Newsletter: January 2020
Dear Friends of Joseph House:
After a short break over Christmas, we are ready to get started in this new year and new decade. There’s always plenty to keep us busy. First of all, at the Joseph House Crisis Center we have our Financial Assistance program, our Food Pantry, Soup Kitchen, and Hospitality Room for the Homeless. Across the parking lot at the Joseph House Workshop, our residential program for homeless men is operating twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. Although our community of Little Sisters is small and we don’t have a Sister working in every department, we have the responsibility of overseeing everything. In every way we can, we assist our incredible volunteers as they “Cry the Gospel with their lives.”
And that’s not the extent of what we do. Urgent needs often arise outside the confines of our regular ministries. For example, someone extremely ill might require a wheel chair or transportation to and from a doctor. A transient family in distress might need a basic set of furniture, clothing, and household items. The call comes in and we do what needs to be done.
Plus, there’s more: we have a number of special activities throughout the year, including our Golf Tournament, Neighborhood Food Drive, Magi Concert, and giveaways of Winter Coats, Thanksgiving Turkeys, and Christmas Toys. Most of these programs were initiated by very generous individuals and organizations, and we are extremely grateful for all that they do. Their efforts raise funds for the Joseph House and beautifully augment our everyday services to help those in need.
Finally, our founder, Sr. Mary Elizabeth Gintling, understood that the poorest person is not always standing outside the convent door. That’s why she added this paragraph to our Rule:
“As a Community caring for the unwanted, the needy, and the persecuted, we must recognize and embrace the woundedness of the members of the Community itself, applying the same healing love and support to one another that we share with the needy.”
Like everyone else, as we get older it takes us a little more effort to maintain a reasonable level of health and well-being. Sometimes a Sister needs an extra dose of TLC. From the treasury of love she receives it.
Yes, our plate is pretty full.
Here in the dawn of a new year, the calendar is already getting filled in. There are appointments and reminders written on the dry-erase board in our convent dining room. Our work is not a burden, but it does consist of responsibilities, sacred and important ones, entrusted to us by God as part of His providential design. A never ending “to-do” list, however, can make us feel overwhelmed. Maybe you’re familiar with that feeling.
One of our remedies is to gently remind ourselves of the “sacrament of the present moment.” It’s all we have: the past is gone, the future is yet to be. The term comes from the book Abandonment to Divine Providence, written by the French Jesuit Jean-Pierre de Caussade (1675-1751). “The present moment is always overflowing with immeasurable riches, far more than you are able to hold.” No matter what’s happening, each moment has all the grace we need for that particular moment. And what do we have to do? “If we have abandoned ourselves to God, there is only one rule for us: the duty of the present moment.”
At the Joseph House, the duty of the present moment can mean almost anything. To help us get ready, our first prayer each day is Charles de Foucauld’s Abandonment Prayer (see below). We do our part, and let God do His.
Being ready means we can act quickly. Marsha, 32, felt like she was in the middle of a storm. The youngest of her three children, only two years old, has cancer. Marsha is currently out of work, and unable to keep up with the bills, the water was turned off in her home. Other agencies were out of funds. She came to the Joseph House—her last resort—and we paid the outstanding water bill of $180.
Life is a real struggle for Lenny, age 62. His monthly Social Security income is a paltry $216. His bad back, just one of his health problems, makes walking very difficult. Lenny used to drive around in his pickup truck (with 360,000 miles) looking for odd jobs. He can’t do that anymore. Without subsidized housing he would be homeless. We were able to pay two of his bills, the electric ($188) and water ($169).
Pete, 47, was an addict for more than 20 years. After completing a rehab program, he moved to the Eastern Shore for a fresh start away from the big city. Pete found work here and there, but nothing steady until recently. His paycheck wasn’t going to come in time to stop his eviction, so we sent $300 to his landlord.
Jillian, 62, lives alone. She just manages to get by on her monthly disability check. For years Jillian has not been able to wear her dentures. She needed to have dental work completed that was too expensive for her. The Department of Social Services said they can’t help and referred her to us. A dental clinic was willing to do the work for $170. We paid the bill.
Jon, 47, is a single father raising his daughter. Being treated for cancer kept him out of work, but he is feeling better and has resumed his job. We paid $250 toward his past-due electric bill before the cut-off date.
Alana, 21, is looking after her two younger brothers after their mother abandoned the family. Alana needed help catching up with the unpaid rent, despite her full-time job at a chicken plant. We sent $250 to the landlord to stop the eviction.
Your prayers, donations, and financial support enable us to be ready for each person God sends to the Joseph House. Thank you so much—you’re part of His providential design, too. Next month we’ll have some facts and figures from 2019 to show the impact of your generosity. May the New Year be a happy one for you and your loved ones!
Your Little Sisters of Jesus and Mary
THE ABANDONMENT PRAYER OF CHARLES DE FOUCAULD
Father,
I abandon myself into Your hands;
do with me what You will.
Whatever You may do, I thank You:
I am ready for all, I accept all.
Let only Your will be done in me,
and in all Your creatures—
I wish no more than this, O Lord.
Into Your hands I commend my soul;
I offer it to You with all the love of my heart,
for I love You Lord, and so need to give myself,
to surrender myself into Your hands,
without reserve,
and with boundless confidence,
for You are my Father.
A GLOSS ON THE ABANDONMENT PRAYER BY JOHN LUDVIK
Father, into Your hands I commend my whole self,
my life,
my journey,
my failures,
my disappointments,
my mediocrity,
my vulnerability,
my powerlessness,
my doubts,
my hurt,
my anger,
my mission,
my abandonment,
my brokenness,
my sorrow,
my desire not to be here,
my family and involvement in the Church,
my unfinished agenda,
and areas of injustice.
Father, into Your hands I commend my life to follow Jesus on His Cross. I desire Your healing and forgiveness as I surrender these areas of my life to You.
Faithful God, into Your hands I commend this day with its resentments and prejudices. I hand You my morning lack of generosity, my midday rush to judge, and the poor self image of my evening.
I see my lack of creativity and fear of risk, my envy, but I surrender all that I detest in myself: my inner darkness, jealousy, addictions and dysfunctional habits, my manipulations, perverseness, negativity, and the non-Gospel way of my life. I seek Your mercy and compassion!