"If ever there is an attitude that is never easy, even for a Christian community, it is precisely how to love oneself, to love after the Lord's example and with his grace. Sometimes disagreements, pride, envy, divisions, all leave their mark even on the beautiful face of the Church. A community of Christians should live in the charity of Christ.
Instead, it is precisely there that the evil one 'sets his foot in.' And sometimes we allow ourselves to be deceived. And those who pay the price are those who are spiritually weaker.""We must begin anew every day. We must practice it so that our love for the brothers and sisters we encounter may become mature and purified from those limitations or sins that render it incomplete, egotistical, sterile, and unfaithful. We have to learn the art of loving every day."
"What face does love have? What shape, what size, what feet, what hands? No one can say. And yet it has feet, that lead to the Church; it has hands, that give to the poor; it has eyes, with which one comes to know the one who is in need; as the psalm says: Blessed is he who considers the poor and the indigent."
"Dear brothers and sisters, Jesus invites us today to look inside ourselves, to give thanks for our good soil, and to tend the soil that is not yet good. Let us ask ourselves if our heart is open to welcome the seed of the Word of God with faith. Let us ask ourselves if our rocks of laziness are still numerous and large. Let us identify our thorns... "
"In effect, the visible sign a Christian can show in order to witness to his love for God to the world, to others, and to his family, is the love he bears for his brothers. The commandment t o love God and neighbor is the first, not because it is at the top of the list of commandment. Jesus does not lace it at the pinnacle but at the center, because it is from the heart that everything must go out and to which everything must return and refer."
So, in the end I'll quote you this: In the Old Testament, the requirement to be holy, in the image of God, who is holy, included the duty to care for the most vulnerable people, such as the stranger, the orphan, and the widow.
Therefore, I'll leave you with my personal thoughts: I'm a divorced, mother of three teens (eldest medically disabled for life born with Vater Sydrome from a placenta abruptio in which I nearly bled to death.)
I've always noted when I had my health somewhat back to normal (HUS fatal blood disorder recently diagnosed, severe anemia, severe spinal stenosis, chronic bronchitis (30 yrs) non smoker with allergies and mild asthma, along with Raynaud's with zero blood flow L thumb, vertigo, and more) I decided that I'd give back to the Lord.
The calling for volunteers as ministers of hospitality arrived and I happily obliged at St. Ignatius of Loyola in Kingston, Pa. I was the only female minister of hospitality and female usher for a number of years until one day the priest decided to claim he never saw me there. Every male usher noted I've been there for years.
Instead this young male priest (younger than my nearly 50 yrs) decided to tell me I had to go. I told him that I was given a job to do and I would do that job as long as I was physically able as I wanted to simply serve my Lord in a Catholic church for which all three of my kids belong to their feeder schools.
I was then instructed that I needed to hand over the collection basket and it was then that three male older white ushers grabbed the basket and ripped it out of my hands in the midst of Sunday morning mass.
Only one male in the church stood up on my behalf. In fact, the ushers then ganged up and noted that there was more of them then I and then contacted the victor to claim falsehoods. Everyone in the church welcomed a female usher and reported all good conduct reports other than these male ushers who tried to hide behind lies against my impeccable record.
I reported them to the Bishop of the Diocese as well as the Vicar and was told that these men needed time to come around to this new line of thinking-this after volunteering for two years in that position w/o complaint or incident.
Just recently this same church awarded by second eldest the Bishop Youth Award. The highest honor of service a young community minded scholar can receive.
Just 11 days later I was told I was no longer a member of their church?~!
This because I'm high risk covid and cannot attend the church as well as being sick prior to Covid and unable to be present in the pews every Sunday even though I contacted them, asked the Deacon to pray for me at the hospital in which I received weekly blood transfusions for my microcytic hypochromic anemia which requires B12 injections and iron infusions at the Henry Cancer Center.
Yet, these are the individuals who claim to assist the poor as I sit in rags. These are the individuals who claim to be supportive as I was denied food at their very own food bank because I was forced out after being homeless and had no home with three young children therefore no longer in servicing area.
So, I ask this: Dear Papa: Would you deny the poor that beg for food should they arrive on your doorstep?
This is not the Catholic faith that I recall from years earlier. This is a national disgrace with sexual child abuse, with corruption, with pay to play schemes, and with violence against women that go unanswered.
Never once did I receive an apology for inflicting triggering episodes as I failed to mention I'm a domestic violence survivor from a malignant narcissist and after divorce was bankrupt, homeless, lt unemployed, and in extreme poverty.
What I mention here only pertains to the Catholic church.
I was also told by the President of our local United Way that I came across as entitled after requesting employment from a ten year job search and twenty years of volunteering. As if somehow I should not seek to exit from poverty and the hardships me and my family endure simply because I've been a volunteer working unpaid while seeking work.
This world is not the world of yesterday and it needs empathy, compassion, unity, love, and acceptance of all including women, children, the impoverished, the medically ill and or sickened, and the disabled.
God bless,
Former Minister of Hospitality and Former Female Usher
No comments:
Post a Comment