On Memorial Day We Remember to Pray for Homeless Veterans

Veterans make up almost a quarter of the homeless population in the United States. The government says there are as many as 200,000 homeless veterans; the majority served in the Vietnam War. Some served in Korea or even World War II. About 2,000 served in Iraq or Afghanistan.

The VA and several nongovernmental organizations have created programs that address the special needs of today's veterans returning from war. In addition to treating physical and mental injuries, there are career centers and counseling programs. But the VA still expects the homeless rate among the nation's newest veterans to rise because of the violent nature of combat seen in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Officials say many more Iraq and Afghanistan veterans suffer post-traumatic stress disorder than veterans of previous wars. The government says PTSD is one of the leading causes of homelessness among veterans.  "They come back, and they are having night trauma, they are having difficulty sleeping. They are feeling alienated," says Peter Dougherty, the director of homeless programs for the VA.

The VA says 70 percent of veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan saw some form of combat, either through firefights, rocket attacks or the most common strikes on troops -- roadside bomb attacks on their vehicles.  That is three times the rate of combat experienced by Vietnam veterans, according to the VA. (Source CNN)

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You Needn't Be A Rock Star To Affect Change

Many are big fans of Jon Bon Jovi, not only for his music, but for his deep involvement in the New York area community.  For instance, he has been a friend to Covenant House programs for runaway and throwaway youth for over 30 years, and last year was enormously generous in his financial support of a transitional living program for homeless youth in Philadelphia.

Jon takes on innovative projects like the Soul Kitchen, his restaurant in Red Bank, N.J. that offers diners who cannot pay the suggested donation opportunities to volunteer time to the kitchen or in the community in order to earn a “dining certificate.” And he is continually pushing creative solutions to the poverty and hardship that weigh kids down. On June 12 at Covenant House's Night of Broadway Stars concert in Lincoln Center, Jon will receive the Beacon of Hope Award, which is bestowed upon advocates and activists whose lives and work offer opportunity and hope to homeless and trafficked young people.

A little known fact – Jon’s concern for helping homeless youth goes back more than three decades when, inspired by Covenant House’s New York City shelter, he wrote "Runaway," his first hit.
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Poor Families, their Youth and the Perpetuation of the Cycle of Homelessness

The transition from youth to adulthood is difficult for many people.  For youth who have grown up in poverty, this transition can be particularly difficult.  When a family lives in government housing and the youth becomes an adult they must leave the household, meaning that parents dependent on public housing do not have the option to offer their adult children help.  Youth who have had to spend time in the foster care system are more likely to experience homelessness as adults (endhomelessness.org).  Programs that provide support to children (like Medicaid) are cut off when the person reaches adulthood.  Young people are often unprepared for the needs and difficult decisions they face at that age.  When a young persons’ family is in poverty, the transition is likely to be more difficult.

The myriad issues surrounding poverty and homelessness create major relational strains.  People exhaust their personal relationships in the same way they exhaust their financial resources.  By the time a person is living on the streets, camping, or staying in a shelter their relationships are damaged, adding loneliness to their other problems.  A simple offer of friendship can be a meaningful starting place in helping a person to recover from being homeless.  Entering a shelter, seeking mental health treatment, going to twelve step meetings, applying for help with housing—these can be daunting tasks.   Walking with someone, believing in them, encouraging them, and listening can give them strength to address problems in other areas of their life.

More on the Internet at:  http://www.good-works.net
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The Lord Makes Rich and Makes Poor

By Hannah

“My heart rejoices in the Lord;
in the Lord my horn is lifted high.
My mouth boasts over my enemies,
for I delight in your deliverance.

“There is no one holy like the Lord;

there is no one besides you;
there is no Rock like our God.

“Do not keep talking so proudly

or let your mouth speak such arrogance,
for the Lord is a God who knows,
and by him deeds are weighed.

“The bows of the warriors are broken,

but those who stumbled are armed with strength.
Those who were full hire themselves out for food,
but those who were hungry are hungry no more.
She who was barren has borne seven children,
but she who has had many sons pines away.

“The Lord brings death and makes alive;

he brings down to the grave and raises up.
The Lord makes rich and makes poor;
he humbles and he exalts.
He raises the poor from the dust
and lifts the needy from the ash heap;
he seats them with princes
and has them inherit a throne of honor.

“For the foundations of the earth are the Lord’s;

on them he has set the world.
He will guard the feet of his faithful servants,
but the wicked will be silenced in the place of darkness.

