"The Birth" by Caryll Houselander, 1953

“The Birth”
by Caryll Houselander 1953

There was always the Crowd. Even when he lay folded in the darkness of Mary’s womb, she carried him into the crowded city of Bethlehem to be born.

There was a loud voice in the streets surrounding the stable. The clinking of glasses, the shouts, the greeting of friends, the tramping of feet and clatter of hoofs, laughter and snatches of song.

Only his Mother possessed silence. And in her silence under the noise of the crowd, she heard the sound of a stream flowing underground, and breaking through darkness to water the earth. And she heard the little snap of a bursting seed, and the sound of a bud breaking. She heard the sound of the waters of birth.

Then the sound of water and opening buds and seed pushing into the light became the thin cry of the newly born, and the thin cry was the Word.

She, his Mother, always sought for him in the crowd. It was in the crowd coming home from Jerusalem that she lost, and sought her son for the first time. And it was as one of the crowd, seeking him again in the city she heard him say - “They who do the will of my Father in Heaven are my brother and sister and mother!”

There was always the crowd, thronging the mountain side and the sea shore and the wilderness, to hear the word. And she was always there as one of the crowd, she, who had heard the first cry, and taught the Word his first word, and stored all his words in her heart. Now the Lord spoke of living streams in which those who are dead should be born again, and the single seed cast into the earth that should fill the fields for the harvesting with wheat for living bread.

Some of them questioned him: “How can these things be?” “This is a hard saying and how shall we return to our mother’s womb and be born again?” And she remembered that she too had said “How can this thing be?”

And then that crowded night in the city of Bethlehem. Would all men spark from the seed of light that had flowered from her?

There was the crowd who threw their garments under his feet, children thronging his way with palms in their hands, to greet his entry into Jerusalem when he came to die, and then, the crowd outside the judgment hall, crying aloud for his blood - “Crucify! Crucify!” and those who hustled each other, and pushed their way in the narrow street when they led him by on the way to Golgotha. And always Mary his Mother, following, seeking her lost child in the crowd.

When he died on the Cross the crowds were there, climbing the hill, as they did when first he came from Nazareth, to utter the word of his Father’s love in the broad speech of a Nazarene. But now they came to deride, to mock at him and to curse, they came to silence the Word!

Mary, his Mother, stood at the foot of the Cross. She heard the seed that had shone in her womb falling into the ground, and the sound of a great wind sweeping the red harvests from end to end of the world.

And she heard the sound of his blood, that was hers, like the sound of a great sea flowing in waves of light over the world’s darkness, flowing down the hillside, through the holy city, and all the cities, all over the world till the end of time, flooding the souls of men with the waters of life. Mary, the Mother of God, looked from the night to a million million dawns, whose rising suns were a million million Hosts.

And she saw the crowds, coming again to the mountain side from the ends of the earth, and the end of time.

She saw the cities of all the world, and the glory of them from the mountain where he had died.

And she sought for her son who was lost, and found him there in the crowd. He was there because exiles were there, those who fled from murder and had nowhere to lay their heads. He was there, because kings were there, whose crowns were crowns of thorn. He was there, because priests were there, who were there to be sacrificed. He was there, because those who were poor were there, and they were clothed in the iridescence of flowers in dew reflecting the rising sun. He was there because children were there, who looked at her with her child’s shadowless eyes.

She heard the breaking of the waters of birth.

And then the Word was silent. The sound of the great wind and the sea became the silence of the Word. She heard only the sound of the little stream that broke from his side.

But mankind born again was laid in her arms, in the body of her dead child.

Susan Boyle: Turning Disability Into Ability

Susan Boyle is receiving a lot of attention after her performance on the television show Britain's Got Talent. Her appearance and her personality caused the judges and the audience members to dismiss her, to snicker, and to laugh at her. But then she started singing. And the rest, as they say, is history.

Ms. Boyle's Cinderella story has captured the world's attention for many reasons. Last week, she was even the subject of Cardinal Sean O'Malley's homily at the Boston Catholic Women's Conference in Massachusetts. We are captivated by the extraordinary story of this gentle woman, but many don't know that Susan Boyle has had a lifelong history with disabilities.

