Archbishop's web site Denver Catholic Register Parishes Catholic Pastoral Center
March 14, 2001
Editorial
Lent: a call to charity
It's Lent, the time for conversion, reconciliation and charity. I learned something about charity through stories I told recently. I'd like to share my awakening with you.
A couple of weeks ago I interviewed five teens from Annunciation School because the girls had raised nearly $1,400 in 10 days for earthquake victims in El Salvador. What made the student-initiated project even more remarkable was that the girls attend one of the poorest Catholic schools in the diocese — 94 percent of the school population qualify for free or reduced lunch. The girls gave their money to Project Salvador, a development and aid organization.
During my visit to Annunciation, the students viewed a 15-minute video featuring scenes of Salvadoran village life. The video was accompanied by Salvadoran folk music. Short subtitles explained what was being depicted, such as "The school," under scenes of smiling children in a cinder block building that had chicken wire windows and a primitive roof.
That same week I also interviewed a priest with Catholic Relief Services, the international relief agency of the United States bishops. The priest was promoting a program that recruits seminarians to visit CRS project sites in developing countries. The program is meant to build a sense of "global solidarity" in seminarians that they will take back with them into parishes after ordination — the type of solidarity the Annunciation girls already have.
The week prior, I interviewed Lenetta Johnson, the new coordinator for the tri-diocesan sponsored Mision Sin Fronteras in Hermosillo, Mexico. During that interview, Johnson described the parish the missioners serve as one made up of several humble centros, similar to mission chapels, where the people worship. One worship site consists of a white cross in the middle of a lot. Another is a shack in which the people store their chairs and altar. The villagers unload the items for Mass. They kneel in the dirt.
The three stories were a gift. They opened my eyes to the life of the poor. Not that I wasn't aware of them before. I was. But for the first time, I understood how vulnerable and powerless they are. And I realized how profoundly meaningful everything, and every day is to them. They know the value of the day. They know how precious health is. They appreciate their home, their rest, their meals. I'm convinced that they experience charity, joy and faith in a far more enriched manner than we do.
And I understood about justice. How wrong it is for those who have disposable income to not share with those who do not. It's a sin. A sin. Because it is unjust. It is a lack of charity, a failure to love. A failure to do what's right.
"If anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him?"(I John 3:17) — the Holy Father recalls that Scripture in his Lenten message as he encourages us "to offer with a new heart material help to those who are in need."
It's Lent. And I was given an epiphany. I know and God knows. It's now my responsibility to do something about it — like the girls at Annunciation did. I share my epiphany with you in hopes that it moves you to charity. I wish you a blessed Lent.
—Roxanne King
Contact Us
