But as our Conception of God is, so We Ourselves Become

By Caryll Houselander

God is light, Christ is the shining out of the light of God. The property of light is to illuminate, to give beauty to all it touches, to heal all that it penetrates, to purify all that is submitted to its heat. The Incarnation is the dawn of Christ’s light in us. Our longing for that dawn is our prayer for the world, our surrender of self to him, is our gift of Christ to men.

There is a widespread idea today that it does not matter what our conception of God is like; how vague it is, how confused, even how distorted. “We all worship the same God” has become almost a shrug of the shoulders, dismissing the responsibility of knowing God as he reveals himself to be, as if to know him truly made no difference to us.

But as our conception of God is, so we ourselves become. If we think he is hard, we grow hard; if we think he is a kill-joy, we become kill-joys, if we think of him as an omnipotent secret police, all-present, all-seeing, all-terrible, we shrink from him, and the heart that shrinks from God shrinks to nothing.

Saddest of all misconceptions is the merely negative God; it is this that fills the world with negative, apathetic people, futile before the misery of mankind. Only Christ’s light can touch that misery. Only in that light shining within us can we see the long-obscured path back to human happiness and walk in it.

Certain moralists delight in depicting the path to happiness, which incidentally is the path to heaven, as not only straight and narrow but dark, treacherous and impassable, with the result that human initiative dries up, and courage is sapped at the outset.

Hard it is and beset with danger, but we are not asked to walk in it blindly; with Christ in our heart we see every step of the way. Light, Saint Paul tells us, is armor, the feet set in Christ’s crimson footprints are shod in flame.
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"Poor" Woman Gives Nearly $2 Million to the Poor

The Modesto Bee and ABC News reports that a “poor” woman left nearly $2 million dollars to the Salvation Army to care for the poor and the homeless in Modesto, CA.

Elinor Sauerwein (photo) was taught by her mother to never waste a thing. She never purchased a dryer, hanging her laundry on a clothesline in the backyard. She painted her home when it needed a touch-up and mowed her own lawn until she reached her early 90s. She refused to go to restaurants, the movies or pay for cable TV. It could be said she took frugality to a whole new level.

Needless to say, it was a shock when a check for $1,731,533.91 from the estate of Elinor Sauerwein was presented to the Salvation Army this past Christmas Eve.

John Bullock who took care of her affairs commented, "She said every dollar I save is another dollar that could go to the Salvation Army. Her goal for years and years was to amass as much as she could so it would go to the Salvation Army," Bullock told ABC News. "She did an excellent job at it."

Elinor Sauerwein grew her own fruits and vegetables in a small, meager backyard, and even at the age of 90 would climb to the top of a ladder to pick from the trees. The extreme frugality certainly paid off: At the time of her death, Sauerwein had amassed almost $2 million in savings.

"Most people around her thought she was poor. However, Sauerwin's friends knew she had money, but they just didn't know how much," Bullock told ABC News.

In the late 1930s, after Elinor graduated from college, she taught in a one-room schoolhouse in Crookston, Neb., traveling to her job on horseback. When she arrived, she'd light a fire to warm the room for the schoolchildren, teach, clean the room and hop back on her horse for the ride home.

She soon met her husband, Harold, and they married in 1945 and moved to California, settling in Modesto, where Sauerwein cooked for ranch hands on the ranch where her husband found a job. She later worked at LM Morris business machines, according to the Modesto Bee.
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Someone that is Doing Something

This past weekend, Steve Jordan gave up the comforts of home to experience life as a homeless person living outdoors in the freezing cold of the Grand Rapids, Michigan area winter.

Jordan, 41, a member of the Helping Hands Ministry of Thornapple Valley Church, said he hopes the experiment raises awareness about the increasing numbers of homeless people in the region.

From noon this past Friday to 5 p.m. Sunday, Jordan lived out of a cardboard box, warming himself at a trash barrel fire and eating food community members brought over. His camp was set up on the corner of Michigan Route 37 and Heath Road in the burb of Hastings. Invited guests were members of his church, youth groups and community groups – all asked to stop by and spend time realizing what it’s like to be homeless.

“I know there is a great need in our community. There are many gaps where people don’t get assistance,” he said.

Jordan is accepting donations and hopes to have raised $100,000 during the weekend event. The money will be shared with Green Gables, Love Inc., Thornapple Valley Church, and for future collaboration with United Way programs.
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Home is a Humble Heart

Again the bride said [to the Blessed Mother]: “Should those who build tall and sumptuous churches for your Son be rebuked? Or are they to be censured and criticized if they ask for a lot of donations in order to construct such buildings?” The Mother answered: “When a church is wide enough to hold all the people coming into it, when its walls are tall enough that the people going into it are not crowded together, when its walls are thick and strong enough to withstand any wind, when its roof is tight and firm enough that it does not leak then they have built it sufficiently. A humble heart in a humble church is more pleasing to God than high walls in which there are bodies inside but hearts outside. Accordingly, they have no need to fill their chests with gold and silver for works of construction, for it did not do Solomon any good to have built such sumptuous buildings when neglecting to love God for whom they were being built.” The Revelations of St. Bridget, Book 3 - Chapter 18
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Making Frozen Yogurt and Beggar Beating

ABC News writer Colleen Curry reports that the co-founder of Pinkberry Frozen Yogurt, Young Lee, was arrested today at Los Angeles airport on a warrant for beating a homeless beggar in LA last June.

