Urban Missionaries

We always make sure to bring flowers on our Mother's Day walk each year. Many of the women on the streets are mothers but have lost custody or contact with their children, and we know the thought of seeing their kids again is such a motivation for these moms to keep praying and hopefully get off drugs and off the streets. So it's good to remind them and encourage them. One of the moms we met was Katie, who had her sketch book out and was drawing some nice pictures. We gave her a Rosary and a flower, and Vitoria put a Miraculous Medal on her. It really brightened her day and we're hoping she will start to pray more. In this area of NE Portland we met at least 30 moms, who each took a rose.

In modern times motherhood is looked down upon, but shouldn't be especially when contemplating the famous scene at the Final Judgement, when Jesus said "I was hungry and you fed me; thirsty and you gave me a drink; naked and you clothed me." We often think this just applies to helping out the poor on the streets. But the faithful disciples asked Jesus: "Lord, when did we do these things?" And Jesus responds, "Whenever you did these things to the least of these, you did it to me." It is thus fitting to say the "least" of Jesus's people include children, particularly of Christian parents, and so being a devoted mom (and dad) involves lots of feeding and clothing and quality time with them. So in taking care of her children, a mom truly is doing these things to Jesus, Who is hiding in them.

Blessed Easter! Christ is risen! His grace is everywhere! Sometimes we can wear down and wonder where God is in our broken world. But if we step out our front door to cheerfully serve him (or lovingly serve him in the home!), we see His grace in so many little moments. On our recent walk from the Cathedral, we came across two (literal) signs while walking random streets. The first is in the background of the photo, a billboard of the Divine Mercy image which reads, "Jesus, I trust in You." In the second photo is an advertisement on a telephone pole for a sacred music concert by "Cantores in Ecclesia." It was set for Holy Monday, and featured a meditation on "Membra Jesu Nostri", or "The Limbs of Jesus". It always does our hearts good to see these little signs of the Church on our walks. A special thank you to Cantores in Ecclesia for keeping the fires of sacred music burning for so many decades! Glory be to God!