Strangers
For I was hungry, and ye gave me to eat; I was thirsty and ye gave me to drink; I was a stranger, and ye took me in; naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me; I was in prison, and ye came unto me.
Matthew 25 : Verses
35, 36For I was hungry, and ye gave me to eat; I was thirsty and ye gave me to drink; I was a stranger, and ye took me in; naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me; I was in prison, and ye came unto me.
Today we
see so many faces. How many of us see the face of a hungry person in our day-to-day
lives? Did you know that 1 in 8 people
go to bed hungry? That hunger maimes and reduces the IQ of people.
There is an estimated 1.3 billion people living in poverty around
the world, of that number 70 percent are women and girls. Women and girls are also the fastest
increasing group of impoverished in the world, a process called “the global feminization of
poverty. Please check this link on you tube made by a girl from Tulane University who is passionate about the health and education of women in the world. It Only Takes a Girl - YouTube
Christ confronted
Saul of Tarsus on the road to Damascus, where he asked him why are you
persecuting me (Acts 22:7)? In the same way what we do to Christ’s followers we do
to him. Christ’s words continue to echo down through the ages, as you did to
one of the least of these my brothers and sisters you did it to me (Matt25:40).
Do you see how softly and tenderly
Christ looks upon those who are weak and undernourished? Every time we show
kindness to those in need we show that we have the Spirit of Christ within us.
Recognition
and success often has another side to it. We pay the price of competition, rivalry and
alienation. Christ is calling us to move inward into the void within ourselves and
then allow ourselves to move outward toward others and towards God. He is
calling us to transform our own inner gnawing of hostility to hospitality. As
the famous quote of St. Augustine goes, “Our hearts are restless until it rests
in you.”
Do you long for the Lord to bless you and keep you? Christ says feed my sheep. Do you want to see the face of God to shine upon you? Christ
says feed my sheep. Do you long for peace in Christ? Christ says feed my sheep.
5 comments:
Each one will have to share the ones resources with the have-nots. It can be done in different ways. As missionary doctors we worked in areas where we could help those who were sick to be healed. We didn't have money but used our gift of healing to uplift the sick and dying. We found innovative low cost effective ways to care for the poor and needy.
The innkeeper did not drive away Mary and Joseph (strangers) from the inn, instead he gave them a stable to stay. That was all that was needed.It was the gift of hospitality over hostility
A simple lifestyle, going to disaster affected areas, find your gift or ability and share. Whatever may be our humble offering Christ will accept.
Money is not the only gift we can share, love is the greatest of these.
If poverty is due to ignorance or laziness then you have to help them to correct that. One of the projects I am involved in a place for counseling and boarding for women. The police and some lawyers are also involved. Wandering homeless women are brought to the center. Taught new skills like handicrafts, if healthy find safe and protected places to work.There are many women in the town who contribute generously for this. eg. I give my old newspapers for them to make paper bags for some of the local general grocery stores, refurbished my old second hand refrigerator and gave it to the center
The people who are poor and starving what can they give up for lent? Everyday is lent for them. To think there are so many who live for less than a dollar a day is mind boggling.
Henri Nouwenn says, "there are many kinds of poverty economic poverty, physical poverty, emotional poverty, mental poverty, and spiritual poverty. As long as we relate primarily to each other’s wealth, health, stability, intelligence, and soul strength, we cannot develop true community.....Community is the place where our poverty is acknowledged and accepted, not as something we have to learn to cope with as best as we can but as a true source of new life."
Very beautiful Mani - We live such insulated lives and are so caught up in our own lives, that as you pointed out, we hardly ever think about people who lack such basic necessities as food and shelter. Not sure how we can keep this on the top of our priorities list, though Mahatma Gandhi did say that before you do something "Recall the face of the poorest and weakest man you have seen, and ask yourself if this step you contemplate is going to be any use to him.”
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