HAPPY THANKSGIVING FROM OUR PALM DESERT HOMELESS FAMILY TO YOURS!

Mugged, beaten, shot in the head, broken, starving, suffering, empty, happy and consoled!

Enjoy the pictures from Sunday, November 20, 2016, Servants of the Father of Mercy delivered food, ice water, shoes, socks, blankets, jackets and more to homeless living in the bone-dry scarcity of the California desert.

Thanks be to God, Thanksgiving 2015 we raised $10 here on the Internet from 1,000s of fans to help the 80,000 + homeless we serve in Southern California. This year, we pray to double or even 100 x that! Please donate a gift using a major credit card to sponsor $10 Subway Sandwich gift cards, delivered to area homeless on Thanksgiving morning and Christmas day. May God bless you with the peace, joy and poverty of the poor homeless miracle of the first Christmas! Donate securely at

http://servantsofthefather.org/donate_2_homeless

Gracias amigos, please encourage friends, family and neighbors to send even the smallest donation - lets put our hearts in dinero for these poor suffering homeless Mexicans and their gringo friends who are being murdered lost and forgotten. A little goes a long way at http://servantsofthefather.org/donate_2_homeless

"In a world which has been damaged by the virus of indifference, the works of mercy are the best antidote." Pope Francis

Miracle of the Mother at Servants of the Father of Mercy!

Here is one picture and one only that came out yesterday, Sunday afternoon, November 13th in our chapel when a volunteer, Kevin Klier was the first to notice a brief "spotlight" and rainbow light up the Blessed Mother on the altar in the total darkness of our homeless supplies warehouse. We had just arrived back from "Spread the Warmth Sunday" at Corpus Christi Church, Pacific Palisades, weekend of the "super-moon", November 12, 016. The round spot and rainbow, centered at Mary's waist had illuminated for about a minute and then the statue faded back to darkness. At the time the warehouse was dark and the blinds closed because we were getting ready to leave for other storage units at Ventura harbor. In light and color, it was like Mary saying "thank you" to the pastor, Msgr. Kidney, Lorraine, the parishioners and everyone at Corpus Christi Church and all the "Servants" for their time, donations and help bringing blankets and jackets to 80,000 + homeless sleeping out in the cold this winter . . . Blessings to all!

So, why not do something with your life and serve the less fortunate this Holiday time period? Join the volunteers that live among the season of miracles - the poor, broken, lost and homeless.  Give a blessing and be blessed!  Call us today at (310) 595-4175 or request a winter schedule in the comments below, but plan to show up and say, "Count Me In!".  Receive the joy deep down inside that says, "I'm glad I served!"

Would you prefer to make a contribution instead to increase deliveries to homeless on the streets of So Cal?  Support $1,000s in gasoline, oil changes, tires, truck maintenance, food, water and more: Donate at Servants of the Father of Mercy http://servantsofthefather.org/donate_2_homeless

(IRS 501 (c) 3 tax exempt, nonprofit, association of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, gifts are tax deductible.)

Bro. Joseph +

Pope asks homeless to pardon Christians who spurn the poor!

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis asked homeless people during a moving ceremony Friday to pardon all the Christians who turn away from the poor instead of help them. Francis stood silently in a Vatican auditorium with his head bowed as he let several homeless individuals place their hands on his shoulders or clutch his cassock.

Some 4,000 people from 22 countries who either are now homeless or who spent years living on streets filled the auditorium in one of Francis’ final events during the Catholic Church’s Holy Year of Mercy.

“I ask pardon,” the pope said, on behalf of Christians who, “faced with a poor person or a situation of poverty, look the other way.”

After some of the homeless recounted their difficult lives, Francis praised the poor for holding fast to their dignity. He asked his homeless guests to stay seated while he stood to pray that God “teach us to be in solidarity because we are brothers.”

Rome daily La Repubblica on Friday published the pope’s response when he was asked on the eve of the U.S. presidential election what he thought of Donald Trump, who went on to capture the presidency.

“I don’t give judgments on persons and political men,” Francis replied.

Instead, the pontiff reportedly told La Repubblica, “I only want to understand the sufferings that their way of thinking causes the poor and the excluded.”

Friday’s audience with homeless people was scheduled for the day the church honors St. Martin of Tours, famed for cutting his cloak with his sword and giving half to a poor man shivering in winter. Francis has given medals depicting Martin to world leaders.

You Will Not Certainly Die

 “’You will not certainly die,’ the serpent said to the woman. ‘For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.’” Genesis 3:1-5

And so, the Lord turned the original sin of pride upside-down and inside out by exemplifying humility in his suffering, passion, death and resurrection. Jesus showed us that the power of humbleness is the cure for the perceived power of pride. Christ, singlehandedly redeemed all of humankind from the sin of pride, haughtiness and arrogance which had separated us from God and from each other. It had made us enemies of one another and enemies of God.

Because Jesus took the low road when he did not have to, therefore, God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every other name. C.f. Philippians 2:9-11 Through his life, death and resurrection, the Lord Jesus defined a new power. He showed that supremacy does not come from muscle and brawn, but is born out of love, servitude, humility and brokenness.

