We don't see them (Dan Evon)

Share your bread with the hungry,
 shelter the oppressed and the homeless.

 --Isaiah 58:7

    On the first day of shooting his new movie, [Time Out of Mind,] director Oren Moverman had an unusual task for his star, Richard Gere: He wanted the famous actor to stand in New York City's bustling Astor Place with an empty coffee cup begging for change. 

   Moverman needed the scene for "Time Out of Mind," in which Gere radically goes against type to play a homeless man. But the filmmaker soon realized it served another purpose. 

   "Richard stood there for 40 minutes‎. No one gave him a cent. No one even recognized him," Moverman said. "And that proved the whole point: The homeless are all around us and we don't see them." 

--Dan Evon 

Do we see the hungry and the homeless?
Do we help?
Or do we turn away? 

Image & quotation source: https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/richard-gere-homeless/

Acts of kindness (Maya Angelou)

My wish for you is that you continue.
 Continue to be who and how you are,
to astonish a mean world with your acts of kindness.
Continue to allow humor
to lighten the burden of your tender heart.

 --Maya Angelou

The owl stirs cake with wings so wide,
A cat in a monocle, with dignified stride,
A puppy wags, a happy bark,
A day for fun from dawn till dark!
May you leap like a deer through meadows green,
As playful and joyful as you've ever been.
May you find treasures, shiny and sweet,
Like a squirrel with nuts, a tasty treat!
With a lion's roar, let your laughter ring, 
And the grace of a swan, let your spirit sing.
May your day be filled with furry friends,
And happy adventures that never end.
So blow out your candles, let the wishes fly,
Like birds soaring high in the bright blue sky!
Happy Birthday to you, a creature so grand,
The best animal lover in all the land! 

(A poem after Edward Lear…) 

OLMC parishioners wish our Priest-in-Residence
(and secret animal whisperer),

Fr. Bill Brown, a very happy birthday!

We are so grateful that you are

a part of our parish family –

you are a blessing to us all!
 

Image source 1: Fr. Brown blesses the animals on the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi, October 2025, https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=5097555260353039&set=pb.100002958458217.-2207520000&type=3
Image source 2: Fr. Brown with one of the feral cats he befriended in Tiburon, https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=1261250759373669&set=a.1261251466040265
Quotation source

Learning to have a heart that is moved (Pope Leo XIV)

    If Christ shows us the face of a compassionate God, then to believe in him and to be his disciples means allowing ourselves to be changed and to take on his same feelings. It means learning to have a heart that is moved, eyes that see and do not look away, hands that help others and soothe their wounds, shoulders that bear the burden of those in need. 

--Pope Leo

Image source 1: https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2025-07/pope-leo-hope-is-source-of-joy-no-matter-our-age.html
Image source 2: https://www.today.com/parenting-guides/want-raise-empathetic-children-here-s-what-know-t177606
Quotation source

Fiercely kind (Laura Jean Truman)

God,

Keep my anger from becoming meanness.

Keep my sorrow from collapsing into self-pity. 

Keep my heart soft enough to keep breaking. 

Keep my anger turned towards justice, not cruelty.

Remind me that all of this, every bit of it, is for love. 

Keep me fiercely kind. 

--Laura Jean Truman 

Image source 1: https://www.facebook.com/groups/387096378163324
Image source 2: https://fiercekindness.com/introducing-key-fierce-kindness-practice-tool-the-kindometer/
Quotation source

The way to right wrongs (Ida B. Wells / St. Mother Teresa of Kolkata)

The way to right wrongs is
to turn the light of truth upon them.

 --Ida B. Wells

    When a poor person dies of hunger, it has not happened because God did not take care of him or her. It has happened because neither you nor I wanted to give that person what he or she needed. 

--St. Mother Teresa of Kolkata 

Image source: A Missionaries of Charity nun talks with a man at a home for the dying in Kolkata, India, Sept. 4. The lunch took place during Mother Teresa’s canonization in Rome. https://catholicphilly.com/2016/09/news/world-news/mother-teresa-do-small-things-with-great-love-2/
Quotation source 1
Quotation source 2

We bring God's life to others (Bishop Robert Barron)

    Friends, in [Sunday’s] Gospel, Jesus uses the images of salt and light to show how we are to bring salvation to the world. In our rather privatized and individualistic culture, we tend naturally to think of religion as something for ourselves designed to make our lives richer or better. Now there is a sense in which that is true, but on the biblical reading, religiosity is like salt, light, and an elevated city: it is meant not for oneself but for others. 

    Perhaps we can bring these two together by saying that we find salvation for ourselves precisely in the measure that we bring God’s life to others. The point is that we followers of Jesus are meant to be salt, which effectively preserves and enhances what is best in the society around us. We effectively undermine what is dysfunctional in the surrounding culture. 

    We are also light by which people around us come to see what is worth seeing. By the very quality and integrity of our lives, we shed light, illuminating what is beautiful and revealing what is ugly. The clear implication is that, without vibrant Christians, the world is a much worse place. 

--Bishop Robert Barron

Image source 1: https://maymanamarket.co.uk/food-cooking/enhance-flavour-with-salt-how-a-sprinkle-transforms-taste-in-seconds-2904/
Image source 2: https://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2011/09/why-salt-enhances-flavor/
Quotation source

Sunday Gospel Reflection, February 8, 2026: You are the salt of the earth...

You are the salt of the earth...
 But what does it mean to be salt? 

    When Jesus, in our reading from Matthew’s Gospel this Sunday, tells his disciples that they are the salt of the earth and light of the world, he wants them to believe that they themselves are able to enhance the lives of others as they bring God’s love to bear on those lives. Salt enhances flavor; light brings life. In all that we do, Jesus suggests, we are called to live our lives for others, enhancing their lives. We are graced so that we can bring the love of God to all we meet, by living the gospel in their midst, thus revealing God’s love in action. 

    In fact, Jesus is echoing a key idea in Isaiah, where the Lord reveals that true social morality results in life-giving justice for all: Share your bread with the hungry, shelter the oppressed and the homeless, clothe the naked when you see them, and do not turn your back on your own. We are called to live lives of compassion, seeing the need around us, and meeting it in such a way as to equalize the situation at hand. But it means we can’t just talk about justice: we have to do justice, participate, act. Moreover, to be authentic, such behavior must come from the depths of who we are, and must reflect our own openness to and trust in God. Such a person—one who is in right relationship with God—is described more fully in Psalm 112: s/he is gracious (the source of grace and blessing for other), merciful, and just. When our compassion recognizes our source and our commonality, we respond out of that commonality. We can thus be a blessing to other, and God is revealed in us. 

    For Paul writing to the Corinthians, such knowledge of God is focused first and foremost on Jesus Christ and him crucified. The paradox of the Cross lies in the fact that salvation comes from a criminal: the love of Jesus dying for our sins transcends the embarrassment and humiliation of a crucified Savior. If you know this, know it not only in your mind but in your heart, you will experience God’s love in the depths of your being, and can only respond to the experience of such love with faith and humility, in complete service to other. Enhancing the lives of others, you are salt. It’s as simple as that. 

This “vintage” post is based on Fr. Pat’s Scripture Class.
Image source: www.wordclouds.com