Newsletter: December 2022
Dear Friends of Joseph House:
Whether it comes naturally to one’s self or not, our convent life is geared toward early risers.
At this time of year our days begin in darkness. It is quiet and still when we gather in the chapel for Morning Prayer. We recite psalms, listen to a Scripture reading, and near the end of our service we pray the Canticle of Zechariah, which is the hymn of praise uttered by the father of John the Baptist in the Gospel of Luke (1: 68-79).
The last verse of the canticle is very beautiful, and it has special significance during Advent, when it gives voice to our deeply held hopes:
In the tender compassion of our God,
the dawn from on high shall break upon us,
to shine on those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death,
and to guide our feet into the way of peace.
The promise of the canticle has been fulfilled: the light from the stable in Bethlehem illuminates the world. And yet people still walk in darkness; they are troubled and hurting, hounded by despair. Hurricanes and wars spread destruction. Injustice, greed, and hate inflict suffering. So many people are displaced, feeling lost, seeing only hardship and uncertainty in their future.
But into this world the Lord beckons us, addressing us through the words of the prophet Isaiah: “Arise! Shine, for your light has come” (60:1). We leave the chapel each morning and the pace of our activity begins to pick up. Prayer ensures that we’re off to a good start. We face the day, eager to do our part, ready to shine and share the precious light entrusted to us.
Friends, it’s our firm belief that goodness has staying power that evil can never match. We don’t need to tell you that the world has a long list of troubles, but that is not the whole story. Grace is everywhere, and even the tiniest ray of light will pierce the darkest night.
For more than 50 years, the Joseph House has drawn people of goodwill together in order to “promote social justice and stable family life through direct assistance to the poor, whatever their needs may be.” That is our mission as defined by Sr. Mary Elizabeth Gintling, our founder. Your prayers, donations, and financial support are essential to this mission, and to you we give our heartfelt gratitude.
Our Crisis Center is especially busy during the weeks before Christmas. We give away toys and extra food in addition to our regular assistance for emergency needs. It is busy, but joyful, because we are sharing brotherly and sisterly love for one another.
Gloria, 51, was worried about being evicted from her subsidized apartment. She was behind in the rent, and when asked why she took out a carefully written list of everything in her apartment that had been infested with skin-crawling insects. It was an inventory of her possessions: mattress and box spring, socks, pajamas, underwear, pants, t-shirts, shoes, towels, wash cloths, rugs, sheets, blankets, and curtains. Feeling overwhelmed, Gloria had thrown many things out, and we don’t blame her.
Gloria has a mental disability and lives on a fixed income. After paying for an exterminator, she is systematically replacing what she needs. The Joseph House paid her back rent of $350.
Marius, also 51, lives alone in a house that once belonged to his mother. He has pain in his shoulders, hips, and knees. His only income is $370 monthly in temporary disability. Marius was able to get to our Crisis Center a few hours before the water was scheduled to be turned off in his home. We paid the bill of $136.
Rita, 38, and her three daughters have been homeless for a year, bouncing from place to place with no fixed address and coping with COVID-19. Rita now has a steady job at a department store and needed help moving into a rental house. She could afford the rent but not all of the security deposit. The Joseph House provided the remaining balance due of $350.
Agnes, 65, was in bad car accident. Her aunt is now helping to take care of her. Agnes receives $1,028 in Social Security and her rent is $695. She was having trouble managing her bills, and when she was hospitalized everything fell into disarray. Her aunt, God bless her, has really helped Agnes get her finances in order. Agnes owed $2,085 to her landlord, but with her aunt’s help that amount was brought down to $500. The Joseph House contributed $300 to ensure that Agnes would not get evicted.
Mildred, 66, lives in a small studio apartment in an old house. The rent is $750 monthly, which is 87% of her Social Security, her only income. She would love to find a less expensive place to live, but that is very elusive, as it is for many others. Falling behind in her rent and getting an eviction notice is a fact of life for Mildred. She then has to go around begging for help. The lack of affordable housing in our country is a devastating crisis. How much longer can it go on? The Joseph House was able to help Mildred with $400 toward her overdue rent.
The basic necessities are on the wish list for many people this Christmas. Thank you for your generosity.
As we contemplate the Christmas crèche, we behold the “tender compassion of our God” lying in a manger. Maybe that can be a word we keep in our hearts this Christmas: tenderness. That is what God revealed in Bethlehem, that is what the Baby Jesus needed, and that is what He is asking from us today. Maybe we can share a little tenderness with someone who doesn’t feel the holiday spirit. Maybe we can remember the tenderness we have received and give thanks. We each have a heart of flesh, not of stone, and Christmas is the best time to just let it free.
Another year of loving and serving our neighbors in need is coming to a close—thanks for making the journey with us. We wish you all the joys of Christmas and happiness in the New Year!
Your Little Sisters of Jesus and Mary
Online Donations: We’d like to remind you about some features of our website. You can donate online using a credit card, and you can designate your donation in honor or in memory of someone. If you wish, you can include a message for a recipient, and we will send your message in a card to that person. You can also set up recurring monthly donations. We are so thankful for your support, and we hope these features are helpful to you.
Click here to Donate Online. For more information about donating at this time of year, click here: Holiday Giving.
We offer you the gift of our prayers. Please send us a message with your special intentions: Contact Form.
Let us ask ourselves this question: at Christmas did we bring gifts to Jesus for His party, or did we only exchange gifts among ourselves?
If we went to the Lord empty-handed, today we can remedy that. The Gospel, in some sense, gives us a little “gift list”: gold, frankincense and myrrh.
Gold, the most precious of metals, reminds us God has to be granted first place; He has to be worshiped. But to do that, we need to remove ourselves from the first place and to recognize our neediness, the fact that we are not self-sufficient.
Then there is frankincense, which symbolizes a relationship with the Lord, prayer, which like incense rises up to God (cf. Ps 141:2). Just as incense must burn in order to yield its fragrance, so too, in prayer, we need to “burn” a little of our time, to spend it with the Lord. Not just in words, but also by our actions.
We see this in the myrrh, the ointment that would be lovingly used to wrap the body of Jesus taken down from the cross (cf. Jn 19:39). The Lord is pleased when we care for bodies racked by suffering, the flesh of the vulnerable, of those left behind, of those who can only receive without being able to give anything material in return. Precious in the eyes of God is mercy shown to those who have nothing to give back. Gratuitousness! Gratuitousness is precious in God’s eyes.
Pope Francis on the Epiphany
