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Wednesday, February 29, 2012

More Fruit Please

By Saint Gregory Nazianzen

I seek the fruit which increases to your credit. The gain is yours, not mine, except that because it is yours, it is ours, too, the benefit glancing from you to us just like the reflected rays of the sun. Did you feed the poor? Did you show hospitality? Did you wash the feet of the saints?

To preach the Gospel is a matter of necessity: the honor lies in doing so free of charge but so that you may learn to serve Christ by serving even one of the least. For just as, for my sake, he became everything that I am, except for sin, in the same way he accepts as his own even my smallest acts of kindness, whether you give of your shelter; whether of your clothing; whether you visit the prisons; whether you tend the sick; whether you just perform the most ordinary gesture of refreshing with a cup of cool water the tongue of a man parched with thirst, just as the rich man tormented in the flame asked of the beggar Lazarus but, in a measure of return for a life of indulgence on this earth and his neglect of Lazarus, who was hungry and full of sores, asked of Lazarus in the other and did not receive.

This, then, is what we require of you; and I know that you are not discomfited at the prospect of having an account asked of you either by us, or on the last day when all our affairs are gathered up. As Scripture says: And I am coming to gather your intentions and your actions; and behold man, and his work, and his reward with him.
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Monday, February 27, 2012

Proverbs for the Poor

• "I know that the LORD secures justice for the poor and upholds the cause of the needy." Proverbs 13:23
• "He who despises his neighbor sins, but blessed is he who is kind to the needy." Proverbs 14:21
• "He who oppresses the poor shows contempt for their Maker, but whoever is kind to the needy honors God." Proverbs 14:31
• "The LORD tears down the proud man's house but he keeps the widow's boundaries intact." Proverbs 15:25
• "Better to be lowly in spirit and among the oppressed than to share plunder with the proud." Proverbs 16:19
• "He who mocks the poor shows contempt for their Maker; whoever gloats over disaster will not go unpunished." Proverbs 17:5
• "He who is kind to the poor lends to the LORD, and he will reward him for what he has done." Proverbs 19:17
• "If a man shuts his ears to the cry of the poor, he too will cry out and not be answered." Proverbs 21:13
• "A generous man will himself be blessed, for he shares his food with the poor." Proverbs 22:9
• "He who oppresses the poor to increase his wealth and he who gives gifts to the rich — both come to poverty." Proverbs 22:16
• "Do not exploit the poor because they are poor and do not crush the needy in court." Proverbs 22:22
• "A ruler who oppresses the poor is like a driving rain that leaves no crops." Proverbs 28:3
• "He who gives to the poor will lack nothing, but he who closes his eyes to them receives many curses." Proverbs 28:27
• "The righteous care about justice for the poor, but the wicked have no such concern." Proverbs 29:7
• "Those whose teeth are swords and whose jaws are set with knives to devour the poor from the earth, the needy from among mankind." Proverbs 30:14
• "Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy." Proverbs 31:9
• "She opens her arms to the poor and extends her hands to the needy." Proverbs 31:20
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Thursday, February 23, 2012

The Holy Father's Lent Message: Develop a Special Concern for the Homeless

By Pope John Paul II, Lent 1997

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

1. The season of Lent recalls the 40 years spent by Israel in the desert while on its way to the Promised Land. During that time the people experienced what it meant to live in tents, without a fixed abode, totally lacking security. How often they were tempted to return to Egypt where at least there was a supply of bread, even though it was the food of slaves. In the insecurity of the desert, God himself provided water and food for his people, protecting them from every danger. For the Hebrews the experience of being totally dependent on God thus became the path to freedom from slavery and the idolatry of material things.

The Lenten season is meant to help believers, through a commitment to personal purification, to relive this same spiritual journey by becoming more aware of poverty and of life's uncertainties and by rediscovering the providential presence of the Lord, who invites us to open our eyes to the needs of our brothers and sister s in need. In this way Lent also becomes a season of solidarity with individuals and peoples in so many parts of the world who find themselves in very difficult situations.