Ms. Boyle has learning disabilities as a result of oxygen deprivation at birth. In a recent interview with CBS she talked about being bullied, teased and abused for being "slow. " Though the scars remain today, she added, "The ones who made fun of me are now nice to me, so I may have won them round."

Susan Boyle has clearly won us all round. Her performance was a testimony to the human spirit as much as it was a display of her beautiful talent. This never-been-kissed woman whom many considered a "throw-away" wants very much to highlight her disabilities.

"I was slightly brain damaged at birth, and I want people like me to see that they shouldn’t let a disability get in the way. I want to raise awareness -- I want to turn my disability into ability."

To quote Britain's Got Talent judge Piers Morgan, "Susan, you have the voice of an angel."

Passivity

I just received "Getting Involved, Part 1" (below) from Insight For Living. It came to me after a morning of prayer and meditation on a hurtful situation we encountered in a church where we live. It resonated with me, and I was certain it would resonate with some of you. I shall publish Part 2 when I receive it tomorrow.

Friends, we must always remember that God is holding us in the palms of His hands, even when our earthly brothers and sisters turn us away. We must not let these hurtful experiences, especially those at the hands of fellow Christians, take us away from the One who is our Father, our God.

The Lord is our balm. He will always be our Good Samaritan.

Getting Involved, Part One
by Charles R. Swindoll

Luke 10:30-37

Kitty Genovese was brutally attacked as she returned to her apartment late one night. She screamed and shrieked as she fought for her life . . . yelling until she was hoarse . . . for thirty minutes . . . as she was beaten and abused. Thirty-eight people watched the half-hour episode from their windows with rapt fascination. Not one so much as walked over to the telephone and called the police. Kitty died that night as thirty-eight witnesses stared in silence.

Andrew Mormille's experience was similar. Riding on a subway, the seventeen-year-old youth was quietly minding his own business when he was stabbed repeatedly in the stomach by attackers. Eleven riders watched the stabbing, but none came to assist the young man. Even after the thugs had fled and the train had pulled out of the station, as he lay in a pool of his own blood, not one of the eleven came to his side.

Less dramatic but equally shocking was the ordeal of Eleanor Bradley. While shopping on Fifth Avenue in busy Manhattan, this lady tripped and broke her leg. Dazed, anguished, and in shock, she called out for help. Not for two minutes. Not for twenty minutes. But forty minutes, as shoppers and business executives, students and merchants walked around her and stepped over her, completely ignoring her cries. After literally hundreds had passed by, a cab driver finally pulled over, hauled her into his taxi, and took her to a local hospital.

I heard of an experiment a small band of seminary students carried out on fellow members of their class some time ago. I know it is true because I later spoke with one of the men involved. The class was given an assignment on Luke 10:30-37, the familiar account of the Good Samaritan. The assignment was due the next day. Most of the men in that class traveled along the same pathway leading to the classroom the next morning. One of the seminarians in the experiment wore old, torn clothing, disguised himself as though he had been beaten and bruised, and placed himself along the path, clearly in view of all the young students making their way back to class. With their assignments neatly written, carefully documented, and tucked under their arms, not one seminarian so much as paused to come to his assistance or wipe the catsup off his neck and chest.

Intellectually, the assignment on love and caring was completed. But personally? Well, you decide.

What's happening? Why the passivity? How can we explain the gross lack of involvement in our world today and especially among Christians? We'll talk about that tomorrow. For now, go out on a limb: ask God to let you help someone in urgent distress in the immediate future. Be sensitive . . . He's going to answer your request! And take extra time today to thank God for the constant protection you enjoy from Him, allowing you to reach out confidently to others (read Psalm 121:7-8). Be ready!







Excerpted from Come Before Winter and Share My Hope, Copyright © 1985, 1994 by Charles R. Swindoll, Inc. All rights reserved worldwide. Used by permission.

