen.” 1 John 4:20
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My Prayer

I asked God for strength that I might achieve,
I was made weak that I might learn obedience.

I asked for health that I might do great things,
I was given infirmity that I may do better things.

I asked for riches that I might be happy,
I was given poverty that I might be wise.

I asked for power that I might have praise,
I was given weakness that I may be humble.

I asked for all these things that I might enjoy life,
I was given life that I might enjoy all things.

I got nothing I asked for, but received everything I had hoped for. I am among all most blessed!

More on the Internet at: http://thehomelesspresident.wordpress.com
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Pay What You Can Restaurant

Recently, Associated Press writer Wayne Parry reported on the opening of Jon Bon Jovi's charity restaurant in Red Bank, New Jersey. It is here that The Soul Kitchen, a "pay-what-you-can" restaurant opened that he and his wife Dorothea established in a former auto body shop in central New Jersey.

The restaurant provides gourmet-quality meals to the hungry while enabling them to volunteer on community projects in return without the stigma of visiting a soup kitchen. Paying customers are encouraged to leave whatever they want in the envelopes on each table, where the menus never list a price.

The restaurant is the latest undertaking by the New Jersey rocker's Jon Bon Jovi Soul Foundation, which has built 260 homes for low-income residents in recent years.

"With the economic downturn, one of the things I noticed was that disposable income was one of the first things that went," Bon Jovi told The Associated Press in an interview Wednesday before the restaurant's grand opening ceremony. "Dining out, the family going out to a restaurant, mom not having to cook, dad not having to clean up — a lot of memories were made around restaurant tables.

"When I learned that one in six people in this country goes to bed hungry, I thought this was the next phase of the Foundation's work," he said.

It started several years ago when Dorothea Bongiovi (she uses the legal spelling of her husband's name) and Jon started helping out at a food pantry at nearby St. Anthony's Roman Catholic Church. They later moved their focus to the Lunch Break program, which feeds 80 to 120 people a day, dubbing it "The Soul Kitchen."

They brought that name with them to a former auto body shop down the street from the Count Basie Theater, where Jon and his band have played many fundraising shows for local charities.

It took a year and $250,000, but the restaurant now rivals any of its competitors in trendy Red Bank, with entrees like cornmeal crusted catfish with red beans and rice, grilled chicken breast with homemade basil mayo and rice pilaf, and grilled salmon with soul seasonings, sweet potato mash and sauteed greens, many of which were grown in the herb and vegetable garden right outside the restaurant's doors.

Bon Jovi, who has a home in next-door Middletown, is adamant about one thing.

"This is not a soup kitchen," he emphasizes. "You can come here with the dignity of linens and silver, and you're served a healthy, nutritious meal. This is not burgers and fries."
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Who is Homeless?

By the National Coalition for the Homeless

Here are a few facts about the homeless in America:

DEMOGRAPHICS: Two trends are largely responsible for the rise in homelessness over the past 20-25 years: a growing shortage of affordable rental housing and a simultaneous increase in poverty. Persons living in poverty are most at risk of becoming homeless, and demographic groups who are more likely to experience poverty are also more likely to experience homelessness.

AGE: In 2003, children under the age of 18 accounted for 39% of the homeless population. This same study found that unaccompanied minors comprised 5% of the urban homeless population.

GENDER: Most studies show that single homeless adults are more likely to be male than female - 67.5% of the single homeless population is male, and it is this single population that makes up 76% of the homeless populations surveyed (U.S. Conference of Mayors, 2007).

FAMILIES: The number of homeless families with children has increased significantly over the past decade. Families with children are among the fastest growing segments of the homeless population. In its 2007 survey of 23 American cities, the U.S. Conference of Mayors found that families with children comprised 23% of the homeless population.

ETHNICITY: In its 2006 survey of 25 cities, the U.S. Conference of Mayors found that the sheltered homeless population is estimated to be 42 percent African-American, 38 percent white, 20 percent Hispanic, 4 percent Native American and 2 percent Asian.