2. For Lent . . . I would like to pause and reflect on the tragic situation of the homeless. As a text for meditation I suggest the following words taken from Matthew's Gospel: "Come, O blessed of my Father, for I was homeless and you took me in" (cf. 25:34-35). The home is the place of family communion, where from the love of husband and wife children are born and learn how to live; in the home children learn those fundamental moral and spiritual values which will make them the citizens and Christians of tomorrow. In the home too, the elderly and the sick experience an atmosphere of closeness and affection and support, also in times of suffering and physical decline.

But how many people there are, unfortunately, who have been uprooted from the atmosphere of human warmth and welcome typical of the home! I think of refugees, victims of wars and natural disasters, and those forced to migrate for economic reasons. I also think of families evicted from their homes, those unable to find housing and the many elderly people whose pensions do not enable them to find a decent and affordable place to live. At times these hardships lead to other tragedies such as alcoholism, violence, prostitution and drug addiction. Last June, while the World Conference on Human Settlements, Habitat II, was meeting in Istanbul , I called attention to these serious problems at the Sunday Angelus. I emphasized their great urgency and recalled once again that the right to housing belongs not only to the individual as such, but also to the family, made up of several individuals. The family, as the basic cell of society, has a full right to housing adequate to its needs so that it can develop a genuine domestic communion. The church recognizes this fundamental right and is aware of her obligation to work together with others in order to ensure that it is recognized in practice.

3. Many passages in the Bible highlight the duty to help the homeless.

In the Old Testament, the Torah teaches that strangers and the homeless in general, inasmuch as they are exposed to all sorts of dangers, deserve special concern from the believer. Indeed, God clearly and repeatedly recommends hospitality and generosity toward the stranger (cf. Dt. 24:17-18, 10:18-19; Nm. 15:15, etc.), reminding Israel of how precarious its own existence had once been. Later, Jesus identified himself with the homeless: "I was a stranger and you welcomed me" (Mt. 25-35), and taught that charity toward those in this situation will be rewarded in heaven. The Lord's apostles urge the various communities which they had founded to show hospitality to one another as a sign of communion and the newness of their life in Christ.

It is from the love of God that Christians learn to help the needy and to share with them their own material and spiritual goods. Such concern not only provides those experiencing hardship with material help but also represents an opportunity for the spiritual growth of the giver, who finds in it an incentive to become detached from worldly goods. But there is a higher motivation which Christ indicated to us by his own example when he said: "The Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head" (Mt. 8:20). By these words the Lord wished to show his total openness to his heavenly Father, whose will he was determined to carry out without letting himself be hindered by the possession of worldly goods. For there is always a danger that earthly realities will take the place of God in the human heart.

Lent is thus a providential opportunity for fostering the spiritual detachment from riches necessary if we are to open ourselves to God. As Christians, we must direct our entire lives to him, for we know that in this world we have no fixed abode: "Our commonwealth is in heaven" (Phlm. 3:20). At the end of Lent, the celebration of the paschal mystery shows how the Lenten journey of purification culminates in the free and loving gift of self to the Father. It is by taking this path that Christ's disciples learn how to rise above themselves and their selfish interests in order to encounter in love their brothers and sisters.

4. The Gospel call to be close to Christ who is "homeless" is an invitation to all the baptized to examine their own lives, and to treat their brothers and sister s with practical solidarity by sharing their hardships. By openness and generosity, as a community and as individuals, Christians can serve Christ present in the poor and bear witness to the Father's love. In this journey Christ goes before us. His presence is a source of strength and encouragement: He sets us free and makes us witnesses of love.

Dear brothers and sisters! Let us fearlessly go up with Christ to Jerusalem (cf. Lk. 18:31) and accept his invitation to conversion so that we may cling more fervently to God, the holy and merciful one, especially during the Lenten season of grace. I pray that this Lent will enable all to hear the Lord's plea to open their hearts to all those in need. Invoking Mary's heavenly protection in a special way upon the homeless, I cordially impart my apostolic blessing.
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Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Ps - alms for the Poor

