Corporal Works of Mercy - Feed the Hungry
Saint Michael the Archangel Parish Family
Social Justice Ministry
During this Year of Mercy, we are focusing on practicing the Corporal Works of Mercy. For February of 2016, let us reflect on
To Feed the Hungry - Proverbs 22: 9 Happy is the generous person, the one who feeds the poor.
When was the last time you were hungry…truly hungry? Three million children die every day worldwide from lack of nutrition. That’s one child every four seconds. Think about that the next time you use the words “I’m starving” to describe your hunger.
What we have done at St. Michael’s to respond to this work of mercy: monthly food collections for Roarke Center and CoNSERNS-U, monthly Damien dinners, donation of all left over foods from dinners to Joseph House…Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners for Carroll Hill School…not wasting food in our homes…BEET Hunger program each September…Souper Bowl of Caring by our Faith Formation students…donations from our investment income to the Regional Food Bank…extensive Outreach funds given to shelters…
What can YOU do to extend this work of mercy: if you’ve never signed up to bring a few items for the Damien dinner, do it…offer to be on a cooking team for the Damien dinners…volunteer a few hours a week at a food pantry…make dinner and deliver it to a family in need or grieving…reconsider what you give to the Outreach collection…commit to a monthly donation to Roarke or CoNSERNS-U…adopt a child in a poor country…
To Give Drink to the Thirsty
John 4:14 “But the water I give them,” He said, “becomes a perpetual spring within them watering them forever with eternal life.”
How far do you need to go to satisfy your thirst? The answer for almost a billion people in the world is four miles a day. There are few living in the USA who suffer from a lack of clean, drinkable water, but what about our spiritual thirst-the thirst to be loved?
What we have done at St. Michael’s to respond to this work of mercy: Faith Formation students passing out cold bottles of water with an attached Gospel message to people in downtown Troy during the heat of summer,
What can YOU do to extend this work of mercy: reach out to someone that perhaps you haven’t spoken to in a while and LISTEN to what is happening in their life…read about the life of Mother Teresa and put into practice her desire to reach out to those who” hunger and thirst” to be loved and cared about…don’t waste water in your home…
What will you do on Judgment Day when you stand before God and He asks you: why in your lifetime did an average of 20,000 children in the world die every day because they were hungry? Will you say, “I’m not sure, God, but they were not my kids.” To which he will reply, “No, they were mine!” The point is that we need to live what we say we believe. From Beautiful Mercy