Angels on the Stairway to Heaven

“For you know the gracious act of our Lord Jesus Christ, that for your sake he became poor although he was rich, so that by his poverty you might become rich.” 2 Corinthians 8:10

Brothers and sisters, let us make the Lenten journey following the Lord’s example.  We begin both fasts - Lent and Advent each year being rich.  How so?  Most of us have a roof over our heads, food, water and clothing in ample supply.  Let us join now at the start of each Lent and Advent the way of our Lord.  His is a journey of giving up wealth and humbling himself into complete poverty.  We remember at these times of year that his birth was homeless and in a lowly manger.  His death stripped him of clothing and blood – bare; he was laid to rest, homeless again in a borrowed tomb.  This Lent, let us walk with him into that same poverty.  As we share in his utter lack, may we also share in the riches of Christmas Day and the resurrection of Easter morning.

Do we not know that even the angels share in his poverty? They descend each day and each hour the stairway of heaven.  They enter our world poor and alone to lead and guide us.  Let us remember that the angels routinely leave their profit behind, empty themselves and join with us in our human sin and utter poverty.  This is the mysterious way of the Lord isn’t it?  The one that holds onto riches is eternally poor.  The one who empty’s himself becomes rich.  What is God’s world?  Is it the same as ours?  Of course not, for it is written:  "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways."  Isaiah 55:8  “Up is down and down is up” and we must have a Holy respect for these extraordinary confusions and anomalies of the Lord.

“But emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.  And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”  Philippians 2: 7-8

_______________     

• Invite your family and friends to Subscribe! to Homeless In America.
• Scroll down to the bottom of the page and vote in the polls.
• List yourself as a blog follower, middle right column.
• Donate! to the poor homeless deliveries of food, water, clothing, blankets, socks, underwear, soap, shampoo, toothbrushes and toothpaste, pocket Bibles, rosaries and prayer cards at http://servantsofthefather.org/donate_2_homeless
• Post checks to - Servants of the Father of Mercy, Inc., P.O. Box 42001, Los Angeles, CA 90042. All Donations are Tax Deductible.

Tea for Ambassadors and Dignitaries

By Catherine de Hueck Doherty

When I was growing up in Russia, my father was a diplomat.  One time he and my mother gave a big, fancy tea party at our home for several hundred ambassadors and dignitaries.  We were in the middle of having formal tea, with everyone using nice china and so forth.  I was about nine years old at the time, and I was allowed to be there, all dressed up and carrying little cakes and being polite.  Suddenly, the butler opened the door and announced to my father, "Christ is at the door."  Well, the French ambassador's wife dropped her expensive tea cup on the rug.  She was not used to such interruptions!

Father excused himself, mother excused herself and off they went.  And whom did they welcome? A hobo who had come to the door begging.  And what did they do? My mother and father served him themselves, even though we had fourteen servants in the house.  My mother laid out the best linen, the most expensive silver and our best china and so forth, and she served a hobo.  My father did likewise.  I saw all of this and I wanted to serve the hobo too, but mother said, 'Oh no.  You were not obedient last week; you cannot serve Christ unless you are obedient.'  So, in my little mind, to serve the poor was a great honor and a great joy.

Now that's Christianity.  You don't have to have catechism lessons when you see that sort of thing.  That was how my parents treated the poor, so that was what my brother and I learned from growing up in that kind of household , thanks be to God.

Of course, I was like any other kid too.  I would say, 'Well, do we live in a monastery or something like that?' My parents would say, 'No. We live in a family, of which Christ is the head.'  So, in the end, it all seemed quite natural to me to serve the poor.  Christ was in the poor and we must serve him.

_______________     

• Invite your family and friends to Subscribe! to Homeless In America.
• Scroll down to the bottom of the page and vote in the polls.
• List yourself as a blog follower, middle right column.
• Donate! to the poor homeless deliveries of food, water, clothing, blankets, socks, underwear, soap, shampoo, toothbrushes and toothpaste, pocket Bibles, rosaries and prayer cards at http://servantsofthefather.org/donate_2_homeless
• Post checks to - Servants of the Father of Mercy, Inc., P.O. Box 42001, Los Angeles, CA 90042. All Donations are Tax Deductible.

 

Norma's Omelette

If you take a look at the breakfast menu at Norma’s Restaurant at the Parker Meridien Hotel in New York City, you might do a double take when you see (photo) "The Zillion Dollar Lobster Frittata." Accompanied by a line that says "Norma’s Dares You to Expense This."  An egg dish that comes in at a whopping $1,000 dollars and is the most expensive omelette in the world. 