“It is not by strength that one prevails;

those who oppose the Lord will be broken.
The Most High will thunder from heaven;
the Lord will judge the ends of the earth.”
1 Samuel 2: 1-10
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Hot Dog Fundraiser

Hot dogs typically run a few bucks, but a Little Rock, Arkansas vendor, “Hot Dog Mike” sold the ballpark favorite for more than $1,500!

It could be the world’s most expensive hot dog. The dog was made with a quarter-pound of premium beef and topped with lobster tail, saffron aioli and gold flakes.

The Little Rock vendor, Mike Juiliano managed to sell four hot dogs, for a nearly $6,000 profit.

The money went to a non-profit that supports the homeless.  The vendor says the pricey dog breaks the world record for the most expensive hot dog.

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Helping the Poor with Fruit is not Illegal

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.”  Galatians 5:22-23


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In the Beginning . . . Being Homeless and How it all Began

By St. Louis de Montfort

But, alas, the vessel of the Godhead was shattered into a thousand pieces. This beautiful star fell from the skies. This brilliant sun lost its light. Man sinned, and by his sin lost his wisdom, his innocence, his beauty, his immortality. In a word, he lost all the good things he was given and found himself burdened with a host of evils. His mind was darkened and impaired. His heart turned cold towards the God he no longer loved. His sin-stained soul resembled Satan himself. The passions were in disorder; he was no longer master of himself. His only companions are the devils who have made him their slave and their abode. Even creatures have risen up in warfare against him.

In a single instant, man became the slave of demons, the object of God's anger (Cf. Eph. 2:3), the prey of the powers of hell.

He became so hideous in his own sight that he hid himself for shame. He was cursed and condemned to death. He was driven from the earthly paradise and excluded from heaven. With no hope of future happiness, he was doomed to eke out a pitiable life upon an earth under curse (Cf. Gen. 3:10; 17:23; 4:11,12). He would eventually die like a criminal and after death, together with all his posterity, share the devil's damnation in body and soul.

Such was the frightful calamity which befell man when he sinned. Such was the well-deserved sentence God in his justice pronounced against him.

Seeing himself in such a plight, Adam came close to despair. He could not hope for help from angels or any of God's creatures. Nothing could restore his privileges because he had been so eminently fair, so very magnificently fashioned when he was created, and now by his sin he had become so hideous, so repulsive. He saw himself banished from Paradise and from the presence of God. He could see God's justice pursuing him in all his descendants. He saw heaven closed and no one to open it; he saw hell open and no one to close it. (St. Louis de Montfort, The Love of Eternal Wisdom, Chapter 3)
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Jesus: The Doorway to Our Eternal Home

“Very truly I tell you Pharisees, anyone who does not enter the sheep pen by the door, but climbs in by some other way, is a thief and a robber.  The one who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep.  The gatekeeper opens the door for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.  When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice.  But they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger’s voice.”. . .  Therefore Jesus said again, “Very truly I tell you, I am the door for the sheep.  All who have come before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep have not listened to them. I am the door; whoever enters through me will be saved."  John 10:1-8

By Osho

There is no home, there are only houses. We try to make homes out of houses, but in fact, home is projection – there is only a house – it feels cold. We need a home: we want something cozy, something that belongs to us, something to which we belong. Something which is an extension of our being, something which we can make part of us; something which is not just a place where you live, but which becomes alive with you. A house is a dead thing; a home is a living entity, but it is a projection.

So those who are searching for a home will find themselves frustrated again and again because they will find again and again that it turns out to be only a house. Home was their idea. It was their illusion, their hallucination. It was their poetry, their romance. They have been weaving and spinning something invisible around the house which nobody else can see – only they can see it. But it is just Man is born homeless, and man remains his whole life homeless. Yes, he will make many houses into homes and he will get frustrated. And man dies homeless.

To accept the truth brings a tremendous transformation. Then you don’t search for a home – because home is something there, far away, something other than you. And everybody is searching for a home. When you see its illusoriness, then, rather than searching for a home, you will start searching for the being that is born homeless, whose destiny is homeless.

There is no way to make a home. And this is a miracle: the moment that you realize that there is no way to make a home, then this whole existence is home. Then wherever you are, you are at home; because now there is no question of making a home – now there is no question of creating an illusion. You have accepted your homelessness, not with any unwillingness, any resistance, but joyously, because it is good that you are born without a home; otherwise that home will be an imprisonment.

