40 Days for the Poor - Day 25 - Corporal Works of Mercy

Oops! I am really falling behind! Sunday and Monday were incredibly busy and then yesterday I really had to devote myself to helping Sean prep for his Aquinas Learning Day on Thursday. Today will also be taken up with that mostly (plus you know Becky and Josh need a little attention too!).

So I've got Days 25 to 28 to do! We'll see what I can get accomplished!

I was thinking about all this the other day and thought that I really should have framed this whole 40 Days things in terms of the Corporal Works of Mercy, which is the Catholic 'list' (Catholics love lists like this!) of the bodily or corporal works that we should do for our fellow man. They are:

1. To feed the hungry
2. To give drink to the thirsty
3. To clothe the naked
4. To shelter the homeless
5. To visit the sick
6. To visit the imprisoned
7. To bury the dead

I think I tend to emphasize the first four and maybe not do so much for the last three. In fact, right now I can't think of a thing I do for no. 7. I think that particular problem isn't as apparent now as it was in the past.

I know canned food drives, donations to places like Food for the Poor, and the like address feeding the poor and giving drink to the thirsty. In fact you can have a well dug for some poor village somewhere via Food for the Poor and give a whole village water to drink. Accessible drinking water makes such a huge difference!

I know giving donations and helping out with the local hypothermia shelter, assists the homeless. Food for the Poor and Habitat for Humanity are major charities that devote their time to getting housing for the homeless and poor.

I guess visiting the elderly in nursing homes is also visiting the sick. Sometimes, our parish youth group will make cards or little care packages for kids sick in the hospital. In fact, for our Giving Tree one of the kids bought a couple board games for an organization called Children in Need of Smiles or something like that! We aren't actually visiting, but we are trying to convey compassion and brighten their load a bit, perhaps ease their suffering a little.

One thing that we did recently (well, back in September) was participate in an Honor Guard with Becky's American Heritage Troop. We lined up at the airport with cheering signs and greeted a bunch of WWII veterans as they came back from a day touring Washington D.C. These men (and 1 woman!) are really getting up their in years and most of them were in wheelchairs. Their lives are so limited now. Honor Guard does a wonderful service to show our nation's gratitude towards these soldiers who helped preserve our country from the Nazis and the imperialism of the Japanese government at that time. We smiled and waved, shook their hands and hugged them. So in a way that was visiting the sick.

I'm out of time!

The Indiscretions of Archie - Book 56

Another Wodehouse (free Kindle) book here, The Indiscretions of Archie also deals with a young Englishman, love and his father in law. Archie Moffam is a veteran of WWI and has come to America to seek adventure. He meets, falls in love with, and marries Lucille Brewster, but he's made a bad impression on his father in law, the hotel owner of the Cosmopolis in New York City. Unfortunately, Archie has no money and no job. He goes about trying to find employment but instead gets himself caught up in hysterical situations that always seem to spin out of control at a frighteningly funny pace.

Through his many misadventures, we get to know Archie, often clueless but sometimes given to penetrating insight, self-deprecating, lovable, always kind, always hopeful, Archie. Lucille calls him 'an angel.' By the end of the book we do, too and even his father-in-law comes around eventually.

I think I laughed out loud at every chapter. A very delightful read.

For more book reviews go to 52 Books in 52 Weeks.

Hercule Poirot's Christmas - Book 55

I am late to Agatha Christie. I did not care for mysteries much when I was younger. I've grown into them. I read Agatha Christie's autobiography way before I read any of her books. I saw the play The Mousetrap in England when I was 16 and still didn't read any of her books. Occasionally I would catch Masterpiece Theater's Mystery shows based on her stories and I still didn't read any of her books. But a couple of years ago I did finally read Murder on the Orient Express and then just this summer I listened on audio cd to a big collection of her short stories, many of which featured Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple. So when I saw this book, Hercule Poirot's Christmas, I decided to read it for my Christmas challenge. There's a little mini-challenge going on at Read 52 Books in honor of the holiday season. I decided I would try to read at least 4 Christmas-related books between now and the end of the year. So this was my first one!