Norma's omelette joins the ranks now of Homeless In America's previous coverage of New York, Serendipity's $1,000 "gold leaf" ice cream Sunday and in Malta, Margo's Pizzeria, the world's most expensive pizza coming in at $8,200. Welcome to homeless in America!
_______________     

• Invite your family and friends to Subscribe! to Homeless In America.
• Scroll down to the bottom of the page and vote in the polls.
• List yourself as a blog follower, middle right column.
• Donate! to the poor homeless deliveries of food, water, clothing, blankets, socks, underwear, soap, shampoo, toothbrushes and toothpaste, pocket Bibles, rosaries and prayer cards at http://servantsofthefather.org/donate_2_homeless
• Post checks to - Servants of the Father of Mercy, Inc., P.O. Box 42001, Los Angeles, CA 90042. All Donations are Tax Deductible.

Giving Up Home for Lent

By day, Gavin Rogers is the youth minister at Houston's, Trinity Baptist Church.

By night — since Ash Wednesday — he has been homeless. When he gets cleaned up and goes to Easter services, he'll have a lot to say.

He has slept in shelters and under highways (photo), hassled by police, even broke up a fight. With a backpack and $10 a day, he lived amid the city's street squalor and camaraderie, on the edge of its addictions and violence.

Last year, Rogers gave up meat for Lent; this year, a roof over his head.

He already empathized with homeless people. But the homeless experience has shaped him in unanticipated ways.

Rogers is 30 and single, raised in the wealthy Houston suburb of The Woodlands. But he blends in well. He wears blue jeans, v-neck T-shirts, a ball cap and his trademark Chucks on his feet. He has told no one his true identify, but four homeless friends figured it out.

In one 12-hour period, Rogers took a woman to the hospital after running off a boyfriend who was beating her, then slept on dirt beneath an overpass with homeless peers, waking up to police officers shouting and shining flashlights in their eyes.

“This is where I'm crazy. I actually told (my pastor) after this happened that I'm not going to do that for a while,” Rogers said. “But I did it the next night. I said, ‘If I'm truly homeless, I wouldn't have a choice.'”

Leaving his comfortable life has deepened his appreciation for the Easter message, he said, that Christ bridges all socio-economic groups with the promise of hope and redemption.

“God calls us to love our neighbor. I agree that means everyone,” Rogers said. “But I also think that means your actual neighbor on your street. It's a lot more personable than we make it out to be.”

_______________     

• Invite your family and friends to Subscribe! to Homeless In America.
• Scroll down to the bottom of the page and vote in the polls.
• List yourself as a blog follower, middle right column.
• Donate! to the poor homeless deliveries of food, water, clothing, blankets, socks, underwear, soap, shampoo, toothbrushes and toothpaste, pocket Bibles, rosaries and prayer cards at http://servantsofthefather.org/donate_2_homeless
• Post checks to - Servants of the Father of Mercy, Inc., P.O. Box 42001, Los Angeles, CA 90042. All Donations are Tax Deductible.

Going for the Gold

Recently, Sarah Darling accidentally dumped her gold diamond engagement ring along with all the spare change in her wallet into the cup of a homeless beggar, but noticed the mistake long after she had given the pricey item to the Kansas City man, Billy Ray Harris (photo).

Darling, who hadn't meant to be quite that generous to the man on the street, explained to Kansas City, Mo.'s KCTV that "my rings were bothering me, so I put them in my coin purse."

Darling said she didn't realize what she'd done until the next day.

"I was so incredibly upset because, more than just the value of the ring, it had sentimental value," she said.

Needless to say, Darling returned to the scene the next day.

Harris told the station, "The ring was so big that I knew if it was real, it was expensive."

He recalled, "She squatted down and says, ‘Do you remember me?' And I was like, ‘I don't know. I see a lot of faces.' She says, ‘I might have gave you something very valuable.' I said, ‘Was it a ring?' And she says, ‘Yeah.' And I said, ‘Well, I have it.'"

Harris added that he wasn’t the type to cash in on someone’s misfortune. "My grandfather was a reverend. He raised me from the time I was 6 months old and thank the good Lord, it's a blessing, but I do still have some character," he said.

Darling gratefully told the TV station, "It seemed like a miracle. I thought for sure there was no way I would get it back.”

Harris did not go empty-handed: He again received a donation of money from Darling—this time all the bills she had in her wallet.

______________     

• Invite your family and friends to Subscribe! to Homeless In America.
• Scroll down to the bottom of the page and vote in the polls.
• List yourself as a blog follower, middle right column.
• Donate! to the poor homeless deliveries of food, water, clothing, blankets, socks, underwear, soap, shampoo, toothbrushes and toothpaste, pocket Bibles, rosaries and prayer cards at http://servantsofthefather.org/donate_2_homeless
• Post checks to - Servants of the Father of Mercy, Inc., P.O. Box 42001, Los Angeles, CA 90042. All Donations are Tax Deductible.

