MONDAY MORNING MISSION MEDITATION week of May 17, 2009

Providing Help. Creating Hope.


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.


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.


GOALS: Catholic Charities is devoted to helping meet basic human needs, strengthening families, building communities and empowering low-income people. Committed to work to reduce poverty in half by 2020.


KEY VALUE: Hospitality


WHAT WE DO: Organizing Love. "As a community, the Church must practise love. Love thus needs to be organized if it is to be an ordered service to the community" (Deus Caritas Est, par. 20)


On Sunday (Sixth Sunday of Easter, Cycle B)we read in the Gospel of John about Jesus' command to Love One Another. This command is the hallmark of the Christian Community. We are called to show God's love in action. St. Augustine commented (De Trinitate, VIII, 8, 12: CCL 50, 287) that when one sees love -- or caritas -- in action, one sees the Trinity. Since God is love, One goes out of oneself to show love. Thus God is Three Persons in an ever loving interaction of Love. "Each of the persons of the Trinity lives completely for the others; each is a complete gift of self to the others. The complete self-giving not only constitutes the individual persons of the Trinity, but also their inseparable oneness."

Catholic Charities is an essential aspect of the life of the Church. In Pope Benedict's first encyclical, Deus Caritas Est, he writes that "The Church's deepest nature is expressed in her three-fold responsibility: of proclaiming the word of God (kerygma-martyria), celebrating the sacraments (leitourgia), and exercising the ministry of charity (diakonia). These duties presuppose each other and are inseparable. For the Church, charity is not a kind of welfare activity which could equally well be left to others, but is a part of her nature, an indispensable expression of her very being" (par 25a).



Some important date(s) this week:

THURSDAY MAY 21, 2009. Feast of the Ascension of the Lord. (Celebrated in our Diocese on Sunday May 24).


Sharing Hope In Tough Times: Catholic Charities Responds to Families Facing Economic Crisis


Reflection: Even simple gestures, like listening to our friends who have fallen on hard times, are acts of love that will lift them up.

Prayer Intention: That Christians everywhere have open hearts for those falling on hard times, and be willing to lovingly listen.



PAPAL INTENTIONS:

May 2009
General: That the laity and the Christian communities may be responsible promoters of priestly and religious vocations.

Mission: That the recently founded Catholic Churches, grateful to the Lord for the gift of faith, may be ready to share in the universal mission of the Church, offering their availability to preach the Gospel throughout the world.


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.

For more information on Catholic Social Doctrine and its connection to our ministries, visit my blog at: http://corbinchurchthinking.blogspot.com/