VICTIMS OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE: Battered women who live in poverty are often forced to choose between abusive relationships and homelessness. A 2003 survey of 100 homeless mothers in 10 locations around the country found that 25% of the women had been physically abused in the last year (American Civil Liberties Union, 2004).

VETERANS: Research indicates that 40% of homeless men have served in the armed forces, as compared to 34% of the general adult population (Rosenheck et al., 1996).

PERSONS WITH MENTAL ILLNESS: Persons with severe mental illness represented about 26 percent of all sheltered homeless persons (Annual Homeless Assessment Report to Congress, 2008). According to the Federal Task Force on Homelessness and Severe Mental Illness, only 5-7% of homeless persons with mental illness require institutionalization.

PERSONS SUFFERING FROM ADDICTION DISORDERS: Among surveyed homeless people 38% have an alcohol problem, and 26% report problems with other drugs (National Health Care for the Homeless Council). [Usually this is caused by inadequate access to mental health care and “self-medication” becomes the primary choice to experience relief.]

IMPLICATIONS: As this fact sheet makes clear, people who become homeless do not fit one general description. However, people experiencing homelessness do have certain shared basic needs, including affordable housing, adequate incomes, and health care. Some homeless people may need additional services such as mental health or drug treatment in order to remain securely housed. All of these needs must be met to prevent and to end homelessness.
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True Religion is to be Found Amongst the Poor

Notable quotes from St. Vincent de Paul . . .

Go to the poor: you will find God. - St Vincent de Paul

It is from your hands that Our Lord, in the person of the sick, seeks relief. - St Vincent de Paul

Lord, help me to make time today to serve you in those who are most in need of encouragement or assistance. - St Vincent de Paul

Let us love God my brothers, let us love God. But let it be with the strength of our arms and the sweat of our brow. - St Vincent de Paul

Outpourings of affection for God, of resting in his presence, of good feelings toward everyone and sentiments and prayers like these ... are suspect if they do not express themselves in practical love which has real effects. - St Vincent de Paul

In spite of my age (79), I tell you before God that I do not feel excused from the responsibility of working for the salvation of the poor. For what could really get in the way of my doing that now? If I cannot preach every day, all right, I'll preach twice a week. If I cannot preach more important sermons, I will preach less important ones. If the congregation cannot hear me at a distance, what is to prevent me from speaking in an informal, more familiar way to those poor just as I am speaking to you right now? What is to hinder me from gathering them near me just as you are sitting around me now? - St Vincent de Paul

When you are called from your prayers or the Eucharistic celebration to serve the poor, you lose nothing, since to serve the poor is to go to God. You must see God in the faces of the poor. - St Vincent de Paul

The poor have much to teach you. You have much to learn from them. - St Vincent de Paul

The net result of my experience on the matter is the judgment I have formed, that true religion - true religion, Gentlemen, true religion [according to the Letter of James] is to be found amongst the poor. - St Vincent de Paul

The poor are your masters. You are the servant. - St Vincent de Paul

Let us, my sisters, cherish the poor as our masters, since Our Lord is in them, and they are in Our Lord. - St Vincent de Paul
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Love Fulfills the Law - No Need for a Lawyer in Heaven

“This is my commandment that you love each other as I have loved you.” John 15:12

[The law of freedom] it says to man: “You will love the Lord with all your heart, with all your strength, with all your mind and above all things, and your neighbor as yourself for the love of God.”

Translated: “You will love God more than anything else, and to love him, you will love others as yourself.”

For the Christian, it is impossible to love God without loving humanity; it is impossible to love humanity without loving other people; and it is impossible to love other people, without loving the people he knows, with a concrete and active love . . .
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Homelessness, a Saving Vocation?

God brought salvation to the world, metaphorically speaking, through homeless people. Adam and Eve were homeless when they were expelled from their home in the Garden of Eden. Abraham was a homeless nomad and Moses, after all those years in the wilderness experienced homelessness too. The Jews have perpetually suffered homelessness, especially in the wilderness, then during the Babylonian captivity and most recently, for 2,000 years when having no homeland up to the founding of their new home after WW II.

Lastly and most importantly, the Savior of the world was homeless too – Jesus, as well as his mother and father - Mary and Joseph while on the road for the census and then again on the road to Egypt. Jesus was homeless during the three years of his public ministry too.

