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He Gave His Only Son

"Have you come to believe because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed."

John 21:29

• There should be less talk. A preaching point is not a meeting point.


• The dying, the cripple, the mental, the unwanted, the unloved-- they are Jesus in disguise.


• In the West there is loneliness, which I call the leprosy of the West. In many ways it is worse than our poor in Calcutta. (Commonweal, Dec 19, 1997)


• It is not how much we do, but how much love we put in the doing. It is not how much we give, but how much love we put in the giving.


• The poor give us much more than we give them. They're such strong people, living day to day with no food. and they never curse, never complain. We don't have to give them pity or sympathy. We have so much to learn from them.


• I see God in every human being. When I wash the leper's wounds, I feel I am nursing the Lord himself. Is it not a beautiful experience?


• I do not pray for success. I ask for faithfulness.


• Let us not be satisfied with just giving money. Money is not enough, money can be got, but they need your hearts to love them. So, spread your love everywhere you go.


• If you judge people, you have no time to love them.

~Mother Teresa~

Whenever I have the opportunity to experience something as different as the Downtown Chapel, I have the choice to endure the experience or explore the experience. I always tend to choose to explore. Outside of my normal environment is always an opportunity to grow. What I learned here today was that we are more apt to grow in dependence to God through poverty, we only have to open our eyes to see our own prejudices, and Jesus Christ is our true security.

It is more difficult to be dependent on God when we have so many material possessions that can make our life so comfortable. At least, we feel comfortable with our material possessions. This false sense of security gives us a false sense of happiness. Material possessions keep us from seeing God more clearly because we believe that we can live without any help from God. However, I don't want to glamorize the poverty of these homeless people. Yes, we can say that these homeless people may have an easier time seeing God in their poverty but being homeless is not glamorous. The homeless of our streets deserve justice in our society and their situation should be addressed.

Upon entering the old town section of Portland I can immediately put up my defenses because I cannot totally trust the people that live here. It is good to have a healthy respect for the potential danger. However, I believe that I have some prejudices towards these people because I might suspect that they are poor for unsavory reasons such as drugs or just being lazy. These people may have these problems but they still deserve the basic respect that those created in God's image deserve. It is good to check my prejudices now and then so that I can become more aware of any blocking of God's graces in my own mind. The retreat master told us that the best thing anyone can do for these people is to acknowledge them as fellow human beings.

The Church was formed through a lot of suffering. It all started with the suffering of Jesus Christ on the cross. Then immediately after that all of the Apostles suffered for teaching about Jesus. This retreat helped me to see the sufferings of others in my midst. It also allowed me to see my own suffering more clearly. I don't have the same kind of suffering the homeless do but I suffer nevertheless. My suffering allows me to see the security that Jesus provides to me and all that suffer. I know that I am not alone in my suffering. I am broken as much as the homeless people are and I need Jesus as much as they do. I do have a lot more in common with my brothers and sisters than I like to admit sometimes.

URLVD

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