A Spiritual Reflection on Poverty
Throughout history, men and women have given their lives to the service of the poor.
It is a great and noble task that is lived through the ordinariness of everyday and obtained by being attentive to both the great events and the small and sometimes insignificant things in life, and completing them all very well.
In the Bible God continually points out that a genuine relationship with the poor is a means of building a genuine relationship with Him; perhaps this is a reason why working with the poor, regardless of religion, becomes a most fulfilling and life altering endeavour.
It is vocation which both breaks your heart and at the same time heals it; which is often the very essence or character of God.
To find the face of God in every single person we meet is often a hard task; it requires patience, fortitude, but mainly a desire to meet God and hear His voice through daily circumstances.
There are moments though when He shines so brilliantly and clearly through the people's faces and it is easy to feel His presence.
Such is the case with the children at St Vincent's; like the Transfiguration of Jesus, these children throw off the weight of their earthly burdens and reveal a dazzling resurrected countenance that fills one with intense hope and promise.
God says that a life offering that is pleasing to Him involves a true fast, meaning: "Remove the chains of oppression and the yoke of injustice, and let the oppressed go free.
Share your food with the hungry and open your homes to the homeless poor.
Give clothes to those who have nothing to wear, and do not refuse to help your own relatives...
then the darkness around you will turn to the brightness of noon.
" Isaiah 58: 6-7, 10 Everyone is capable of this; we witness those small moments that pass by us every day that come to us from the hand of God.
We see our sister or brother carrying a small or large burden and we take a moment to reach out and help.
In this way we follow His most divine and holy will for our lives and bring peace to the earth, to each other and to our brothers and sisters in need.
We entrust this scholarship to the Sacred Heart of Jesus; so that through His inspirations we may continue to do the will of God and help affect change in the lives of the people we are called to serve.
Please continue to keep the children of St Vincent's and the scholarship in your prayers.
May the peace of Jesus Christ be in your hearts and in your homes.
It is a great and noble task that is lived through the ordinariness of everyday and obtained by being attentive to both the great events and the small and sometimes insignificant things in life, and completing them all very well.
In the Bible God continually points out that a genuine relationship with the poor is a means of building a genuine relationship with Him; perhaps this is a reason why working with the poor, regardless of religion, becomes a most fulfilling and life altering endeavour.
It is vocation which both breaks your heart and at the same time heals it; which is often the very essence or character of God.
To find the face of God in every single person we meet is often a hard task; it requires patience, fortitude, but mainly a desire to meet God and hear His voice through daily circumstances.
There are moments though when He shines so brilliantly and clearly through the people's faces and it is easy to feel His presence.
Such is the case with the children at St Vincent's; like the Transfiguration of Jesus, these children throw off the weight of their earthly burdens and reveal a dazzling resurrected countenance that fills one with intense hope and promise.
God says that a life offering that is pleasing to Him involves a true fast, meaning: "Remove the chains of oppression and the yoke of injustice, and let the oppressed go free.
Share your food with the hungry and open your homes to the homeless poor.
Give clothes to those who have nothing to wear, and do not refuse to help your own relatives...
then the darkness around you will turn to the brightness of noon.
" Isaiah 58: 6-7, 10 Everyone is capable of this; we witness those small moments that pass by us every day that come to us from the hand of God.
We see our sister or brother carrying a small or large burden and we take a moment to reach out and help.
In this way we follow His most divine and holy will for our lives and bring peace to the earth, to each other and to our brothers and sisters in need.
We entrust this scholarship to the Sacred Heart of Jesus; so that through His inspirations we may continue to do the will of God and help affect change in the lives of the people we are called to serve.
Please continue to keep the children of St Vincent's and the scholarship in your prayers.
May the peace of Jesus Christ be in your hearts and in your homes.
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