 

THIS SATURDAY NOVEMBER 12TH MINI RETREAT

Your invitation announcing a "mini retreat" this Saturday, November 12th from 9am to 11:30am, Mass and lunch at 12 noon at the Siena Prayer Center 1931 Poli St, Ventura, CA 93001.  Be sure to offer Sister a donation - $15 to $20 to help St. Catharine's by-the-sea cover the cost of hosting the prayer center.  Bro. Gary is donating his time as a speaker for the retreat series and remember it's always the second Saturday of each month.  The series is . . . The Bible, "A Text Message of Mercy."  

In October, the group began at the beginning.  We were inspired by the message of mercy in Genesis.  Now, November, this Saturday the group moves forward to the book of Exodus.  Please remember to bring a pen and notepad.  May God bless you each one and all - for your witness, your testimony and your dedication to studying the Word of God!  

Invite a friend, guest or family member in need of spiritual refreshment!

Got questions?  Call (310) 595-4175

Pope Francis makes subtle reference to Trump before election day:

By Sophia Rosenbaum
New York Post
November 6, 2016

Getting in one more not-so-veiled dig at Republican Donald Trump before Tuesday’s election, Pope Francis urged Americans to think about building bridges, not walls.

“Dear brothers and sisters, all walls fall. All of them,” he said at the Vatican Saturday while addressing the World Meeting of Popular Movements, which includes various organizations that represent the poor and unemployed. “Do not be fooled.”

While the pontiff didn’t specifically mention Donald Trump’s plan to build a wall between the US and Mexico, he continuously slammed the idea.

“No tyranny can be sustained without exploiting our fears. This is clear,” he said in Spanish, according to The Atlantic. “All tyranny is terrorist.”

Pope Francis said terror causes some to be “tempted to false security of physical or social walls.”
“Walls that enclose some and banish others. Walled citizens, terrified on one side, excluded, exiled and still more terrified on the other. Is that the life that our Father God wants for their children?” he said.

This is not his first time he has ridiculed Trump’s proposed wall to keep undocumented immigrants from entering the country, which is one of the Republican nominee’s main campaign promises.
“A person who thinks only about building walls, wherever they may be, and not building bridges, is not Christian. This is not the gospel,” Pope Francis said back in February. Trump fired back at the pope at the time, calling His Holiness “disgraceful.”

Love & Mercy

Servants of the Father of Mercy since 2001-2016,15-year Anniversary:  Like Domino's Pizza "We Deliver!" to homeless in Ventura County, Los Angeles, Orange County, Palm Desert, Indio and Palm Springs - food, water, clothes, shoes, soap, shampoo, sneakers, socks, underwear, jeans, t-shirts, blankets, sleeping bags, tents, jackets, sweatshirts, rosaries, pastoral care, love, hugs and more to the 80,000+ homeless in So Cal living remotely, under served and hidden in bridges, alleyways, mountainsides and desert parks. "A homeless person without a bottle of water in their hand is a dead homeless person." + Bro. Gary Joseph, Founder. IRS 501 (c) 3 nonprofit tax exempt California Corporation, Association of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles and listed in the "Official Catholic Directory."  Make a financial donation of your LOVE & MERCY here at the top of the right column of this blog's donation button or click on . . . ServantsoftheFather.org!

DID YOU KNOW YOU CAN GIFT NOW NEW OR GENTLY USED MEN'S/UNISEX CLOTHING DIRECT TO THE 80,000 + HOMELESS IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA?

CHRISTMAS WILL BE HERE BEFORE YOU KNOW IT!

DID YOU KNOW YOU CAN GIFT NOW NEW OR GENTLY USED MEN'S/UNISEX CLOTHING DIRECT TO THE 80,000 + HOMELESS IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA? 

Avoid the resell shops!  Please drop off 24 hours a day men's or unisex (only) jackets, sweaters, jackets, coats, scarfs, ball caps, athletic socks, underwear, sneakers, jeans, blankets, tents and sleeping bags - (nothing else) - leave outside the door any time of day or night (they will be safe) at Servants of the Father of Mercy,1544 Morse Avenue, Suites A/B, Ventura, CA 93003. This is our MAIN collection point in California other than the office of St. Peter's Catholic Church,1039 North Broadway, Chinatown, Los Angeles, CA, 90012.  Thank you, thank you and may God bless you for helping the 80,000 + homeless we serve!  Got questions?  Call Bro. Gary Joseph, (310) 595-4175.

You can also give clothing direct to a Facebook friend or associate of the Servants of the Father of Mercy that you may know . . .  Happy holidays!

Graffiti and the Sounds of Silence

Graffiti and life under a Los Angeles bridge wall, "God is Love"! (Photos, Saturday, October 29, 2016)

And the sign said, “The words of the prophets are written on the subway walls. And tenement halls. And whispered in the sound of silence.”  Paul Simon, Sounds of Silence

Halloween, All-Hallows-Eve, All the Saints Proclaim Your Glory!

YOU are God: we praise you;

You are the Lord; we acclaim you;
You are the eternal Father:
All creation worships you.

To you all angels, all the powers of heaven,

Cherubim and Seraphim, sing endless praise:
Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of power and might,
heaven and earth are full of your glory.

The glorious company of apostles praises you.

The noble fellowship of prophets praises you.
The white-robed army of martyrs praises you.
All the saints together sing your glory, O holy Trinity, one God.