Newsletter: November 2020
Dear Friends of Joseph House:
This is the season for giving thanks, and the difficult times we live in only make us more grateful that the Joseph House is here to help people facing hardships. Our ministry is an expression of your compassion: thanks to your continued prayers and support, our doors remain open to welcome the poor, hungry, and homeless. And we can never forget our brave staff who keep the mission alive with their dedicated service. We give thanks for all of you every single day.
When people really need help, it’s a very good feeling to be ready for them. For example, Ryan and Michelle, a young married couple, recently came to our Food Pantry in need of groceries. Crisis Center staff members greeted them and asked how they were doing. As they got checked in Ryan told their story. Michelle was involved in a terrible accident: she fell off a balcony and sustained multiple injuries. She almost died. Extensive surgeries were needed to rebuild her arm, shoulder, and leg (she is full of metal). She also suffered a brain aneurysm and lost most of her memory and half of her eyesight.
Through it all, Ryan has been a devoted husband, being at Michelle’s side constantly. He has been her 24-hour-a-day nurse. Making frequent trips to Baltimore for medical care is part of their routine.
Ryan is used to driving; he’s worked as a delivery driver, but that income has vanished because of his care for Michelle. He’s trying to get compensation for his responsibilities as a caregiver. Until then, their household income is only Michelle’s monthly SSI check of $783. Although they needed more than food they didn’t know what to expect from us.
Your support allowed the Joseph House to act immediately and provide $300 toward Ryan and Michelle’s rent and a voucher for a tank of gas. This doesn’t solve all their problems, but it gives them the help they need right now. As Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount, “Each day has enough trouble of its own” (Mt 6:34).
Our mission at the Joseph House is to reach out to and assist the vulnerable members of our community. The story of Ryan and Michelle is just one among many.
This year, however, has brought into focus how we are all vulnerable. Every time we put on a face mask we are reminded of this fact. Being vulnerable is part of being human. It’s unavoidable.
Our founder, Sr. Mary Elizabeth, once spoke with us about vulnerability. She began by saying, “God loves by destroying.” The example she gave was of a grain of wheat, which becomes useful and successful at each stage by being changed drastically (or destroyed) from what it was formerly: from grain to wheat…to flour…to bread…to being consumed. If the grain was unbreakable, what would become of it?
As flesh and blood creatures, our vulnerability is not a sign that we are “weak” but that we have the capacity to be “more.” Our vulnerability shatters the illusion of self-sufficiency. It teaches the hard lesson that “no man is an island” and dismantles our monuments of pride. It opens the heart to compassion for the suffering of others. It leads the human spirit to the grace of letting go.
The Joseph House is built upon the belief that we belong to each other. We need each other. The wounds we suffer draw us together in bonds of empathy and care. “We know we are all broken people healing other broken people through God’s love,” to quote Sr. Mary Elizabeth again.
If all we can do is help each other make it through the day, our time has been well spent.
HOLIDAY GIVING
We will be giving out frozen turkeys and chickens for Thanksgiving on November 24 and 25. If you would like to donate one or the other (or both), please drop off your donation at our convent by November 22.
Christmas Toys will be given away over a two week period:
WEEK 1: December 8, 9, and 10
WEEK 2: December 15, 16, and 17
Christmas toys and gifts (new and unwrapped) for children up to the age of 14 are needed by December 6. We prefer gifts that do not require batteries. Also, we cannot accept toy guns.
Please see Contact Us for our address and phone numbers. Questions? Send us a message: Contact Form.
Thank you for helping us share the joy of the season!
Also, if you shop on Amazon, please consider starting on our Amazon Smile link. The Joseph House will then receive a small percentage of your purchase total.
http://smile.amazon.com/ch/52-0846802
Other ways to help: Donate.
Your generous support is deeply appreciated.
COMMUNITY NEWS
It is our great joy to announce that Sr. Virginia Peckham professed her perpetual vows as a Little Sister of Jesus and Mary on October 18! The ceremony took place in our chapel in Princess Anne, MD. Rev. John T. Solomon from St. Mary’s/Holy Savior Church in Ocean City, MD was the presider.
Sr. Virginia entered our community in 2012. Her hometown is Averill Park, NY, and before joining us she was living in Maine. Here is a short bio, in her words:
“I was married for 23 years, I am a widow. I worked as a freelance and grant writer. I work with the homeless in the Joseph House Hospitality Room, and also I manage our payee program. In addition, I work on grant applications and occasionally teach an art class. Art and music are my hobbies. This is the most fulfilling time of my life—our work and our prayer time, our training, our retreats have brought me a peaceful heart and ever-growing trust in God.”
Our religious consecration is a total gift of self to Christ. We give thanks to God for guiding Sr. Virginia on her journey, and we are so grateful that she responded with love and trust. May God in His tender mercy continue to bless her and give her strength.
You’re probably going to celebrate Thanksgiving differently this year. We hope you find ways of staying close to family and loved ones, despite the need for social distancing. May you feel in your heart many reasons to be thankful.
God is always at work behind the scenes, giving us firm grounds for having hope. We pray that God’s abundant goodness will touch your life and keep you healthy and safe. From our home to yours, Happy Thanksgiving!
Your Little Sisters of Jesus and Mary
As we mentioned a few months ago, Charles de Foucauld (“Br. Charles”), the spiritual father of the Little Sisters and the Joseph House, will soon be canonized a saint. He was beatified in 2005 after an Italian woman was cured of bone cancer that was attributed to his intercession. In order to be canonized, a second miracle was needed. This is the story of that miracle.
On November 30, 2016, the day before the 100th anniversary of the death of Br. Charles, a 21-year-old man (whose name is Charle, without the “s”), was working as a carpenter’s apprentice on the renovation of a church in Saumur, France. Charle was working above the vault when he fell about 50 feet, landing on a wooden bench. It shattered, and he was impaled by a piece of wood that pierced his left side just below his heart and came out the back underneath his rib cage.
Amazingly, Charle stood up and began to walk. Help was called and a helicopter arrived to take Charle to the hospital, but the piece of wood passing through his body prevented him from safely entering the craft. So he had to wait for an ambulance.
Meanwhile, the manager of the company that Charle worked for was alerted. He contacted people at his parish to get them to start praying. His parish was newly established in 2012 and is named after Blessed Charles de Foucauld! In preparation for his feast day on December 1, parishioners had already been praying a novena for his canonization. With news of the accident, hundreds of people began to pray in earnest, asking Blessed Charles to intercede for the young man. The following morning, his mother called the manager: her son was alive, the operation to remove the piece of wood was successful, and no organs were damaged! The accident should have been fatal, but nothing is impossible for God.
Charle spent only a week in the hospital. He suffered no long-term effects and returned to work several weeks later. Despite not being a practicing Christian himself, he is very happy that his recovery was recognized to be due to Br. Charles’ intercession. The pastor of the church in Saumur remarked, “When you know the life of Charles de Foucauld, it’s astonishing to see that the miracle attributed to him concerns someone who has no Christian faith…This echoes his missionary desire to go and to evangelize those who are not in the Church.”
The date for the canonization has yet to be announced. It is comforting to know that we are not alone, that the love of the people who have gone before us, whether they are official saints or not, accompanies us through life.
Don’t forget–please send us your prayer requests and we will pray for you: Contact Form.