Called To Be Blessings

Originally printed in 2005 in Washington DC:

CALLED TO BE BLESSINGS, by Theresa Lindner

Did you hear the one about the four men who lowered their handicapped friend through the roof to Jesus who was preaching God’s Word below?

We find this inspiring story of a service being made handicapped accessible in Mark 2:1-12. Jesus was preaching in a house, and a crowd gathered outside so thick that there was no way this paralyzed man could gain access to Christ. So the man’s friends carried him up to the roof, tore a hole in it, and lowered him down to Jesus below. Their tenacious commitment to their friend, and their determination to gain him access, moved Jesus to care for the paralytic man (Mark 2:5).

Since my 8 year old son became ill two years ago with a progressive neurological disease, my family and I have learned a lot about accessibility, inclusion, and barriers. There are barriers of stone, prejudice, fear, and misunderstanding. Physical barriers such as a flight of stairs or a curb can keep a wheelchair-bound person from entering a building or participating in a church service. But attitudinal barriers deny a person access to the community of the heart and soul. The good and faithful servants of Blessed Sacrament have sought to integrate persons with differences into every aspect of Church and Sacramental life, and have reached out to all saying, “You belong”. The Catholic Church teaches us through St. Paul that “though we are many we are one body in Christ, and individually we are all members of one another.” Blessed Sacrament has re-configured the church, re-imagined how to do Liturgy and the Sacraments, and re-shaped the role each person plays as a member of the Body. But still too many of our disabled and sick brothers and sisters and their families remain at home on Sunday mornings. Recent census figures show that about 1 in 5 Americans have some kind of disability, and 1 in 10 have a severe disability. There are millions of Catholics living in the United States with a disability, and yet if we look around at our churches on Sunday mornings, we see an amazing lack of disabled people at Mass. The need for the ill and disabled to hear God’s Word, receive the Eucharist, and commune with other believers at Mass each week is critical, for He alone truly is our strength. Our daily trials are tests of our faith, character and endurance. If anyone needs to hear a Homily each week and receive the Eucharist, it is we who are struggling to keep our minds filled with hope and our attitudes filled with faith.

God invites us all to His banquet table in Luke 14:12-15. The idea of inclusion is not new. Jesus teaches us by example throughout the Bible that we are to accept persons with differences as they are, and to see people’s hearts: “Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart” (1Sam 16:7). The value of each person is intrinsic and our value in God’s eyes is unchanging. We have watched the Pope soldier on despite increasing debilitation due to his illness. And at a Symposium on the Dignity of the Person with Mental Handicaps held at the Vatican last January, the Pope wrote, “The quality of a life of a community is measured by the care given to the weakest, especially the disabled.” The love of God and the love of one other is inseperable.

I think when we feel compassion for another person it is God’s way of telling us to be a blessing to that person. Being a blessing might mean holding a door open, sending a note, offering a smile, or helping someone get to Mass on Sunday. Being a blessing might mean looking straight ahead when the person beside us at Mass isn’t following “the rules”, or mumbles or calls out while the rest of us are in quiet prayer. Maybe our blessing could be saying a “Hail Mary” privately for someone unable to sit still, or experiencing body jerks during Mass. In Genesis (1:31) we read that God saw all the things that he had made, and they were very good. God didn’t say they were perfect. He said they were good. No one is perfect: we all have flaws, we all have differences. We must keep our hearts of compassion open, and be obedient to what God calls us to do, and whom He calls us to be.

In Matthew 25:31-45, the parable of the Last Judgment, we are told, “Inasmuch as you have done it for the least of My brothers, you have done it unto Me.” As Catholics our destiny is to serve others in His name. Compassionate outreach to the ill and disabled is a very special service to Christ. No one can make this journey alone. We all need a church family to encourage us and help us along the way. Consider a flock of geese flying in a V formation during migration. When we look closely at them we see that one goose flies in the lead, acting as a windbreak for the others in the flock until he grows tired and falls back into the lines of the V. Immediately another goose will fly up to the lead position, battling the wind that will soon tire him. And all of that honking we hear as they fly overhead? Those are the sounds of the geese in the back of the formation, shouting a kind of encouragement to the lead goose and to one another.