• "The LORD is a refuge for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble." Psalm 9:9
• "But the needy will not always be forgotten, nor the hope of the afflicted ever perish." Psalm 9:18
• " Because of the oppression of the weak and the groaning of the needy, I will now arise, says the LORD, I will protect them from those who malign them. " Psalm 12:5
• "You evildoers frustrate the plans of the poor, but the LORD is their refuge." Psalm 14:6
• "This poor man called, and the LORD heard him; he saved him out of all his troubles." Psalm 34:6
• "My whole being will exclaim, Who is like you, 0 LORD? You rescue the poor from those too strong for them, the poor and needy from those who rob them.'" Psalm 35:10
• "The wicked draw the sword and bend the bow to bring down the poor and needy, to slay those whose ways are upright." Psalm 37:14
• "Yet I am poor and needy; may the Lord think of me. You are my help and my deliverer; O my God, do not delay." Psalm 40:17
• "A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling." Psalm 68:5
• "Your people settled in it, and from your bounty, 0 God, you provided for the poor." Psalm 68:10
• "The poor will see and be glad — you who seek God, may your hearts live! The LORD hears the needy and does not despise his captive people." Psalm 69:32-33
• "Yet I am poor and needy; come quickly to me, O God. You are my help and my deliverer; O LORD , do not delay." Psalm 70:5
• "He will defend the afflicted among the people and save the children of the needy; he will crush the oppressor." Psalm 72:4
• "For he will deliver the needy who cry out, the afflicted who have no one to help. He will take pity on the weak and the needy and save the needy from death." Psalm 72:12-13
• "Do not let the oppressed retreat in disgrace; may the poor and needy praise your name." Psalm 74:21
• "Defend the cause of the weak and fatherless; maintain the rights of the poor and oppressed. Rescue the weak and needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked." Psalm 82:3-4
• "But he lifted the needy out of their affliction and increased their families like flocks." Psalm 107:41
• "For he stands at the right hand of the needy one, to save his life from those who condemn him." Psalm 109:31
• "He has scattered abroad his gifts to the poor, his righteousness endures forever; his horn will be lifted high in honor." Psalm 112:9
• "He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap;" Psalm 113:7
• "I will bless her with abundant provisions; her poor will I satisfy with food." Psalm 132:15
• "I know that the LORD secures justice for the poor and upholds the cause of the needy." Psalm 140:12
• "He upholds the cause of the oppressed and gives food to the hungry. The LORD sets prisoners free" Psalm 146:7
• "The LORD watches over the alien and sustains the fatherless and the widow, but he frustrates the ways of the wicked." Psalm 146:9
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Saturday, February 18, 2012

How to Avoid the Dangers of Vanity and Self-seeking

By Fr. Leonce de Grandmaison

If we make self-forgetfulness the basis of the life of love of neighbor, the result is joy, common good feeling, tender charity, a limpid and shining atmosphere like that of a beautiful summer evening. In short, it is one of the principal strengths and joys of an apostle’s life. Why? Because when we forget ourselves, the qualities, virtues, talents and aptitudes needed to fashion and enrich life in common can develop and grow. A true family can unfold, free of defects and exclusivism.

Self-forgetfulness suppresses almost automatically, if we dare say so, the dangers of vanity and self-seeking. The barriers erected between individuals by timidity, differences in tastes, education and aptitudes are overcome or at least greatly reduced, leaving only what is needed to assure the variety and richness of life in common. When these forces, that have been purified and liberated by self-forgetfulness within the individual, are given free play, the joys of the common life reach their height. Then all live for each one, and each one lives for the others.

Self-forgetfulness likewise liberates the supernatural and apostolic spirit, enabling it to make rapid progress. Because when egoism is vanquished, unity of intention and spirit reign. And all the fruits of the Holy Spirit – “charity, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith, modesty, continency” (Galatians 5:22) – can ripen and scent the air.
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Tuesday, February 14, 2012

The Bag Lady

By Michael Valencia

I first saw the woman in the early morning hours, as she stretched out on a bus stop bench at the Brea Mall.

She was what people would refer to as a bag lady. She had a two wheeled push carts filled with her belongings. She was layered in tattered clothing. Her legs were swollen and wrapped in what I would later find out were tampons to absorb the fluids oozing from open sores. She appeared to be asleep, mumbling to herself in an apparent nightmare.