Lee, who helped design the healthy, low-calorie dessert chain, is accused of chasing down a homeless man who approached his car in downtown Los Angeles asking for money on June 15, 2011. Lee and another individual beat the homeless man with a tire iron, according to police. The man was hospitalized for treatment.

Witnesses reported the incident to police, including the license plate of the vehicle, a Range Rover, which was rented in Lee's name. Police seized the tire iron from the vehicle, police said. Witnesses also helped police identify Lee from a photo display, allowing police to obtain a warrant for his arrest.

"This case is emblematic of how the homeless are among the most vulnerable in our society," Lt. Paul Vernon said in a statement. "Despite the challenges in the case, the detectives never gave up and eventually found the victim after leads took them to Skidrow and the local jail."

According to a 2006 profile of Pinkberry by the Los Angeles Times, Lee, a native of Korea, was a former kick boxer and bouncer who became an architect responsible for the chain's bright colored walls and sleek furniture. He founded the chain with Hyekyung "Shelly" Hwang, also of Korea, in 2005 in Los Angeles. It has since become a worldwide chain.
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The $88 Million “School Dorm Room”

An $88 million Manhattan apartment listed for sale this past November had the potential to break the record for the highest individual transaction in New York City history. It did!

The record was broken in December — by a 22-year-old. Forbes magazine reports the daughter of Russian billionaire Dmitry Rybolovlev is buying the 6,744-foot condo at 15 Central Park West (photo). Ekaterina Rybolovleva will soon attend college in the United States (it’s unclear which one) and she plans to use the apartment as her “school dorm” while attending classes. The sale works out to be $13,000 per square foot. That will buy her the luxury of four bedrooms, two wood-burning fireplaces and a 2,000-square-foot wraparound terrace.

While NYC poor homeless make it day to day on dumpster diving, crumbs and spoils, New York continues to be the city of blinding extravagances ranging from Serendipity Restaurant’s (225 East 60th Street, near 3rd Ave.) $1,000 gold-leaf-chocolate-truffle ice cream sundae and $1 million dollar ruby emerald pendants at 5th Avenue’s Cartier and Tiffany’s to now an $88 million posh dorm room on the upper west side!

[Jesus said] “I tell you the truth, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” Matthew 19:23-24

The saying was a response to a young rich man who had asked Jesus what he needed to do in order to inherit eternal life. Jesus replied that he should keep the commandments, to which the man stated he had done. Jesus responded, "If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me." The young man became sad and was unwilling to do this. Jesus then spoke the above response, leaving his disciples astonished.
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It’s Between You and God

“People are often unreasonable, illogical, and self-centered; forgive them anyway. If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives; be kind anyway. If you are successful, you will win some false friends and some true enemies; succeed anyway. If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you; be honest and frank anyway. What you spend years building, someone could destroy overnight; build anyway. If you find serenity and happiness, they may be jealous; be happy anyway. The good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow; do good anyway. Give the world the best you have, and it may never be enough; give the world the best you've got anyway. You see, in the final analysis, it is between you and God; it was never between you and them anyway.” Mother Teresa
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Discovering the What and Who of Our Eternal Home

By St. Augustine

What are You then, my God? What, but the Lord God? For who is Lord but the Lord? Or who is God except our God? Most high, most good, most potent, most omnipotent; most merciful, yet most just; most hidden, yet most present; most beautiful, yet most strong, stable, yet incomprehensible; unchangeable, yet all-changing; never new, never old; all-renewing, and bringing age upon the proud, and they know it not; ever working, ever at rest; still gathering, yet lacking nothing; supporting, filling, and overspreading; creating, nourishing, and maturing; seeking, yet having all things. You love, without passion; are jealous, without anxiety; repents, yet grieves not; are angry, yet serene; change Your works, Your purpose unchanged; receive again what You find, yet never lost; never in need, yet rejoicing in gains; never covetous, yet tough on usury. You receive over and above, that You may owe; and who has anything that is not Yours? You pay debts, owing nothing; remit debts, losing nothing. And what have I now said, my God, my life, my holy joy? Or what can any man say when he speaks of You? Yet woe to him that speaks not of You, since mute are even the most eloquent without You.