So perhaps the next time we see a mother struggling with a spirited child during Mass, or somebody flies off the handle at us, or we are seated next to someone who is weeping, we should consider that God has probably placed them near us for a reason. Maybe He is asking us to fly to the lead position for a moment. When God puts love in our hearts for another person we must act on it. We must say yes. We must be willing to be inconvenienced or interrupted now and then. We must be willing to be someone’s windbreak when called. For the person God has placed on our heart needs what we have to give. And in giving, God will be creating a good work in us, too. God puts compassion in our hearts as much for us, as for the person to whom we are reaching out. Write to a special-needs family you know who doesn’t attend church, and invite them to Mass at Blessed Sacrament. Call your elderly neighbor and tell them you want to drive them to our wonderful 10:15 Mass so they can enjoy the beautiful music. Invite the special education student in your child’s class to their birthday party. God’s Love empowers even the most timid among us to become blessings and champions to His purpose. Jesus came to show us the way, to give us eternal life. He left us here to be used by Him to help accomplish that purpose.

This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. – John 15:1

Theresa Lindner is a member of the Blessed Sacrament Disabilities Ministry.

Marathoners Donate Their Race Medals To Children With Life-Threatening Conditions

Below is a wonderful story about donated marathon medals being passed out to children with life-threatening disorders (Medals 4 Mettle). There are some amazing angels this side of Heaven.

Peace, Theresa

Donated medals inspire sick kids to reach finish line
Medals 4 Mettle recognizes effort in race with no prizes

By Pamela LeBlanc
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Saturday, February 07, 2009

Two runners slip into a room at Dell Children's Medical Center, where a little girl dressed in purple rests on a bed draped with a Minnie Mouse blanket.

"Have you ever heard of a marathon?" Christine Yarosh asks 5-year-old Isabella Duran.

Isabella nods, eyes wide. "It's a really long race," Yarosh says.

She explains that runners spend long hours preparing for a marathon. They run in cold. They run at night. They run, sometimes, when they don't want to. Then, after months of training, they run 26.2 miles, all at once. At the finish line, someone hands them a finisher's medal as a way to remember how hard they worked.

"It's like what you do," Yarosh says, smiling at Isabella, who was diagnosed with a form of leukemia last October. "And we want to recognize how much work you're doing to try to get well."

Yarosh's partner, Rick Slawsky, reaches into a canvas satchel, fishing around until he finds what he is looking for — a saucer-sized medal from the Walt Disney World Marathon in Florida. It's shaped like Mickey Mouse, with oversized ears to match Isabella's blanket. Yarosh carefully places the medal around the little girl's neck. Isabella grins, then flashes the medal at her mom.

Every few months, Yarosh, 44, and Slawsky, 55, head to this hospital, where they bestow donated finisher's medals on chronically sick kids. So far, they've given away more than 100 through the Austin branch of the nonprofit organization Medals 4 Mettle.

Ten or 20 medals a week find their way to the couple. Some are mailed, some are dropped by their home, and others are collected from a drop box at the RunTex store on Riverside Drive. They come from races far and wide, including the Country Music Marathon in Nashville, the Philadelphia Marathon, the Chicago Marathon and the Air Force Marathon.

"This running community in Austin is so amazing," Yarosh says. "It's really meaningful that people give up medals. It's the culmination of week after week after week of training, and they give it to someone who doesn't get a prize."

Some medals are donated by first-time marathoners. One came from a cancer survivor who is also a marathon runner and triathlete. A division winner in the 2008 San Francisco Marathon even donated her medal to the Austin group.

In all, more than 30 chapters of Medals 4 Mettle exist around the United States, Mexico and Canada. Dr. Steven Isenberg, a marathon runner and ear, nose and throat physician, founded the organization in Indianapolis in 2005.

Isenberg estimates the group has give away more than 7,000 medals so far. Last week, Olympian Bill Rodgers, four-time winner of both the Boston and New York City marathons, sent more than 30 autographed medals, unsolicited, to Isenberg to give away through the program.