Just think, if people were born with a home, they would be born imprisoned. To be homeless is to be free. It is freedom. It means there is no attachment, no obsession with anything outside; that you are not in need of getting some warmth from the outside, but that your warmth is within you. You have the source of warmth inside; you don’t need it. So wherever you are – without a home – you are strangely at home.

The people who are searching for a home are always getting into despair, and finally are going to feel, “We have been cheated, life has cheated us. Somehow it gave us the desire to find a home – and there is no home at all, it simply does not exist.” 

Osho (+1990), born in Kuchwada, India in 1931, was a professor of philosophy, spiritual teacher and mystic.  He was a Pantheist and did not believe in the nature of a personal God per se.

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Prisoners Passionate for the Passion

Last week, Mark Hunter, a writer for the Baton Rouge, LA newspaper, the Advocate reported on Angola prisoners who are passionate about Jesus, literally!  They are putting on a prison passion play.

In “The Life of Jesus Christ,” the men portraying the two thieves are actually convicted murderers and the man portraying Jesus is serving a 20 years-plus sentence for armed robbery.

The two-hour, two-act passion play features 60 male actors and stage crew members serving sentences at the Louisiana State Penitentiary in Angola and 18 female actors serving their sentences at the Louisiana Correctional Institute for Women at St. Gabriel.  The last performance was Saturday, May 5th at the Angola Prison Rodeo Arena.

Dozens of sets, all crafted by inmates, will transform the rodeo arena floor into biblical Israel as the production describes the life of Jesus from the Bethlehem manger scene to the Jerusalem Temple to the empty Resurrection tomb.

Male and female inmates made the costumes from recycled clothing, and while Angola offenders are usually not allowed to grow beards, the men participating were given special permission to do so. The story’s realism comes alive with pigeons, sheep, goats, donkeys and even a camel.

This is also the first time male and female inmates have been allowed to be together for any similar activity, Angola Assistant Warden Cathy Fontenot said.

“We’re real proud of the way they have all worked together,” Fontenot said. “This is an example of our (Department of Corrections) philosophy of moral rehabilitation that goes beyond Angola.

“They are showing they can be trusted, that they can change and are doing something that is purposeful instead of something that is evil,” Fontenot said. “Some of them have done some terrible things, but they look at this (play) as something that is holy, and they are not taking (that) lightly.”

The man portraying Jesus is a good example, Fontenot said, and inmate Bobby Wallace agreed.

“It’s wonderful trying to portray my Savior,” Wallace, 43, said. “I’m getting to do what he did — what he taught!”

Since 1996, Wallace, from the West Bank of New Orleans, has been serving a 20-year-plus sentence for armed robbery and has almost completed a New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary program offered at the prison.

Serey Kong, 32, portrays the younger Mary. Born in Cambodia and brought to New Orleans as a young child in 1981, she is in her 10th year of an 11-year sentence for armed robbery and expects to be deported upon release. Tears brimmed up in her brown eyes as she talked about playing Mary.

Patricia Williams, 51, of Shreveport, plays the older Mary. During a recent rehearsal, when she cradled the body of Jesus after Roman soldiers took him down from the cross, her weeping was no act — it was real.  Williams, who is halfway through a 10-year sentence for embezzlement, said she couldn’t contain the sorrow of missing her own son who just returned from a tour of duty in Iraq.

“I haven’t seen my children for five years, and I feel like I’ve failed them by coming here,” she said, wiping away more tears. Like the man playing Jesus, she also grew up in church but strayed as an adult into crime.

“It took me coming here to develop a relationship with Jesus Christ — and this is no jailhouse religion,” Williams said. “We’ve all done something to come here, but we are all doing this (play) to show people we are capable of change behind the barbed wire.”

Sandra Starr, 40, from Monroe, plays the part of Mary Magdalene. She is in her 17th year of a life sentence for second-degree murder, but has found joy in Christianity, she said, and is enrolled in seminary courses.

“This is healing for me,” Starr said. “I was used and abused by men just like she was. This (play) for me is redemption.”

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Poured Out for You and Me - His Love-blood Flowing Free

By St. Louis de Montfort

Among all the motives impelling us to love Jesus Christ, the Wisdom incarnate, the strongest, in my opinion, is the sufferings he chose to endure to prove his love for us.

