Morning Prayer's reading today reminded us of all the things that cannot separate us from the love of Christ: anguish, distress, persecution, famine, peril, persecution, or the sword. A consoling thought. But the terrible things in that list are still pretty terrible.
Friends, we know from the news a lot of people are suffering from disasters these days. They are experiencing the things in that list of St. Paul's. And one reason those things will not separate them from Christ's love is that He will come to them through the members of His body on earth, right?
You probably already know what to do, but in case you hadn't yet gotten online to send aid, I thought I'd post a few links to make it easy. (And thank you to Norman Hartley for suggesting that I bring all this up on the blog. As he pushed me now I'll push all of you.)
The Knights of Columbus are your one-stop shop for donating either to help victims of the massive flooding in Louisiana or to do whatever can be done to help victims of Christian Genocide in the Middle East.
You also know about the recent earthquake in central Italy. Catholic Relief Services is always an option, but as fans of the Liturgy of the Hours, you might be particularly interested in helping the Benedictines of Norcia, whose monastery was severely damaged. Norcia, as you may know, is the birthplace of St. Benedict, who more or less invented the Divine Office. This particular monastery includes a number of Englishmen and Americans, and they are devoted to maintaining the traditional rule of St. Benedict. Their chant CD is a bestseller on Amazon. Buying that would be one way to support them, but you could do a lot more to help their rebuilding effort by making a direct donation to them.
Friends, we know from the news a lot of people are suffering from disasters these days. They are experiencing the things in that list of St. Paul's. And one reason those things will not separate them from Christ's love is that He will come to them through the members of His body on earth, right?
You probably already know what to do, but in case you hadn't yet gotten online to send aid, I thought I'd post a few links to make it easy. (And thank you to Norman Hartley for suggesting that I bring all this up on the blog. As he pushed me now I'll push all of you.)
The Knights of Columbus are your one-stop shop for donating either to help victims of the massive flooding in Louisiana or to do whatever can be done to help victims of Christian Genocide in the Middle East.
You also know about the recent earthquake in central Italy. Catholic Relief Services is always an option, but as fans of the Liturgy of the Hours, you might be particularly interested in helping the Benedictines of Norcia, whose monastery was severely damaged. Norcia, as you may know, is the birthplace of St. Benedict, who more or less invented the Divine Office. This particular monastery includes a number of Englishmen and Americans, and they are devoted to maintaining the traditional rule of St. Benedict. Their chant CD is a bestseller on Amazon. Buying that would be one way to support them, but you could do a lot more to help their rebuilding effort by making a direct donation to them.