"Kids really look to others for reinforcement and encouragement," Isenberg says. "When somebody gives them something they've spent lot of time effort and energy to earn, it transmits that good will and support in a unique way \u2026 It gives them courage to have an IV started and get treatments and live with all the bad things disease brings."

The Austin chapter, started by Slawsky and Yarosh, was one of the first outside Indianapolis. Isenberg says Slawsky and Yarosh have been key in setting up new chapters around the country. "That's our mission — to spread the collective support of human courage throughout the country, throughout the world," Isenberg says.

In Austin, volunteers attach special ribbons to the medals before handing them out. Yarosh and Slawsky don't spend long with each child, dropping in long enough to explain why dealing with a chronic illness is like running a marathon. "Later, when we're gone, they have it as a reminder to get up and do something that's difficult and painful," Yarosh says.

Sometimes, it's not easy to make the delivery. Some of the young patients are getting chemotherapy for cancer; others have respiratory problems. "When we leave, I just have to take a few minutes and cry," Yarosh says.

Among this day's 20 or so recipients at the Dell hospital are Lee McClenon, a 17-year-old junior at LBJ Liberal Arts and Sciences magnet school who misses playing lacrosse with her team. She was diagnosed in March 2006 with cancer in the muscle around her jaw. Eighteen months after doctors thought she had recovered, the cancer came back. But today is her last round of chemotherapy, and she's excited.

"I'd be happy if I could run half a mile," McClenon says, as Yarosh explains the significance of the medal she hangs around the teenager's neck.

"On days when it's really hard, hold on to that and keep on pushing," Yarosh tells her.

Down the hall, Yarosh and Slawsky visit a Round Rock High School football player being treated for bone cancer. A few doors later, they meet a young power lifter from Del Valle High School who has asthma.

"People who run these races realize people like you are running their own race," Slawsky tells them.

Kisten Inness , 7, promptly hangs the medal she receives around the neck of her stuffed animal.

"It's just a little something to show how hard you're working," Yarosh says.

When they stop by the room where 6-year-old Kai Davidson is staying, it's obvious he wishes he wasn't at the hospital.

"How are you doing today?," Slawsky asks.

"Kind of good," Kai says quietly.

When Slawsky hands him a medal, he looks at it carefully. "That's to show you're doing a good job," he says.

As they leave the room, Kai is still staring at the heavy medal in his hand.

2009 World Day of the Sick Focuses on Sick Children

On February 11, 2009, the Catholic Church celebrated her 17th World Day of the Sick. This year the message focused on sick and suffering children.

There is much we can take from this important message regardless of our church affiliations. "Human life is beautiful and should be lived in fullness even when it is weak and shrouded by the mystery of suffering," wrote the Pope.

God never abandons His children in affliction, but always provides for us so that we may deal with the difficulties of our lives. Perhaps we who have not received "cordial cooperation" in our spiritual communities might be able to use this Papal letter as a foundation upon which to build a bridge to a "civilisation of love" (cf.Salvifici doloris, n. 30).

The following paragraph in particular spoke to my heart:

"Since a sick child belongs to a family that shares his or her suffering often with great hardship and difficulties, Christian communities cannot but also make themselves responsible for helping family units that are afflicted by the illness of a son or daughter. Following the example of the "Good Samaritan", one should bend down in front of people who are so sorely troubled and offer them the support of practical solidarity. In this way, the acceptance and sharing of suffering is translated into a useful support to the families of sick children, creating within them a climate of serenity and hope, and making them feel surrounded by a wider family of brothers and sisters in Christ. The compassion of Jesus for the weeping of the widow of Nain (cf. Lk 7:12-17) and for the imploring prayer of Jairus (cf. Lk 8:41-56) constitute, amongst others, certain useful points of reference by which to learn to share in the moments of physical and moral tribulation of so many afflicted families. All of this presupposes a disinterested and generous love, a reflection and sign of the merciful love of God who never abandons his children in affliction, but always provides them with admirable resources of the heart and intelligence, so that they can adequately address the difficulties of life."