Oh! That I might rest in You! Oh! That You would enter into my heart, and inebriate it, that I may forget my ills, and embrace You, my sole good! What are You to me? In Your pity, teach me to utter your goodness. Or what am I to You that You demand my love, and, if I do not give it, are obsessed with me, and threaten me with the most grievous afflictions? Is it then a great anguish to not love You? Oh! For Your mercies’ sake, tell me, O Lord my God, what You are to me. Say to my soul, “I am Your salvation”. Speak, so that I may hear. Behold, Lord, my heart is open before You; open also my ears and say to my soul, “I am Your salvation”. After this, let me make haste, and take hold of You. Hide not Your face from me. Don’t let me die — but I will die — but only let me see Your face. (The Confessions by St. Augustine, Book I)
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Living Penniless by Choice

Recently, Sarah Weir, a writer for Yahoo! Financially Fit, reported on a story of a woman who voluntarily chooses to live without money. Could you go sixteen years without spending any cash? That's how long 69-year-old Heidemarie Schwermer (photo), an Austrian grandmother of three, has lived without any dinero! Schwermer's journey to live without cash is the subject of a documentary film, Living Without Money, by director Line Halvorsen, which is screening internationally and will soon be available on DVD.

In 1996, Heidemarie, a former schoolteacher and psychotherapist, decided to try to live without money for a year as an experiment. As a child she had experienced deep deprivation as a refugee fleeing from Russian forces during World War II. Her family had escaped what was then East Prussia and ended up in Germany "penniless." She has always felt a sense of compassion and empathy for the homeless community that live in the city of Dortmund where she settled as an adult.

Two years before she began living completely without money, Schwermer had opened a swap shop where people could barter services and goods. It was such a success it gave her the confidence to take the leap of quitting her job, giving away all of her possessions except what could fit into a single suitcase and backpack, and moving out of her rental home. According to the Austrian Times, Schwermer says she "had become irritated by the greedy consumer society" she was witnessing.

She acknowledges that her friends were confused and her two grown daughters were initially shocked (she says they now accept her lifestyle). Schwermer lived nomadically, trading gardening, cleaning, and even therapy sessions for food and a place to sleep. She found it liberating: "Living without money gave me quality of life, inner wealth, and freedom."
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Knit Wits

In Dearborn, Michigan, The Times-Herald reports today that local school children under the direction of teacher, Julie Wieleba-Milkie, have come together at recess and free time to make winter scarfs for the homeless. They call their social justice project “Knit Wits.” Knit Wits is comprised primarily of students at Sacred Heart School in Dearborn, MI. “We’re doing this all winter,” said Ms. Wieleba-Milkie, director of religious education.

Robbie Grasinski, a 10-year-old fifth grader, is a first-time knitter, and said using the loom is pretty easy. “It sounded like fun and I just like to make stuff,” Grasinski said. He hasn’t set a specific goal for himself, and said he is just going to see how many scarves he can make. He said it was important to make scarves for the homeless “because they’re cold out in the winter and you want them to be as warm as possible.”

Arwa Saleem, a 12-year-old seventh grader was curious about Knit Wits, so she decided to give it a try during a cold recess. She has been working on her first scarf at home in her spare time while watching television or listening to music. “The homeless get really cold and they need a lot of donations and a lot of people really can’t give it to them right now, so giving them the scarves really helps,” Saleem said.

Her friend, 12-year-old seventh grader Maddie Kaplan, who joined Knit Wits with her, had knitted the traditional way with knitting needles with her grandmother, and finds winding yarn around the loom and pulling the loops over the pegs with a crochet hook much easier.

“I think it’s really cool because you can do something that you like to do and something also that’s really helpful for people in need,” Kaplan said. “It’s something good for them, even if it’s just making one small scarf. You’re keeping them warm no matter what.”

Yarn, craft looms, crochet hooks and discount coupons to local craft stores may be donated to Sacred Heart Parish, 22430 Michigan Ave. in Dearborn. For more information or to become a local Knit Wit, contact Julie Wieleba-Milkie via email at churchlady75@hotmail.com.
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A Message from Jesus for the Rich and the Poor

"A rich person, as far as his means allow, should give to the poor with divine charity. But you might ask: 'What should a poor person who owns nothing give?' He should have the right intention and think the following thoughts: 'If I had anything, I would gladly give it generously.' Such an intention is counted for him as a deed. If the poor man's intention is such that he would like to have temporal possessions like others but only intends to give a small sum and mere trifles to the poor, this intention is reckoned for him as a small deed. Therefore a rich person with possessions should practice charity. A needy person should have the intention of giving, and it will gain him merit. Whoever gives more weight to the temporal than to the spiritual, whoever gives me one shilling and the world a hundred and himself a thousand does not use a fair measuring standard. A person who uses a measuring standard like that does not deserve to have my gold. I, the giver of all things, who can also take all things away, deserve the worthier share." (The Revelations of St. Bridget, Book 2, Chapter 14)
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