I got this on my Kindle for $2.99. It really didn't have much to do with Christmas except that that was the reason for the far flung and alienated Lee clan to gather. Mr. Lee, the rich old man at the head of the family is a difficult, manipulative sort of man who has hurt or driven all his children away in some manner. He has plans to cause further injury as a nice Christmas surprise for them, when he up and gets his throat slit on Christmas Eve. But by whom???? Christie is great at making believable characters and building the suspense while weaving in all sorts of clues that may or may not help you figure out whodunnit.

An excellent, light read. Didn't make me feel Christmasy though!

For more book reviews, go to 52 Books.

Love Among the Chickens - Book 54

Love Among the Chickens by P.G. Wodehouse is a very funny, light read. I downloaded it for free on my Kindle (the link says it was $1.99 but I am sure I found under the Kindle free reads). I've only ever read two books by Wodehouse, two of his many about Jeeves. I was searching around for a good book that would be antidote for another awful book I was reading (Song of Achilles - hated it! Couldn't finish it!). My 20 year old son is a fan of Wodehouse and he told me to read a book by him to get rid of the bad taste in my mouth, left by the other book.

Love Among the Chickens is a comedic love story. The main character is Jeremy Garnet, a young author who is persuaded to help an old friend out with his latest scheme for getting rich: starting a chicken farm! The fact that no one knows anything about chickens is no obstacle. Jeremy also falls for a girl also staying in the neighborhood of the farmhouse. He concocts a supremely stupid idea for getting on her grumpy father's good side. Of course this backfires magnificently. I am laughing just thinking about scenes from the book. I finished this read last Monday, and there are still certain scenes that float up into my consciousness and make me laugh out loud as I remember them.

P.G. Wodehouse is a refreshingly witty, lighthearted, cheery author. If you don't have a Kindle this book can also be read for free at the Gutenberg Project.

Thank you, God, for P.G. Wodehouse!

For more book reviews go to 52 Books in 52 Weeks.

40 Days for the Poor - Day 24 - Giving Tree

Our parish has a giving tree every Advent. The Sunday after Thanksgiving they put a Christmas tree up in our narthex covered in little colored paper cut outs of Christmas bulbs. One each of these paper ornaments there is a label that tells about a particular charity. On the flip side it lists possible gifts you could give to the charity. As people come out of Mass and pass by the tree, they pick some of these paper ornaments off the tree. Then at some later weekend in Advent, everyone delivers the gifts they've bought per instructions on the little label to the parish activity center. In the activity center, each table is labeled with a different charity and you go and put your gifts on the appropriate table.

We've been participating in this every Advent since we started going to this parish, 11 years ago. I usually pick one paper ornament (that means charity) per member of the family. Then we have an annual family tradition of going shopping for our giving tree gifts. We did that yesterday. The gifts are due at the activity center tomorrow. This morning for the first time ever I actually helped set up the room to receive the donations tomorrow. And then I helped put Thank You paper ornaments up on the Giving Tree, to say thanks to all the parishioners who participate, which I believe is most of them. The lists of charities is long: crisis pregnancy center, toys for sick children, prison ministry, helping the homeless, the handicapped, troubled teens, immigrants and refugees. . . . not sure if I got quite all of them!

It's a good way to prepare for Christmas!

40 Days for the Poor - Day 23 - Giving Blood

Today I tried to give blood. I have O- and I also haven't done things like get tattoos in foreign countries, lived in England during the 80's (Mad Cow), used dirty needles or slept around. I've got clean blood! So blood donor places tend to call me up and ask me to come in when they are low on supplies.

