Reflections for week of August 17, 2008

Reflections for week of August 17, 2008

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VISION: Believing in the presence of God in our midst, we proclaim the sanctity of human life and the dignity of the person by sharing in the mission of Jesus given to the Church. To this end, Catholic Charities works with individuals, families, and communities to help them meet their needs, address their issues, eliminate oppression, and build a just and compassionate society.

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MISSION: To provide service to people in need, to advocate for justice in social structures, and to call the entire Church and other people of good will to do the same.

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GOALS: Catholic Charities is devoted to helping meet basic human needs, strengthening families, building communities and empowering low-income people.

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KEY VALUE: Hospitality

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On Sunday (20th Ordinary Time Sunday, Cycle A) we read in the Gospel how Jesus interacts with a "foreigner" or a member of a community not in alignment with the laws of Israel. this woman pleads for Jesus to have mercy on her and to heal her daughter from her torment. Jesus' disciples want Jesus to ignore her since that woman is not a member of "their community." The mother pleads. Jesus responds by healing her daugther and praises her true faith. In the Letter to the Romans, we are reminded of the mercy that we have received from God and calls us to do the same.

In Catholic Charities, we oftentimes serve persons who others believe to be "unworthy" of our time, care, assistance and advocacy. We witness to the belief that each person is made in the Image of God and is endowed with great dignity. Thank you for serving each and every person that comes to our doors. We are that place where the mercy of God is shown to each person despite how others may want us to respond to "others."

Thanks for all you do.

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Some important date(s) this week:

SATURDAY, AUGUST 23 Sta Rosa de Lima. (1586-1617). The first canonized saint of the New World has one characteristic of all saints—the suffering of opposition—and another characteristic which is more for admiration than for imitation—excessive practice of mortification. She was born to parents of Spanish descent in Lima, Peru, at a time when South America was in its first century of evangelization.

She seems to have taken Catherine of Siena as a model, in spite of the objections and ridicule of parents and friends. The saints have so great a love of God that what seems bizarre to us, and is indeed sometimes imprudent, is simply a logical carrying out of a conviction that anything that might endanger a loving relationship with God must be rooted out. So, because her beauty was so often admired, Rose used to rub her face with pepper to produce disfiguring blotches. Later, she wore a thick circlet of silver on her head, studded on the inside, like a crown of thorns. When her parents fell into financial trouble, she worked in the garden all day and sewed at night. Ten years of struggle against her parents began when they tried to make Rose marry. They refused to let her enter a convent, and out of obedience she continued her life of penance and solitude at home as a member of the Third Order of St. Dominic. So deep was her desire to live the life of Christ that she spent most of her time at home in solitude.

During the last few years of her life, Rose set up a room in the house where she cared for homeless children, the elderly and the sick. This was a beginning of social services in Peru. Though secluded in life and activity, she was brought to the attention of Inquisition interrogators, who could only say that she was influenced by grace. What might have been a merely eccentric life was transfigured from the inside. If we remember some unusual penances, we should also remember the greatest thing about Rose: a love of God so ardent that it withstood ridicule from without, violent temptation and lengthy periods of sickness. When she died at 31, the city turned out for her funeral. Prominent men took turns carrying her coffin.

(http://www.americancatholic.org/Features/saints/)

PAPAL INTENTIONS:

AUGUST 2008
General:
That the human family may learn to respect God’s plan for the world and become ever more aware that Creation is God’s great gift.
Mission:
That the answer of the entire people of God to the common calling to holiness and mission may be promoted and fostered by means of careful discernment of charisms and constant commitment to spiritual and cultural formation

Corporal Works of Mercy: The seven practices of charity toward our neighbor

1. Feed the hungry
2. Give drink to the thirsty
3. Clothe the naked
4. Shelter the homeless
5. Visit the sick
6. Visit those in prison
7. Bury the dead

See our website at www.catholiccharitiesyoungstown.org for links to the our ministries and services. peace, brian