VATICAN CITY - 11 February 2009
Pope Benedict's message for World Day of the Sick

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

The World Day of the Sick, which will be celebrated on 11 February of this year, the liturgical memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Lourdes, will see the diocesan communities meet with their bishops in moments of prayer, in order to reflect and to decide upon initiatives of sensitisation connected with the reality of suffering. The Pauline Year that we are celebrating offers a propitious opportunity to stop and reflect with the apostle Paul on the fact that "just as the sufferings of Christ overflow into our lives; so too does the encouragement we receive through Christ" (2 Cor 1:5). The spiritual link with Lourdes, in addition, calls to mind the maternal solicitude of the Mother of Jesus for the brethren of her Son "who still journey on earth surrounded by dangers and difficulties, until they are led into the happiness of their true home" (Lumen gentium, n. 62).

This year we direct our attention particularly to children, the weakest and most defenceless creatures, and, amongst them, to the sick and suffering children. There are little human beings who carry in their bodies the consequences of illnesses which have made them invalids and others who fight against diseases that are now incurable despite the progress of medicine and the care of qualified researchers and health-care professionals. There are children wounded in their bodies and souls as a consequence of conflicts and wars, and other innocent victims of the hatred of senseless adults. There are 'street' children, deprived of the warmth of a family and abandoned to themselves, and minors profaned by abject people who violate their innocence, provoking in them a psychological wound that will mark them for the rest of their lives. And we cannot forget the incalculable number of young people who die because of thirst, hunger, lack of health care, and the little exiles and refugees from their own lands, with their parents, who are in search of better conditions of life. From all these children arises a silent cry of pain that calls on our conscience as men and believers.

The Christian community, which cannot remain indifferent to such dramatic situations, perceives the impelling duty to intervene. The Church, indeed, as I wrote in the encyclical Deus caritas est, "is God's family in the world. In this family no one ought to go without the necessities of life" (n. 25, b). I thus hope that the World Day of the Sick will also offer an opportunity to parish and diocesan communities to become increasingly aware that they are "God's family", and will encourage them to make the love of the Lord, who asks that "within the ecclesial family no member should suffer through being in need" (ibid.), perceivable in villages, neighbourhoods and cities. Witness to charity is a part of the life itself of every Christian community. And from the outset the Church translated Gospel principles into concrete actions, as we can read in the Acts of the Apostles. Today, given the changed conditions of health care, the need is perceived for closer cooperation between health-care workers who work in various health-care institutions and the ecclesial communities present in local areas. From this perspective, all the value is demonstrated of an institution that is connected with the Holy See, the "Bambino Gesù" Children's Hospital, which this year celebrates its 140 years of existence.

But there is more. Since a sick child belongs to a family that shares his or her suffering often with great hardship and difficulties, Christian communities cannot but also make themselves responsible for helping family units that are afflicted by the illness of a son or daughter. Following the example of the "Good Samaritan", one should bend down in front of people who are so sorely troubled and offer them the support of practical solidarity. In this way, the acceptance and sharing of suffering is translated into a useful support to the families of sick children, creating within them a climate of serenity and hope, and making them feel surrounded by a wider family of brothers and sisters in Christ. The compassion of Jesus for the weeping of the widow of Nain (cf. Lk 7:12-17) and for the imploring prayer of Jairus (cf. Lk 8:41-56) constitute, amongst others, certain useful points of reference by which to learn to share in the moments of physical and moral tribulation of so many afflicted families. All of this presupposes a disinterested and generous love, a reflection and sign of the merciful love of God who never abandons his children in affliction, but always provides them with admirable resources of the heart and intelligence, so that they can adequately address the difficulties of life.

The daily dedication and tireless commitment to the service of sick children constitute an eloquent testimony of love for human life, in particular for the life of those who are weak and who are in everything and for everything dependent on others. It is, indeed, necessary to affirm with vigour the absolute and supreme dignity of every human life. The teaching that the Church proclaims incessantly does not change with the passing of time: human life is beautiful and should be lived in fullness even when it is weak and shrouded by the mystery of suffering. It is to Jesus that we must direct our gaze: in dying on the cross he wanted to share the pain of all humanity. In his suffering for love we see a supreme co-participation in the sufferings of sick children and their parents. My venerable predecessor John Paul II, who offered a shining example of the patient acceptance of suffering, especially at the sunset of his life, wrote: "on this Cross is the 'Redeemer of man', the Man of Sorrows, who has taken upon himself the physical and moral sufferings of the people of all times, so that in love they may find the salvific meaning of their sorrow and valid answers to all of their questions" (Salvifici doloris, n. 31) .