I first started giving blood back in my early 20's. However, I gave up after a while because they'd turn me away saying I was anemic. I'd say: Really??? I was borderline all the time. So then I got married and started having babies and breastfeeding, etc. And thus, for many years, I was ineligible for that reason. Here and there, in between children and a short gap in breastfeeding, I was able to give. I remember donating for my dad a couple of times when he was having health struggles. But then I started to have female, peri-menopausal problems which again rendered me anemic. I had a little operation to fix that and now I am good to go! I donated blood for Josh's back surgery, just in case, but he didn't need it. Someone else did, I am sure! But for the last couple of years I have been trying to donate twice a year. I've given at the center near the hospital and I've also donated at the church blood drives. This time however, I went into a different donor place. I think that Friday at 3:00 (door closes at 4:00) is not a good time to go and give blood. The place was run by young girls (in their mid to late 20s)who all looked like they had worked a very long week and couldn't wait for the weekend. They were tired. They weren't all that professional. I warned them that I had difficult veins. I do. They always have to call in an older, more experienced nurse to get blood from my veins. At first they couldn't get anything and then apparently you are supposed to donate a pint in 15 minutes. If it takes longer than that, no good. My blood was coming out very slowly and I ran out of time. The nurse said maybe I was dehydrated. I was actually. I realized at that moment I had hardly had anything to drink except coffee. And coffee is really dehydrating! This is ironic because I have been trying conscientiously to drink more water. I developed a kidney stone and this can be a result of being dehydrated a lot. Gosh, while typing this my lips are drying out! Water! Anyway, so I've been trying to drink more water, but today was so busy with so many errands I basically just forgot.

So, alas, my attempt to give blood was a bust today. But I shall try again next time. And I will remember to drink lots of water and not go back to a place run by very tired and very young nurses.

Do you give blood? It is a wonderful thing to do for the ill and the injured.

40 Days for the Poor - Day 22 - Do you give money to people on the street?

Today while stopped at a traffic light a man came up to the window and asked for money. He was dressed in one of those yellow and orange reflective vests and he had a some kind of a badge pinned on his shirt. He also had a plastic bucket that was badly stamped with the words HELP THE HOMELESS, DISPLACED, FREE EVANGELICAL CHURCH. At least I think that was the name I saw on the bucket. It happened very quickly. I happened to have some loose change sitting in the little area between the seats so I gave it to him. He was probably legitimate. So I hope my little contribution helps someone somewhere. But the incident got me thinking. A lot of times when I am confronted by someone who obviously looks like an alcoholic or mentally deranged, I won't give money. I used to not be like that. I used to think that I should always be charitable no matter what. But then I witnessed a couple of situations where I realized I was actually contributing to someone's alcoholic or drug habit. Suddenly it occurred to me that money I give with good intentions could be the thing that kills that person or at the very least makes his plight worse. It felt like I was just giving money out of my own guilt and fear instead of really thinking about what I was doing.

My husband came to this realization too. He's downtown a lot more than I am and confronts this problem a lot more than I do too. He gives money if it feels right but he reserves the right to withhold too. And he often will offer to buy whoever it is a meal at the local sandwich shop, but he doesn't want to just hand over money if he suspects it's going for something other than food.

When I drive Becky to her summer music camp we have to pass through a very busy intersection. I often get stuck in the left lane there. There's a guy who's been begging there for ages. He's got a chair and a printed (as in it was printed by a printing company, not hand printed) saying that he's a vet. He also has a cell phone. He's often sitting on his chair chatting on his phone with his printed sign propped in front of him. I think because he's a mainstay for many years, I see people give him their change, but I have never done so. I just think he looks like he could use his powers for something with more dignity than begging on the street corner, you know? I feel like he's too slick. Is it a sin not to give to him? Maybe I should try to talk to him but actually you can't really talk at that particular intersection. God bless the man. Some part of me admires his chutzpah or whatever it is, but I just don't wanna give him my money!

Rick does try to give money annually to local homeless shelters to make up for the times he doesn't hand out money when asked. But, I don't know, every single time I am confronted with these types of encounters, I am left feeling a little helpless and guilty. I don't really know what is the best thing to do.

Well, one thing I can do of course is pray. I can pray for clarity on the subject. I can, of course, pray for the homeless.

Here's a prayer I found on Belief.Net
Prayer for the Homeless

O God, as Naomi and Ruth journeyed from one land to another seeking a home, we ask your blessing upon all who are homeless in this world. You promised to your chosen people a land flowing with milk and honey; so inspire us to desire the accomplishment of your will that we may work for the settlement of those who are homeless in a place of peace, protection, and nurture, flowing with opportunity, blessing, and hope. Amen.