Blog Posts from March, 2014

Understanding Love

This morning at the soup kitchen prayer session, we focused on Matthew’s comment about loving not just those who love you but loving your enemies and those who harm you.  One very simple woman spoke up and said: “You can’t do it on your own…

Sandra, You Are A Survivor

Recently in our Wed. prayer, we considered that it is what comes out of a person rather than what goes into him/her that makes for uncleanness. As a reflection, I asked the participants to share a time when they gave an encouraging word to someone else to build up rather than tear down.

Dreams

I have been pondering “Dreams” lately.  Langston Hughes’
poetry comes to mind:
      “Hold fast to dreams, for if dreams die,
        Life is a broken-winged bird that cannot fly.”

Paczki Day

It’s Fat Tuesday as I write this, and everyone is talking paczki.  This day marks the day before Lent begins on Ash Wednesday, a season that will take us to Easter and brighter plus warmer days too!

Most religious traditions include in their practices a time for fasting and reflection/prayer as a special season during the year.  Think Ramadan for the Muslim community.  In our Christian scriptures, we are offered three ways of doing this: prayer, fasting and alms-giving.  As I consider this each year in the context of the soup kitchen, I am aware that many of the people who come to CSK already fast as a way of life, just because they have to scrape to get the meals they need.  As for alms-giving, they don’t have a lot to give materially and are often on the receiving end.