I wish here to express my appreciation and encouragement of the international and national organisations that provide care to sick children, especially in poor countries, and with generosity and self-denial offer their contribution to assure that such children have adequate and loving care. At the same time I address a sorrowful appeal to the leaders of nations to strengthen laws and measures in favour of sick children and their families. Always, but even more when the lives of children are at stake, the Church, for her part, makes herself ready to offer her cordial cooperation, with the intention of transforming the whole of human civilisation into a "civilisation of love" (cf. Salvifici doloris, n. 30).

To end, I would like to express my spiritual nearness to all of you, dear brothers and sisters, who suffer from an illness. I address an affectionate greeting to those who help you: to bishops, to priests, to consecrated men and women, to health-care workers, to volunteers and to all those who dedicate themselves with love to treating and alleviating the sufferings of those who have to face up to illness. A special greeting for you, dear sick and suffering children: the Pope embraces you with fatherly love, together with your parents and relatives; he assures you that you are especially remembered in his prayers, inviting you to trust in the maternal help of the Immaculate Virgin Mary, who last Christmas we once again contemplated while she held in her arms the Son of God made child. Invoking upon you and every sick person the protection of the Holy Virgin, Health of the Sick, to all of you from my heart I impart a special Apostolic Blessing.

From the Vatican, 2 February 2009
Benedictus P.P. XVI

Source: Irish Catholic Media Office

© Independent Catholic News 2009

Angels Around Us

There are days we face hardships, pain, and even scorn; it can be difficult to find meaning or peace. But God’s Word tells us that angels have been sent to guard and protect us. There are hundreds of references in the Old and New Testaments to these beings who were created by God to be His helpers in the work of salvation.

The word “angel” means messenger. The Archangel Gabriel announced the births of John the Baptist and Jesus. The choirs of angels announced Jesus’ birth to shepherds near Bethlehem. In the Old Testament, the "angel of the Lord" presented the will of God to the holy Patriarchs.

I believe God also sends “earth angels” into our lives to be His messengers and bringers of hope in difficult times. They are His voice saying to us, “I am here. You are not alone. I will help you.”

Do you see “angels” in your lives? They may be in the form of doctors, nurses, family members, or friends. They may be the elderly man who smiles at you in the food store, or the woman at the ice cream stand who patiently takes your child’s order. Maybe your angel is the social worker at the hospital who helped you with the government forms, or the woman at church whom you did not know who sent you an email greeting.

Each of these people are earth angels who have been sent to give encouragement, hope, and help.

The Bible says that love is kindness in action. We need not look far to find those in need. When Jesus delivered His Sermon on the Mount, He lifted up the quiet, the meek, the lowly, the poor in spirit, and blessed them, calling the rest of us to do the same. Being an earth angel is one of the most God-like things we can do.

So pay a local teenager to shovel the sidewalk of your elderly neighbor's home. Leave your change in the soda machine for the next person. Say hello to the special needs man collecting carts in the grocery store lot. Mother Teresa said, "If you can't feed a hundred people, then feed just one." We are all capable of lifting up at least one person in loving kindness each day.

PRAYER: Heavenly Father, thank You for Your angels who guard and protect us. Thank you for sending me Your “earth angels” when I have needed them. Help me to give to others as they have given to me. Help me to remember that a full measure of life is in pouring it out freely for others. Amen.

A little girl was outside on the street in a thin dress without a coat in the middle of winter. Her mother was asking passers-by for money. Angry I asked God, “Why do You permit this? Why don’t You do something about it?”

To this God replied, “I did do something about it. I sent YOU.”

Love,

Theresa