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Saturday of the Second Week of Advent

Readings of the Day 
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I don't know about you, but I could use some Elijah zeal right
now. I am weary. It's not the frenzy of the Christmas season.
It's our work.

I'm guessing that the folks you see may be in a similar
situation as ours. The eviction moratorium is over. Enhanced
unemployment benefits have ended. Rents are rising faster than income.
Federal relief dollars are painfully slow getting to landlords.
Emergency shelters are full.

Some people are still too scared by the pandemic or the unvaccinated
to send their children to school or day care. They would rather risk
eviction for the sake of their families. That wouldn't be my
choice. But, I'm not the parent.

In all my years with The St. Vincent de Paul Society, I have never
seen so much desperation. I have never felt so drained. All of our
options right now seem to be emergency fixes. That can be exhausting.

Then, I meet a single mother who is escaping an abusive situation in
Louisiana. She and her two children have their entire worldly
possessions packed in a minivan. They are so excited when I check them
into a hotel and pay for a couple of weeks. I know that this is by no
means a long-term solution. Neither was the manger where the greatest
miracle in the world happened.

Our work doesn't fix every problem faced by people in need.
Neither did the work of John the Baptist. I need to look at this
ministry as a way to prepare the way of the Lord. We do the best we
can, to bring the Light of the World to others. The Light that is
reenergized every time we receive the Eucharist. That should also
reenergize our zeal.

Jack Murphy is a volunteer with The Society of St. Vincent de Paul. He
is president of the St. Thomas Aquinas conference in Alpharetta, GA
and is national chair of Systemic Change and Advocacy for The Society.
He also chairs the North Fulton Improvement Network
(ourinvisibleneighbors.org), a group of business, faith, community,
and nonprofit leaders working to help more people reach financial
stability in an affluent, and expensive, suburb.

 




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