FRIDAY AFTER ASH WEDNESDAY

This, rather, is the fasting that I wish: releasing those bound unjustly, untying the thongs of the yoke; 

Setting free the oppressed, breaking every yoke;

Sharing your bread with the hungry, sheltering the oppressed and the homeless;

Clothing the naked when you see them, and not turning your back on your own.

Then your light shall break forth like the dawn… (Is.58:6-8)

Charity embraces everything; and for new needs, it invents, when necessary, new means: spiritual help, bodily help, bread for the soul, bread for the body; instruction for ignorance; advice, guidance, support for weakness; asylum for virtue or for penance; pious sentiments, sweet consolations, supernatural strength for the dying; All kinds of good works are being generated in the name of Jesus Christ.

Bishop de Mazenod’s Pastoral Letter 7 Feb. 1847

REFLECTION

What does love look like? It has the hands to help others. It has the feet to hasten to the poor and needy. It has eyes to see misery and want. It has the ears to hear the sighs and sorrows of men. That is what love looks like.     (Saint Augustine)