This reflection was written by Sr. Mary Elizabeth Gintling, our founder, in 1979: When we prepare for the mystery of Christmas, what are our days of preparation filled with? Most of us have thousands of things to do and for many it is the busiest time of the year. What we really should be doing…
Dear Friends of Joseph House: We’re all familiar with Christmas carols but some of our favorite songs of the season are Advent hymns. They tend to get drowned out because Christmas music starts playing on the radio at Thanksgiving and stops on Christmas Day. This doesn’t make a lot of sense unless Christmas is just…
Dear Friends of Joseph House: A lovely custom with many people when they gather for Thanksgiving Dinner is to take turns saying what they’re thankful for. Expressing gratitude is good for the soul—and it’s what the holiday is all about. In our humble cubicles at the Joseph House Crisis Center, sitting around tiny desks with…
Dear Friends of Joseph House: When someone is homeless, he or she needs many things. At the Joseph House, we can’t do everything, but one service we do provide is laundry. We have to set limits since we only have one washer and dryer in our Hospitality Room, but we try to give each person…
Where there is charity and wisdom, there is neither fear nor ignorance. Where there is patience and humility, there is neither anger nor disturbance. Where there is poverty with joy, there is neither covetousness nor avarice. Where there is inner peace and meditation, there is neither anxiousness nor dissipation. Where there is fear of the…
Our work at the Joseph House is like farming in that we plant seeds, although we don’t always see how they grow. Once in a while, however, we get a glimpse of how a seed planted has taken root and flourished. Carla used to come to our Hospitality Room off and on for a fair…
Dear Friends of Joseph House: A friend of ours has been going through a difficult time. Worries keep her up at night. She will go for a walk to clear her head but that doesn’t help. She prays to God a lot. She prays very simply and honestly. When we spoke with her we did…
Dear Friends of Joseph House: The Joseph House has been in Salisbury for more than 40 years. When Sr. Mary Elizabeth first arrived on the Eastern Shore, she was more or less a nomad, staying with friends and becoming acquainted with trailer parks. Her wandering came to an end in 1978 after she found the…
The following article is reposted with permission from La Vista Ecological Learning Center: Nature’s fashion turns to berries in August. Sumac fruits ripen to crimson. Wild black cherries ripen, starting out red before turning black-purple. Grey dogwoods’ bluish-white berries mellow through October. Wild grapes and elderberries’ purple coloring attract wildlife as they mature. Year after…
Dear Friends of Joseph House: When we consider people in need—”the poor”—we may focus on how they’re different from us. Do we ever consider how we’re the same? Does that change how we want to respond to them? Our founder Sr. Mary Elizabeth once shared a story from the early days of the Joseph House…