Last week, the Universal Church celebrated the memorial of St. Catherine of Siena, virgin and doctor of the Church. She lived as a third order Dominican during the 14th century, in which multiple outbreaks of the plague occurred. So devastating was this for her family, half of her siblings died, including her twin.
In one of her works entitled, Dialogue On Divine Providence, she wrote that the more she searched for the Triune God, the more she found, and the more she found, the more she searched. This led to an ever-increasing hunger for God Almighty.
She wrote, “When you fill my soul I have an even greater hunger, and I grow more famished in your light. I desire above all to see you, the true light, as you really are.”
Regarding the Blessed Sacrament, she said, “The food of angels, you gave yourself to man in the fire of your love.”
Excelling in the love of God, she was well aware of the two kinds of hunger: physical and spiritual. She spent her entire life helping those around her find satisfaction for both. This is the goal of Catholic Social Services of Southern Nebraska.
Recently, I had a conversation with a homeless man who sleeps under the bridges near our main office. He has been an almost daily recipient of our sandwich program. In addition, he has spent time in our St. Joseph Chapel containing the Bread of Angels, the Most Blessed Sacrament. Because of the love he has received from Jesus in the chapel and our staff, he now wants to sit down and talk further about his struggles and desire to change his behavior in order to escape homelessness. It is our goal to address not only his physical, but his spiritual hunger as well.
Recently one of the “God-teen” groups from Cathedral of the Risen Christ Parish in Lincoln conducted a food drive for Catholic Social Services. I was amazed at the sheer amount of food collected. This, along with the nearly 14,000 pounds of food collected from the many parishes and schools across the diocese from our annual Lenten food drive, will help us continue helping address the physical hunger of the many needy individuals and families that come to us in crisis like the homeless man described above. This will give us an opportunity to address at the same time the spiritual hunger we all have, which is only satisfied by God Himself. Please know that we at CSS will keep ALL of our supporters in our daily prayers. St. Catherine of Siena, pray for us!