As I watched, standing nearby with some restaurant workers who had just gotten off work, she woke up and started screaming: "Stop attacking me, you damn Mexicans!" We all took a few steps back and looked at each other, shaking our heads. What can you do, other than ignore this person's anguish?

What are you gonna do? I had my own problems.

A year earlier, while riding a bicycle in Long Beach, I had been struck by a van. I had no health insurance, and the guy who hit me didn't have car insurance or money. I got stuck with a $115,000 hospital bill for a month's stay. The docs had done a great job patching me up. I had residual pain from the back injuries and the torn rotator cuff, but I had learned how to meditate the pain away without pain killers.

I recovered while living in a tent next to the 605 Freeway. I was – and am – lucky to be alive. And I decided, in an attempt to make sense of my survival, to dedicate a year of my life to working charity. I found a shelter in Orange County and started volunteering my time. By day, I helped feed the hungry and house homeless women. By night, I slept on the streets.

I started seeing the bag lady from the mall again.

She smelled like death, probably from the leg wounds. She'd rant at anybody unlucky enough to sit near her, calling them child molesters and drug dealers. She pointed at me one time, ranting. Selfishly, I took offense and responded.

"You don't have any friends, do you? Your family won't talk to you, will they? One of these days you're gonna say the wrong thing to the wrong person, and they're gonna follow you off the bus and whack you over the head to put an end to your miserable life!"

I could see she was hurt, but I didn't stop. "And you know what? The world will be better off for it." I got off the bus, feeling horrible over what I had just said.

Eventually I started working at the shelter every day. I slept in the kitchen, making it easier to put breakfast on for the women who stayed there.

I put on a good spread and kept a spotless kitchen. It made sense out of my survival; made the challenges I faced in my own recovery worth the effort. And the women at the shelter appreciated my work. These women, many rejected by their own friends and family, became like sisters to me. I knew what rejection felt like. It was our bond.

One morning, as I lifted the partition over the breakfast counter, I saw the bag lady from the mall staring up at me. She had shown up at the shelter, looking for a place to get out of the cold, and she quickly became a regular.

At first, we didn't talk. Each morning, I would lift the partition and there she would be, staring. Eventually, I'd say "mornin'" and she would nod an acknowledgment.

The people who ran the shelter placed her in the garage to sleep with some of the other women staying there. It was warmer than sleeping in the backyard, where many of the other women slept.

One night, I was passing by the garage when I heard laughter. I opened up the side door and bellowed with mock authority "What's going on in here!?"

There was the bag lady, almost in tears from laughing, telling jokes. It was almost like I was witnessing a miracle. A warm human being was peeking out from behind that street mask of filth and insanity.

Something needed to be done about her legs. The best we could do was to have a social worker get her admitted to the psychiatric ward of a local hospital. At least she could start taking medication for her delusions and get her wounds cleaned.

But it was Christmas season, and a psych ward isn't much of a place for Christmas cheer. So I started visiting her daily, spending a couple of hours at a time, shooting the breeze.

We would talk about places to eat, our favorite buses to ride, our favorite bus stops to hang out at; places we had been. The medical staff started calling me her "son". I didn't correct them.

From the hospital we got her into a rest home. There she would spend the next several months in relative safety and comfort.

I continued to visit as often as I could. . . I'd tell her that I didn't want her to die cold and alone on the streets. Finally, one day, after I had once again told her that I thought she was better off in the home, she told me that she didn't want me to come around anymore.

It broke my heart, but I honored her wish. . . That was the last time I saw her.

As my bus pulled away from the Transportation Center I saw her fade from my sight. A tear came to my eye. I didn't want her to die alone on the streets, but that's where she wanted to be.

What are you gonna do?

Contact the writer: Michael Valencia, 45, first published this story special to the Orange County Register. He has been living on the streets and in shelters for most of the past five years. He currently is staying at a shelter in Los Alamitos and working, on a volunteer basis, at the Southern California Indian Center in Fountain Valley. He can be reached via email at valenciamichael66@yahoo.com.
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Saturday, February 11, 2012

Corporate Sandwich Boards

On Wednesday, January 26, 2011, Homeless In America blogged a story that some people are chilled to the idea that wearing an ice cream logo can help keep the homeless warm. Some homeless now have commercial sponsors: they're sporting warm winter jackets with logos for Ben & Jerry's ice cream helping to raise money for a bunch of nuns who aid the needy. Should companies give for the sake of giving instead of treating the homeless like a NASCAR racer blanketed in an avalanche of logos?