Question: Today, how does God bring salvation to the world through those around us who are homeless?
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Who are the wicked? They are the ones who do not see the poor.

He sins who despises the hungry, but happy is he who is kind to the poor! Proverbs 14:21

Psalm 112

Praise the Lord! Blessed are those who fear the Lord, who find great delight in his commands. Their children will be mighty in the land; the generation of the upright will be blessed.
Wealth and riches are in their houses, and their righteousness endures forever.
Even in darkness light dawns for the upright, for those who are gracious and compassionate and righteous. Good will come to those who are generous and lend freely, who conduct their affairs with justice.

The righteous will never be shaken; they will be remembered forever. They will have no fear of bad news; their hearts are steadfast, trusting in the Lord. Their hearts are secure, they will have no fear; in the end they will look in triumph on their foes. They have freely scattered their gifts to the poor, their righteousness endures forever; their horn will be lifted high in honor.

The wicked will see and be vexed, they will gnash their teeth and waste away; the longings of the wicked will come to nothing.

"He who has compassion on the poor lends to the Lord, and he will repay him for his good deed." Proverbs 19:17
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Were Adam and Eve Homeless?

Throughout human history, homelessness is more common than one would think. The reality is that in most cases even today as it was so long ago, homelessness is usually a temporary circumstance -- not a permanent condition. A more appropriate measure of the magnitude of homelessness is to look at the number of people who experience homelessness over time, not the number of “homeless people” who permanently live that way. In that case, the numbers are staggering.

Today, a new quiz poll and survey is launched – Which Bible personalities experienced homelessness? For example, were Adam and Eve homeless? How about Abraham and Moses, or Mary and Joseph? If so, what might be the spiritual message hidden in the historicity of their lives and their stories?

Please scroll to near the bottom of this main page and participate in this new survey. God bless you and thank you for participating in all the polls posted below.
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The Blessed Pain of the Homeless and all who Suffer Greatly

By St. Padre Pio

Jesus tells me that in love it is he who delights me, while in suffering, on the other hand, it is I who give pleasure to him. Now, to desire good health would mean seeking happiness for myself instead of trying to comfort Jesus.

Your most perfect prayer is your pure suffering united to Me and My Mother. The prayer of pure suffering is the sweetest fragrance that reaches and delights the Heart of our Father. This is also the prayer that produces an abundance of fruit. This is the prayer that is most united to Mine as I intercede before the throne of My Father.

Yes, I love the cross, the cross alone; I love it because I see it always on Jesus' shoulders. By this time Jesus is well aware that my entire life, my whole heart is consecrated to him and to his sufferings.

Ah, dear Father, pardon me for using this sort of language; Jesus alone can understand what I suffer when the painful scene of Calvary is enacted before my eyes. It is equally incomprehensible how Jesus can be consoled not merely by those who sympathize with his torments, but when he finds a soul who for love of him asks no consolations and only wants to be allowed to share in his sufferings.

When Jesus wants to make me understand that he loves me, he permits me to relish the wounds, the thorns, the anguish of his Passion. When he wants me to rejoice, he fills my heart with that spirit which is all fire and he speaks to me of his delights. But when he wants to be delighted, he speaks to me of his sufferings, he invites me in a tone which is both a request and a command to offer my body that his sufferings may be alleviated.

Who could resist him? I realize that I have made him suffer exceedingly by my failings that I have made him weep too much by my ingratitude, that I have offended him too grievously. I want nobody but Jesus, I desire nothing else (which is Jesus' own desire) that his sufferings. Allow me to say it, since no one can hear us, I am ready even to be deprived forever of the tendernesses which Jesus lavishes on me, I am prepared to bear his hiding his beautiful eyes from men as long as he does not hide from me his love, for this would cause my death.

(Saint Padre Pio (+ 1968) was an Italian Capuchin priest who suffered greatly the bleeding wounds of Christ in his own flesh for much of his life. He also suffered the despisement of many who hated him and imprisoned him for many years in his own monastery under the orders of holy obedience.)
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