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/* What it does: Remove spaces around the email design added by some
email clients. */
/* Beware: It can remove the padding / margin and add a background
color to the compose a reply window. */
html,
body {
Margin: 0 !important;
padding: 0 !important;
height: 100% !important;
width: 100% !important;
text-align: center;
}

/* What it does: Stops email clients resizing small text. */
* {
-ms-text-size-adjust: 100%;
-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;
}

/* What is does: Centers email on Android 4.4 */
div[style*="margin: 16px 0"] {
margin:0 !important;
}

/* What it does: Stops Outlook from adding extra spacing to tables.
*/
table,
td {
mso-table-lspace: 0pt !important;
mso-table-rspace: 0pt !important;
}

/* What it does: Fixes webkit padding issue. Fix for Yahoo mail table
alignment bug. Applies table-layout to the first 2 tables then removes
for anything nested deeper. */
table {
border-spacing: 0 !important;
border-collapse: collapse !important;
table-layout: fixed !important;
Margin: 0 auto !important;
}
table table table {
table-layout: auto;
}

/* What it does: Uses a better rendering method when resizing images
in IE. */
img {
-ms-interpolation-mode:bicubic;
}

/* What it does: Overrides styles added when Yahoo's auto-senses a
link. */
.yshortcuts a {
border-bottom: none !important;
}

/* What it does: A work-around for iOS meddling in triggered links.
*/
.mobile-link footer a,
a[x-apple-data-detectors] {
color:inherit !important;
text-decoration: underline !important;
}
-->

<!--
/* What it does: Hover styles for buttons */
.button-td,
.button-a {
transition: all 100ms ease-in;
}
.button-td:hover,
.button-a:hover {
background: #555555 !important;
border-color: #555555 !important;
}

/* Media Queries */
@media screen and (max-width: 600px) {

.email-container {
width: 100% !important;
}

/* What it does: Forces elements to resize to the full width of their
container. Useful for resizing images beyond their max-width. */
.fluid,
.fluid-centered {
max-width: 100% !important;
height: auto !important;
Margin-left: auto !important;
Margin-right: auto !important;
}
/* And center justify these ones. */
.fluid-centered {
Margin-left: auto !important;
Margin-right: auto !important;
}

/* What it does: Forces table cells into full-width rows. */
.stack-column,
.stack-column-center {
display: block !important;
width: 100% !important;
max-width: 100% !important;
direction: ltr !important;
}
/* And center justify these ones. */
.stack-column-center {
text-align: center !important;
}

/* What it does: Generic utility class for centering. Useful for
images, buttons, and nested tables. */
.center-on-narrow {
text-align: center !important;
display: block !important;
Margin-left: auto !important;
Margin-right: auto !important;
float: none !important;
}
table.center-on-narrow {
display: inline-block !important;
}

}

body {
background-color: #fff;
width: 100%;
margin: 0px 0px 0px 0px;
}

p{
line-height:20px;
}

h1, h2, h3, h4, h5{
color:#7A9534;
}

.signup a {font-family: Roboto Condensed, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;
color: #4F4293; padding-bottom:0px; padding-top: 15px;
font-weight:600; margin-bottom: 0px; text-decoration: none}
-->

Catholic Charities USA


First Sunday of Lent

Readings of the Day
[link removed]

In today's passage, the Spirit drove Jesus into the desert
immediately after Jesus' baptism. God said to Jesus, "You
are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased." In liberation
theology, this event would be considered Jesus'
conscientización, when Jesus came to realize his full identity
and mission.

Conscientización requires a true test of resolve. Otherwise,
one's identity would be merely conceptual and one's
mission be but an empty promise. Being driven in the desert forced
Jesus to wrestle not only with who he was but also with what he was
called to do. Internalizing being "God's Beloved
Son" through rejecting Satan and embracing the challenge of the
desert (that is, the Cross), is key to understanding Jesus'
affinity with marginalized persons and his commitment to stand up to
the structures of inequity that perpetuate suffering. Embracing the
vulnerability that comes from being hungry, having no shelter, and
living each day with uncertainty prepared Jesus to take up the cross
and give up his life for us.

Let us now contextualize this passage in our work and ministry. The
"desert" is in the 2-bedroom apartment occupied by 3
families and along creek beds and under bridges where our beloved
struggle with food insecurity and homelessness. The desert is in our
Black and Brown communities that fall sick and die in disproportionate
numbers from COVID. But we also must remember that those who live in
the desert, like Jesus, are also ministered to by
"angels." They discover their inner identity and mission,
and they rise! We think of Sameena, a self-determined young woman in
our refugee program who rose up from a Syrian refugee camp and then
graduated from a top tier university. We think too of Carl, a
returning citizen who after months of mentoring and hours of interview
preparation in our employment program becomes a salaried employee with
benefits.  Like Jesus in the desert who was ministered to by
"angels," Sameena and Carl were ministered to by our
Catholic Charities teams. May our Lenten journey be a time both of
embracing the Cross and being embraced (and embracing) angels.

Fr. Jon Pedigo is Director of Advocacy and Community Engagement at
Catholic Charities of Santa Clara County, and a member of Catholic
Charities USA's Parish Social Ministry Leadership Team.

 





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