MONDAY MORNING MISSION MEDITATION for the week of April 1, 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) 

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On Sunday (Palm Sunday of the Passion of the Lord, B  http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/040112.cfm) we read in the Gospel of Mark about the sufferings, trial, and Crucifixion of Jesus the Christ.  We hear proclaimed an ancient Christian hymn from Philippians on how Jesus, though “he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God something to be grasped.  Rather, he emptied himself....”  Jesus -- himself a prisoner and victim of violence -- modeled his love to the end: the Suffering Servant who brings abundant life.

In Catholic Charities http://www.ccdoy.org ,  we see persons and families impacted by violence, suffering and even imprisonment.  One of the corporal works of mercy is to visit those in prison.  Our Criminal Justice ministries continue to reach out to persons in jails and prisons scattered throughout our Diocese. Our domestic violence shelter, Christina House in Columbiana county, provides safety and help for those families.   We pray, especially during this Holy Week, for families, persons and communities impacted by violence and crime.  Like Jesus, we in Catholic Charities respond in love to help bring more abundant life, especially to those who are suffering.

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


Such a passage, which is already timidly under way, would ensure the citizens of all countries – regardless of their size or power – peace and security, development, and free, stable and transparent markets. As John Paul II warns us, “Just as the time has finally come when in individual States a system of private vendetta and reprisal has given way to the rule of law, so too a similar step forward is now urgently needed in the international community.”

Time has come to conceive of institutions with universal competence, now that vital goods shared by the entire human family are at stake, goods which the individual States cannot promote and protect by themselves.

So conditions exist for definitively going beyond a ‘Westphalian’ international order in which the States feel the need for cooperation but do not seize the opportunity to integrate their respective sovereignties for the common good of peoples.

It is the task of today’s generation to recognize and consciously to accept these new world dynamics for the achievement of a universal common good. Of course, this transformation will be made at the cost of a gradual, balanced transfer of a part of each nation’s powers to a world Authority and to regional Authorities, but this is necessary at a time when the dynamism of human society and the economy and the progress of technology are transcending borders, which are in fact already very eroded in a globalized world.




 


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.

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Consider participating in Operation Rice Bowl,  http://ccdoy.org/social-action/operation-rice-bowl/  a Lenten program of Catholic Relief Services incorporating prayers, education, charity, and justice.

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HOLY WEEK

 Holy Thursday Chrism http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/040512-chrism-mass.cfm Mass:  10:30 at St. Columba Cathedral

Holy Thursday Evening Mass of the Lord’s Supper  http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/040512-evening-mass.cfm

 Good Friday  http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/040612.cfm

 Holy Saturday Vigil in the Holy Night of Easter  http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/040712.cfm

 

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://ccdoy.org/social-action/operation-rice-bowl/

 PAPAL INTENTIONS:   April 2012

General Intention: Vocations. That many young people may hear the call of Christ and follow him in the priesthood and religious life.

Missionary Intention: Christ, Hope for Africans. That the risen Christ may be a sign of certain hope for the men and women of the African continent.

Corporal Works of Mercy:  The seven practices of charity toward our neighbor Feed the hungry Give drink to the thirsty Clothe the naked Shelter the homeless Visit the sick Visit those in prison 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/