Food for the Poor

I still remember that visiting priest very clearly, and I still hear almost every word of his sad story although I do not remember his name. We were living in South Carolina at the time, and he was a missionary priest visiting to raise funds and awareness for the group Food for the Poor.

He described the crushing poverty of the families he worked for. He told us about the children who would spend their days climbing around barefoot at the dump, digging through the garbage to find junk they could maybe sell or even food they could take home for their families. His words have stuck with me all these years.

Since then we have been pretty faithful donors to Food for the Poor. Today we received their quarterly mailing and read the story of a 4-year-old boy who came into the nutrition clinic weighing only 12 pounds. That's about half as much as Mary weighs. The pictures were absolutely heartbreaking- so difficult to understand why, in such a rich and beautiful world as ours is, there are people starving to death at the rate of thousands a day. The selfish heart might say it is because there are too many people. I think an open heart would say it is because "I" am not loving them enough.

We have decided to add an Our Father to our meal-time prayer for all those who are hungry. It still doesn't feel like enough, but it is something we can do. Maybe some of you would like to do this, too. Through our "blanket" of prayer I believe we can make a difference for those who have inadequate shelter, and perhaps we can spiritually feed those who have no food.