A Place for Help; A Place to Help

Who do you seek when you are in trouble; who do you turn to for help? If you found your child is addicted to drugs, who would you turn to for help? If you knew your addiction to alcohol was ruining your family, who would you plead to help? If you were deemed deathly ill or incurably an invalid, who would you ask to assist you in bearing or easing this suffering? If you were alone, and needed to just be with someone sometimes, where would you go? If you felt you had lost God and couldn’t find Him, who would you ask to pray for you?

Which person, which charity, which church, which counselor, which friend would you call? Where would you turn to for help and sympathy? Where would you find people who care about your plight?

A recent homily at mass included words which made me consider the work of those helpers. The priest said that those who go forth in charity and humility are those who are following Christ. And, … they will be the ones who He seeks to enter His kingdom.

Which person, which charity, which church, which counselor would you call?? Those are the people the priest was speaking about, those who go forth in charity and humility, in the most direct following of Christ’s example, in the loving their neighbor, helping him in his need. Do you want to start making your life better, to grow in holiness, to take good advantage of this Lenten season? A good place to start is the place where you see those who are charitable and humble followers of Christ. Look at your answers to those first questions I asked. There is the place to start. Go to those places not to ask for help, but to offer to GIVE help. Seek to do what they are doing; seek to learn from their example; seek to learn to be charitable and humble in following Christ. Working with them, you will become like them, and you will become like Him.

And perhaps someday someone may consider the questions I first asked you, about where would they turn to for help in their time of need, and they might think of you. And I pray the first among those who would turn to you are your spouse, your children, and your family members, that they may see in you the image of Christ’s blessing to them, someone who they can always turn to, someone they can always look up to.

You can be a true follower of Christ; you can be a true blessing to your family and your neighbors; you can truly be loved by them all, for all you are and all you do. And you can LEARN to do this by looking at those who are available to be a blessing to you; there are plenty of teachers out there. You’re never too old to learn how to truly love. And you’re never too old to need love, but the cycle needs to start with you. Turn off the television; leave work early, skip the overtime; cancel the movie night out. It’s not too late to start to grow in holiness. It’s never too late. It’s never too late.

Your Father will leave the light on.