"There is," says St Bernard, "one motive which excels all others which I feel most keenly and which urges me to love Jesus. It is, dear Jesus, the bitter chalice which you drank for our sakes, and the great work of our Redemption which makes you so lovable to us. Indeed this supreme blessing and incomparable proof of your love makes us want to return your love. This motive attracts us more agreeably, makes most just demands upon us, moves us more pressingly and influences us more forcibly." And he gives the reason in a few words, "Our dear Savior has labored and suffered much to accomplish our redemption. What pain and anguish he has endured!"

But what makes us realize more clearly the infinite love of eternal Wisdom for us is the circumstances surrounding his sufferings.

The first of these is the perfection of his person. Being infinite he gave infinite value to all the sufferings of his passion. Had God sent a seraph or an angel of the lowest order to become man and die for us, it would have been a stupendous thing and worthy of our eternal gratitude. But that the Creator of heaven and earth, the only Son of God, eternal Wisdom himself should come and offer up his life! This is inconceivable charity, for, compared with his life, the lives of all angels and all men and all creatures together are of infinitely less value than say, the life of a gnat when compared with the lives of the kings of this earth. Such an excess of love is shown to us in this mystery that our admiration and our gratitude should be great indeed.

second circumstance is the condition of the people for whom he suffered. They were human beings – unworthy creatures and his enemies, from whom he has nothing to fear nor anything to hope for. We sometimes hear of people dying for their friends; but are we ever likely to hear of anyone but the Son of God dying for his enemies?

But Jesus Christ proved how well he loved us because though we were sinners - and consequently his enemies – he died for us.

The third circumstance is the amount, the grievousness and the duration of his sufferings. Their extent was so great that he is called "Man of sorrows". "A man of every sorrow in whom there is no soundness from the sole of the foot to the top of the head." (Is 53.3) This dear friend of our souls suffered in every way exteriorly and inwardly, in body and soul.

He suffered even in material things, apart from the poverty of his birth, of his flight into Egypt and his stay there, and the poverty of his entire life; during his passion he was stripped of his garments by soldiers who shared them among themselves, and then fastened him naked to a cross without as much as a rag to cover his body.

He suffered in honor and reputation, for he was overwhelmed with insults and called a blasphemer, a revolutionary, a drunkard, a glutton and a possessed person.

He suffered in his wisdom when they classed him as an ignorant man and an imposter, and treated him as a fool and a madman. He suffered in his power, for his enemies considered him a sorcerer and a magician who worked false miracles through a compact with the devil.

He suffered in his disciples, one of whom bartered him for money and betrayed him; another, their leader, denied him; and the rest abandoned him.

He suffered from all kinds of people; from kings, governors, judges, courtiers, soldiers, pontiffs, priests, officials of the temple and lay members; from Jews and gentiles, from men and women; in fact, from everyone. Even his Blessed Mother's presence added painfully to his sufferings for, as he was dying, he saw her standing at the foot of the cross engulfed in a sea of sorrow.

Moreover, our dear Savior suffered in every member of his body. His head was pierced with a crown of thorns. His hair and beard were torn out; his cheeks were buffeted; his face covered with spittle; his neck and arms bound with cords; his shoulders weighed down and bruised by the weight of the cross. His hands and feet were pierced by the nails, his side and heart opened by a lance; his whole body lacerated by more then five thousand strokes of the scourge, so that his almost fleshless bones became visible.

All his senses were almost immersed in a sea of sufferings. He suffered in his sight as he beheld the mocking faces of his enemies and the tears of grief of his friends. He suffered in his hearing as he listened to insulting words, false testimonies, calumnious statements and horrible blasphemies which evil tongues vomited against him. He suffered in his sense of smell by the foulness of the filth they spat into his face. He suffered in his sense of taste by a feverish thirst in which he was only given gall and vinegar to drink. He suffered in his sense of touch by the excruciating pain of the lashes, thorns and nails.

His most holy soul was grievously tormented because every sin committed by man was an outrage against his Father whom he loved infinitely; because sin was the cause of the damnation of so many souls who would be lost despite his passion and death; and because he had compassion not only for all men in general but for each one in particular, as he knew them all individually.

All these torments were much increased by the length of time they lasted, that is, from the first instance of his conception to the moment of his death, because all the sufferings he was to endure were, in the timeless view of his wisdom, always distinctly present to his mind.

To all these torments we must add the most cruel and the most fearful one, namely his abandonment upon the cross which caused him to cry out, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"  St. Louis de Montfort (+1716), The Love of Eternal Wisdom, Chapter 13.

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