Ask and You Will Receive May 27

Piety

Let us pray. O God, source of all our being, please help us to realize that whatever we ask of you in the name of our friend and your son will be given by you. Please grant us the strength of faith to believe so we may turn to you in confidence.

Speak to us clearly so that we may know the love you have for us. Grant us the faith and obedience that we need so that we can continue the work of you son in the world. Amen.

Study

http://www.usccb.org/nab/052706.shtml

“Ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be complete.” John 16:24

In the world, we will have trouble, but in Christ, we will have peace. When Christ leaves us, those who believe can then turn directly to the Father. But that is not a recipe for giving up.

Clearly the world of New Orleans – and all the world “touched” by Hurricane Katrina – is still troubled. But signs of complete joy shine through the refuse and detritus of rural, urban and suburban lives.

Five sisters – ages three to eight – pop out when the elevator door slides open in the hotel lobby. They were scattered. Two sisters now live in Houston, two in St. Thomas and one in St. Louis. But today, they run and dance around the lobby because they have been reunited in their hometown for a while as their families plan to recover, rebuild, and renew their life.

At Fourth Street and Chippewa, four more sisters are jumping rope on the crowded city streets dodging cars that glide on past. They can’t play in their yard because these neighborhoods are not filled with storage PODS, dumpsters and contractors’ vans. Instead, the debris of recovery still lies strewn in yards, too dangerous for children to play around. These homes don’t have signs on them like “Osborne Construction – General Contractors At Work.” There are no “Interiors by Riverbend.” The only signs here are the exhausted, sweaty faces of the fathers, mothers, uncles, sons who work all night at rebuilding after working all day.

When you see Katrina’s aftermath exposed up close, you come to a quick realization that asking God so our joy may be complete does not mean we can check out of our responsibilities in this world. Piety adds a prayerful, spiritual dimension to our lives. We need study and action as well in order for our lives to be balanced and stable. A stool with one or two legs will certainly fall over.

Just as Joseph taught Jesus the skills of a carpenter so he could make a living, Christianity compels us to action so we can make a life – our own or someone else’s. Jesus isn’t here to do it himself. Jesus needs our hands and heart to work for him. Sometimes that action is devoted to building or rebuilding our own families and neighborhoods like these New Orleans families continue to do. Other times, when we are not the poor in spirit, our apostolic action can be focused in a more outwardly direction.

Action

The next hurricane season starts in four days. From Florida to Louisiana, we’re not over the last two seasons yet.

At the New Orleans Museum of Modern Art, there is a photo exhibit called “Katrina Exposed.” One picture by an eleven year old girl is inscribed in pencil with her handwritten words, “ Aren’t we tired of talking about Katrina yet?”

Maybe that answer is yes for some…but we can’t be discouraged and distracted. Much work still needs to be done. Just because we don’t see the faces on the evening news, doesn’t mean that the needs are met.

Can you still help? Will you still help? How? Here is some information to explore and links to groups still helping in the region.

http://www.nola.com/hurricaneresources/