Endless Solicitations

Is it not amazing that after we give once to an organization, it seems that fifty others line up either by phone or mail to get their share?  Obviously, the mailings and calls are the work of fund-raising businesses who buy  mailing lists and phone numbers and daily, it seems, crank out letter after letter, call after call.  It's impossible to keep giving to all of them, but at least we can offer a little prayer that their needs may somehow, someday be met.  Once in awhile a valid acknowledgement comes and validates that the gift actually has made a difference in a person's life. Yesterday a touching letter arrived from a sixth grader at Guadalupe Middle School in Brownsville Texas, to whom our community sends an annual donation, saying that he loves his religion class the best because they talk about God and the teacher makes it fun. Well, if their were no Guadalupe Middle School, this boy would not be having such a positive experience nor be growing in his relationship with God. So, it's worth putting up with the piles of address labels, note pads, cards, medals and rosaries, for our little donations are making a difference that we may not always be aware of.  If it were not for the generosity of others, St. Marcellin would not have been able to house his young brothers; today our mission appeal talks in parishes around the country enable our work to be done in foreign countries. "The gifts given to us are for us to give." (Magnificat, February, p. 107.
Bro. Rene