Sunday, February 19, 2012

MONDAY MORNING MISSION MEDITATION for the week of February 19, 2012



 

Catholic Charities. 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: Rooted in the Mission of the Diocese of Youngstown "to minister to the people in the six counties of northeastern Ohio . . .(and) to the world community", we are called 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. Working 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) 



http://farm5.staticflickr.com/4003/4439135633_d2ee56a5b7_z.jpg?zz=1

 

On Sunday (Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time, B http://usccb.org/bible/readings/021912.cfm    ) we read in the Gospel of Mark about Jesus healing both spiritually and physically a paralytic man.  All are astonished at the fact that Jesus’ healing connects both the spirit and the body.  His healing touch engages the whole person, and the whole community.  This paralytic had to rely on others for his needs.  His four friends certainly display their commitment to their ill compatriot by carrying him to the roof and lowering him down in a crowded room with many others trying to touch/hear Jesus.  The Lord’s healing reintegrates this ill man back into the full swing of life.


In Catholic Charities http://www.ccdoy.org ,  we are oftentimes like those friends who helped their ill neighbor.  We sometimes have to advocate for persons and families to obtain needed benefits and assistance.  We sometimes have to help an “ill” person recover both in spirit and in body.  As Lent approaches this week, we in Catholic Charities invite you along with us to reflect on who is our neighbor in our midst that we could stop and help; even to the point of carrying that neighbor to a roof top and helping him/her “see” and “touch” Jesus in order to be healed.



Reflection from Church Documents and Official Statements

Pontifical Council of Justice and Peace
TOWARDS REFORMING THE INTERNATIONAL FINANCIAL AND MONETARY SYSTEMS IN THE CONTEXT OF GLOBAL PUBLIC AUTHORITY, October 24, 2011


In the area of the G20, concrete tendencies can thus mature which, when worked out properly in the appropriate technical centres, will be able to guide the competent bodies on the national and regional level towards consolidating existing institutions and creating new ones with appropriate and effective instruments on the international level.

Moreover, the G20 leaders themselves said in their final Statement in Pittsburgh 2009: “The economic crisis demonstrates the importance of ushering in a new era of sustainable global economic activity grounded in responsibility”. To tackle the crisis and open up a new era “of responsibility”, in addition to technical and short-term measures, the leaders put forth the proposal “to reform the global architecture to meet the needs of the 21st century,” and later the proposal “to launch a framework that lays out the policies and the way we act together to generate strong, sustainable and balanced global growth”.

Therefore, a process of reflection and reforms needs to be launched that will explore creative and realistic avenues for taking advantage of the positive aspects of already existing forums.



 


Some important date(s) this week:
http://www.americancatholic.org/Features/Saints/ByDate.aspx

See website for biographies of Saints and Blessed celebrated this week.

WEDNESDAY FEBRUARY 22.  ASH WEDNESDAY.  LENT BEGINS.
The Wednesday after Quinquagesima Sunday, which is the first day of the Lenten fast.
The name dies cinerum (day of ashes) which it bears in the Roman Missal is found in the earliest existing copies of the Gregorian Sacramentary and probably dates from at least the eighth century. On this day all the faithful according to ancient custom are exhorted to approach the altar before the beginning of Mass, and there the priest, dipping his thumb into ashes previously blessed, marks the forehead — or in case of clerics upon the place of the tonsure — of each the sign of the cross, saying the words: "Remember man that thou art dust and unto dust thou shalt return." The ashes used in this ceremony are made by burning the remains of the palms blessed on the Palm Sunday of the previous year.  http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01775b.htm

Consider participating in Operation Rice Bowl,   http://orb.crs.org/   a Lenten program of Catholic Relief Services incorporating prayers, education, charity, and justice.





SHARING HOPE IN HARD ECONOMIC TIMES.

Read Bishop Murry’s Pastoral Letter on Poverty.  http://doy.org/files/Scroller/PastoralPoverty.pdf
  Ask yourself as you prepare for Lent: Who Is My Neighbor?  How can I help?  Lent offers a great time to reflect, pray, share one’s gifts and share your sacrifice.  See information above about Operation Rice Bowl for ideas. http://orb.crs.org/

    
Catholic Charities' 2nd Annual Irish Comalya
Saturday, March 3, 2012 6:00pm - 10:00pm
Hippodrome Banquet Center  150 High St. NW Warren, OH  44481
http://www.catholiccharitiesyoungstown.org/ccdoy-251.html

 PAPAL INTENTIONS:   
February 2012

General Intention: Access to Water.
That all peoples may have access to water and other resources needed for daily life.

Missionary Intention: Health Workers.
That the Lord may sustain the efforts of health workers assisting the sick and elderly in the world's poorest regions.

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




Note: Please consider joining our
FACEBOOK CAUSE http://apps.facebook.com/causes/106889 
FACEBOOK GROUP https://www.facebook.com/pages/Catholic-Charities-Diocese-of-Youngstown/138817639487339
TWITTER account, CCDOY, http://twitter.com/CCDOY
for current updates and calls to action that we can all use. 

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/
 

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