Over the past year, HIA readers, visitors and bloggers were surveyed about this cool prospect. Is this a case of being “corporate sandwich boards” or receiving charity? Here is how everyone responded:

52% felt they were corporate sandwich boards.

47% believed it was a case of receiving charity.

Thank you for participating in this and all the Homeless In America surveys and polls. Please scroll down to near the bottom of this main page and participate in the others. Your vote counts!
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Thursday, February 9, 2012

Lucky Losers, God is Looking for You!

Feeling down and out? Lowly and afflicted? Thirsting for God? You are just the kind of person God loves and is looking for. Isaiah counters popular thought that God seeks out the rich and the powerful, the prideful and the arrogant to do his work. Lucky losers, crushed and broken – God is looking for you!

Thus says the LORD,
“Heaven are my throne and the earth is My footstool.
What kind of house can you build for Me?
What is to be My resting place?
“For My hand made all these things,
Thus all these things came into being,” declares the Lord.
“But this is the one whom I approve:
The lowly and afflicted man who trembles at My word." Isaiah 66:1-2
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Wednesday, February 8, 2012

A Song of Praise from One Abandoned Broken Homeless Man to Another

By St. Francis of Assisi

Most High, all-powerful, all-good Lord,
All praise is Yours, all glory, honor and blessings.
To you alone, Most High, do they belong;
no mortal lips are worthy to pronounce Your Name.

We praise You, Lord, for all Your creatures,
especially for Brother Sun,
who is the day through whom You give us light.
And he is beautiful and radiant with great splendor,
of You Most High, he bears your likeness.

We praise You, Lord, for Sister Moon and the stars,
in the heavens you have made them bright, precious and fair.

We praise You, Lord, for Brothers Wind and Air,
fair and stormy, all weather's moods,
by which You cherish all that You have made.

We praise You, Lord, for Sister Water,
so useful, humble, precious and pure.

We praise You, Lord, for Brother Fire,
through whom You light the night.
He is beautiful, playful, robust, and strong.

We praise You, Lord, for Sister Earth,
who sustains us
with her fruits, colored flowers, and herbs.

We praise You, Lord, for those who pardon,
for love of You bear sickness and trial.
Blessed are those who endure in peace,
by You Most High, they will be crowned.

We praise You, Lord, for Sister Death,
from whom no-one living can escape.
Woe to those who die in their sins!
Blessed are those that She finds doing Your Will.
No second death can do them harm.

We praise and bless You, Lord, and give You thanks,
and serve You in all humility.

(St. Francis died in 1226 while preaching Psalm 141. It is said, that of all God’s creatures, Francis lived the most like the Master himself, in poverty and brokenness. Francis received the wounds of Christ in his hands, feet and side – the stigmata was delivered by the fiery hand of an angel in 1224.)
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Sunday, February 5, 2012

Alone but not Abandoned

Feelings of aloneness, of being abandoned are not unusual. Disappointment can often come from those who are closest to us. Isaiah, 1,000s of years ago writes, “Though a mother forsakes her child, I will not forsake you.” (Cf. Isaiah 49:15) The psalmist David said, “Even if my father and mother abandon me, the Lord will hold me close.” (Psalm 27:10) And Jesus cried out, alone on the cross, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" (Matthews 27:46). In today’s sound bite, the book of Sirach expresses hope and help for all those who feel alone, forsaken and abandoned:

“I looked for someone to help me, but there was no one there. But then, O Lord, I remembered how merciful you are and what you had done in times past. I remembered that you rescue those who rely on you, that you save them from their enemies.

“Then from here on earth I prayed to you to rescue me from death. I prayed, O Lord, you are my father; do not abandon me to my troubles when I am helpless against arrogant enemies. I will always praise you and sing hymns of thanksgiving.

“You answered my prayer, and saved me from the threat of destruction. And so I thank you and praise you. O Lord, I praise you!” (Sirach 51:7-12)
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