The next donut Sunday will be held on Sunday, November 21st after the 9:00 am Mass!
Please check the Holy Saints website for updates on Religious Education!
www.holysaintsmn.org
The poor widow’s Walmart gift cards
When Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans 16 years ago, a parish in Maryland wanted to do something. The Maryland pastor heard an interview with the pastor of the parish in Raine, Louisiana, who explained how his parish was working to provide housing to those driving up from New Orleans to flee the storm. The priest in Maryland contacted the Raine pastor to ask what he needed.
The Raine pastor explained that the New Orleans folks who had come to his parish seeking help had to evacuate their homes bringing little or nothing with them. They needed simple things like a toothbrush or a towel or a change of underwear. So the Maryland parish decided the quickest and easiest way to help was to purchase Walmart gift cards so people could buy what they needed. Before they were done, the Maryland community had purchased almost $20,000 in Walmart gift cards — all in $25 and $50 amounts. They bought so many cards that their Maryland Walmart had to have more cards shipped from their corporate headquarters in Arkansas.
The Louisiana pastor said he was the most popular man in Louisiana for a time — and the parishioners in Maryland were thrilled to be able to do something practical and immediate, that their help went directly to people in need.
[From “Parish Diary: Hurricane Katrina brought out the best in us” by Rev. Peter Daly, National Catholic Reporter, September 7, 2021.]
The “widow’s mite” can take any number of forms: from someone’s last $10 given to a hungry beggar to a $25 Walmart gift card for a storm refugee. In the Gospel scheme of things, it’s not the dollar value of the gift that matters but the attitude of the giver seeking to follow Jesus’ example of humble generosity; it’s not the elegance of the gift but the joy experienced in being able to do good for someone in need; it’s not the gratitude of the receiver of the gift but the thankfulness of the giver to be able to make the gift. In exalting the gift of the poor widow, Jesus wants us to realize that, in the economy of God, numbers are not the true value of giving: it’s what we give from our want, not from our extra, that reflects what we truly value, what good we actually want to accomplish, what we really want our lives and world to be. Even a toothbrush and a clean pair of socks can be the perfect offering of thanks to the God of all blessings.
Dave & Brook made a video of them praying the Stations of the Cross. Please click on the link to pray along with them!