Monday’s Meditation, 8/10/09

CATHOLIC CHARITIES OF CENTRAL TEXAS MISSION:

To strengthen individuals, families and communities through direct services, collaboration with other ministries and community organization and social justice advocacy.

Monday’s Meditation, 8/10/09

Yesterday we read in Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians (Eph 4:30 – 5:2) to be reminded that those who have been transformed by our beliefs follow a new way of being: "And be kind to one another, compassionate, forgiving one another as God has forgiven you in Christ. So be imitators of God, as beloved children, and live in love. . ."

At Catholic Charities of Central Texas, we are called to be witnesses to this new way of being and doing. We must be examples of kindness and compassion in all of our work. When someone calls our office or visits our agency, we have the opportunity to be instruments of kindness and compassion and a to be a living sign of God's love in all we do. It doesn’t mean however, that we are able to be all things to all people. Sometimes clients request services that we don’t or can’t provide and/or they request assistance beyond what our resources will allow. But we can help them access services from other agencies and organizations and we can try to be helpful in other ways.

Pope Benedict XVI recently released a new Encyclical, Caritas in Veritate, which reflects the following: "Charity is love received and given. It is “grace” ( cháris ). Its source is the wellspring of the Father's love for the Son, in the Holy Spirit. Love comes down to us from the Son. It is creative love, through which we have our being; it is redemptive love, through which we are recreated. Love is revealed and made present by Christ (cf. Jn 13:1) and “poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit” (Rom 5:5). As the objects of God's love, men and women become subjects of charity, they are called to make themselves instruments of grace, so as to pour forth God's charity and to weave networks of charity." (Caritas in Veritate, par 5-1).

Have a blessed Monday and a blessed week.

Cynthia Colbert

Executive Director