Memorial of Saint Vincent DePaul, priest
Consider your ways! You have sown much, but have brought in little; you have eaten, but have not been satisfied; You have drunk, but have not been exhilarated; have clothed yourselves, but not been warmed; And whoever earned wages earned them for a bag with holes in it. Haggai 1:5-6
"Who then is this about whom I hear such things?" Luke 9:9
Piety
Jesus, help us to recognize your face in the face of the poor beggar yearning for security. Help us to recognize your face behind the bars of jails and prisons, people exiled from a free society where they break the rules to a society with nothing but rules and no freedom. Reach us with your message so we never have to ask who You are. Amen.
StudyWho is Jesus? Who are we? Are we worthy to be His followers?
Consider your ways.
28,000 children die every day from hunger, malnutrition and disease…children who can be saved for want of two drops of Vitamin A, some simple electrolytes to prevent diarrhea, and other medications common in
Sometimes it takes a Tsunami or Hurricane to get our attention. Yet everyday, we ignore the plight of our sisters and brothers in the Lord while going about our business. If you read the paper today, the introduction of the latest video game (Halo3 – I missed Halo 1 and Halo 2!) garners more attention than the sight of these 28,000 graves which will soon be filled with the bodies of these unfortunate infants who were not as lucky as we were. They were not born in a developed nation with an advanced healthcare system. Consider your ways, indeed! If we are followers of Jesus, can we continue to let that happen?
Yet even here, where the Secretary of Defense asks for $190 billion to fight wars, we have trouble finding $2 billion to fund health insurance for children.
Watch any sporting event on television and we will be inundated with messages about drugs and alcohol…from Viagra to Miller High Life. From Meridia Budweiser. From Becks to Cialis. From Johnny Walker Red to Jack Daniels Old No. 7. Yet people in the world lack clean, drinking water. Their water is filled with bacteria, causing illness and blindness that we can not even fathom. Consider your ways, indeed! If we are followers of Jesus, can we continue to let that happen?
The luxury of the sprouting “McMansions” of the wealthy in Fairfax, Mclean and Arlington contrasts sadly with the ruined state of the Lord's house in Louisiana, Chicago and elsewhere where churches are being shuttered and sold for the assets they can bring. We lament about our real estate prices dropping 5 percent while 2 billion people live on less than $2 per day!
Churches are being closed because there just are not enough people in the pews or coins in the basket. Yet, on any given Sunday in the fall, 80,000 people fill the seats in Fed Ex Field and the other NFL stadiums as their warriors fight out meaningless contests while on the streets of
If we can let these things continue to go on, who then is this Jesus Christ that we attest to follow? Perhaps he really is no more than the “philosopher” exploited by hypocrites and politicians because we are certainly not hearing His word and acting upon it the way St. Vincent DePaul did. Ellen Pochocki tells us:
“Vincent’s idea of charity was that people should take care of each other, person to person, as they saw the need. He did not believe in leaving it to a government or a charity far away. He did believe that every parish should be the center of our lives, not just on Sunday but every moment; that way we would remember that we are all members of a single family and children of the same heavenly Father.”
Consider how our lives would be different if we adopted Vincent’s idea of charity. Indeed. Consider how much better we would know Jesus…how much closer we would be to the Ideal he wants us to pursue.
Notice people today. How can you get to know them?
Think about how
Do you seek out more learning about Jesus as did Herod, an enemy who would condemn our heroine before she even started?
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