Litany of Compassion for the Broken, Sick, Crushed and Homeless

We pray with special love and concern for all those who are asking the Lord for his consoling grace in times of need and trial.

R  Lord, be close and give your comfort.

v  When pain or distress is overwhelming. R

v  When the healing process goes slower than hoped. R

v  When terrified by treatment or therapy. R

v  When it’s hard to let go of long-held plans. R

v  When the feeling of alienation arises. R

v  When worn out and weary. R

v  When trouble by impatience and negativity. R

v  When loneliness adds to anxiety. R

v  When sickness makes it difficult to communicate. R

v  When discouragement or despondency sets in. R

v  When fear makes it impossible to face the future. R

v  When the ravages of disease attack self-esteem. R

v  When anger and resentment assail. R

v  When beset by worry or fretfulness. R

v  When it’s hard to rely on others for care. R

v  When envy arises toward those who are healthy. R

v  When pessimism or cynicism holds sway. R

v  When anguish is intensified by the need for reconciliation. R

v  When sickness is mistaken for punishment. R

v  When loved ones are far away. R

v  When sickness causes financial hardship that leads to worry or despair. R

v  When afflicted by the feeling of nothing to hope for. R

v  When weakness makes it impossible even to think. R

v  When friends draw back fearful of disease. R

v  When illness makes those who are suffering moody or irritable. R

v  When haunted by regret and the shame of past sins. R

v  When it’s difficult to sleep. R

v  When there’s loss of appetite. R

v  When there’s resistance to necessary change. R

v  When tempted by denial. R

v  When nobody seems to understand. R

v  When bound to home or restricted in movement. R

v  When listlessness and apathy threaten. R

v  When medication seems to make things worse. R

v  When all that’s needed is a caring touch. R

v  When it’s impossible to maintain familiar routines. R

v  When it’s hard to find the strength to go on. R

v  When it becomes difficult to pray. R

v  When suffering of any sort becomes hard to bear. R

v  When death draws near. R

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name . . .

Most merciful Father, your beloved Son showed special compassion to lepers, prostitutes, the sick, crushed and broken.  We place before you all those who are in need of your healing grace. May the love and mercy of the risen Christ raise up all who suffer and restore them to fullness of life and peace. We ask this in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Composed by Father Peter John Cameron, O.P.

_______________     
Invite your family and friends to Subscribe! to Homeless In America.
Scroll down to the bottom of the page and vote in the polls.
List yourself as a blog follower, middle right column.
Donate! to the poor homeless deliveries of food, water, clothing, blankets, socks, underwear, soap, shampoo, toothbrushes and toothpaste, pocket Bibles, rosaries and prayer cards at http://servantsofthefather.org/donate_2_homeless
Post checks to - Servants of the Father of Mercy, Inc., P.O. Box 42001, Los Angeles, CA 90042. All Donations are Tax Deductible.

Homeless Rebel Without A Cause

James Dean was born on February 8, 1931, in Marion, Indiana. He starred in the film adaptation of the John Steinbeck novel East of Eden, for which he received an Oscar nomination. His next starring role, in Rebel Without a Cause, made him into the embodiment of the troubled youth generation. Shortly after completing work on the film Giant, Dean was killed in a car crash September 30, 1955 and quickly became an enduring film icon.

Before he was famous, Dean would sleep in his car if he couldn’t afford rent.  He was what is known today as “mobile homeless.”  Although well on his way to stardom near the time of his death, he was still known for his grassroots lifestyle and humility.  To the dismay of some well-kept Hollywood socialites, while shooting the film Giant, Dean wore the same shirt for two weeks straight without washing it!

 

Shortly before his death, he is quoted as saying:  “I am trying to find the courage to be tender in my life. I know that violent people are weak people. Only the gentle are ever really strong.” -  James Dean.

 

_______________     

Invite your family and friends to Subscribe! to Homeless In America.
Scroll down to the bottom of the page and vote in the polls.
List yourself as a blog follower, middle right column.
Donate! to the poor homeless deliveries of food, water, clothing, blankets, socks, underwear, soap, shampoo, toothbrushes and toothpaste, pocket Bibles, rosaries and prayer cards at http://servantsofthefather.org/donate_2_homeless
Post checks to - Servants of the Father of Mercy, Inc., P.O. Box 42001, Los Angeles, CA 90042. All Donations are Tax Deductible.