Haiti--Understand and Respond

Here's what I've written for our parish bulletin on Sunday:

So much suffering has been inflicted on the people of Haiti, one of the very poorest nations in the world!

In praying for them, we need to realize that God does not "magically" answer prayers, but rather uses human instruments that are willing to extend themselves to relieve the sufferings of his "little ones." Let us pray that the hearts of all those in the world, nations and individuals alike, who "have enough" will be opened to embrace those who "have nothing," as Jesus himself and his Apostles have warned us we must do.

God can bring good out of evil. The old proverb, "God writes straight with crooked lines," remains true, but we must let God use us as his writing instruments. Perhaps, with the right kind of attentive help from the world community, the tragedy of this week can transform the ruling leadership of Haiti to become more a government "of the people, by the people, and for the people," as must be the ideal-become-reality for all nations.

While prayer does not work magic, it can work wonders by transforming our own hearts to imitate the compassion and generosity of our loving God's heart.

We all have an immediate opportunity to contribute very directly to aid for the suffering people of Haiti following the devastating earthquake. As pastor of Good Shepherd, I believe that our parish community has a special responsibility to imitate Jesus the Good Shepherd in our care for his flock. This weekend I have directed that we will "tithe" 10% of our regular parish collection to disaster relief in Haiti. And if you wish to make a special donation, you may join me in adding to the regular collection a generous donation in the special envelopes in the pews. (We do not take up a separate "special collection" after Communion, so please put it in the regular collection basket.)

Our contributions for Haiti earthquake relief, in addition to the 10% of our regular collection amount, will be sent this week to Catholic Relief Services, which is nationally recognized as one of the most efficient and effective relief organizations in the world. If you would like to contribute directly to Catholic Relief Services, here's their address:

Catholic Relief Services
228 W. Lexington St.
Baltimore, Maryland 21201-3413
888-277-7575

They also welcome online contributions at www.crs.org.

If we commit ourselves wholeheartedly to letting God work through us, we can be assured that our prayer will be answered, because our lives will be the answer to his prayer to us. Think about the truth of that statement.