19th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Deacon Tim’s Column
8-9-09

Last week I wrote about being “on fire” with the Spirit. Two weeks ago I made a plea for additional funds for the PBJ Outreach. Talk about being “on fire.” I’d like to say that your response was amazing but I can’t. Nothing this parish family does amazes me any more. In the ten plus years that I’ve had the privilege of serving here, your generosity continues to humble me. Your response to that plea for funds was both humbling and heartwarming—it wasn’t amazing. To be amazed means to experience something out of the ordinary. While this parish family is anything but ordinary, I’ve come to realize on an almost daily basis how much the Spirit words through all of you. When it comes to serving God’s poorest and most marginalized, you are definitely “on fire.”
This past week I was thinking about how “economical” God is. Looking back over the last ten years I have to marvel at what the Spirit has accomplished. I’ve been blessed to be able to minister to the poorest of the poor in Detroit (something a little over seven years ago was the farthest thing from my mind). I’ve been constantly humbled by the volunteers and those who contribute to the success of this ministry, without whom this outreach would not be possible. In a very economical way (obviously very adept at multi-tasking) the Spirit has been able to touch the lives of so many, both those who serve and those who are served and at the same time accomplish wondrous changes in all of our lives.
Some of you know how desperate the people we serve are. There is a warming center on East Jefferson run by the Jesuits (at Sts. Peter and Paul Parish). I know from talking to a friend who volunteers there that the homeless and marginalized poor who use those services look down on the people we serve each Saturday. In the social pecking order, there is no group of people who are poorer or more desperate than the people at Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. and Third in the Cass Corridor. Without this help in time, talent and treasure (financial contributions as well as food and clothing) so many of Christ’s special ones would be ignored. Thank you!
Come Holy Spirit, grant us the Spirit of Wisdom, that we may not be attached to the perishable things of the world, but aspire only after the things that are eternal.
Deacon Tim 734-502-1818
deacontim@tds.net
http://shamrockdeacon.blogsport.com