Right after the devastating tornado hit Moore, Oklahoma, I was reading and meditating on Saint Paul’s description in chapter 12 of his first letter to the Corinthians of the Mystical Body of Christ which is called Catholic, meaning universal.
"If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together" (1 Cor 12:26). As members of the Body of Christ, which is the Church, we suffer and grieve with the affected individuals and families of this tragedy and pray for the victims alive and deceased.
It is not coincidental that right after this description of the Universal Church, St. Paul eloquently talks about how we respond. "If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing" (1 Cor 13:1-2). He is talking about faith formed with charity or love, the kind St. James says is able to save us (Jas 2). This is why when certain members of the Mystical Body of Christ suffer, the other members step in and help.
I also remember reading and meditating on this same passage after Hurricane Katrina. Like other major disasters that have struck in the past, we are collecting cash donations that we will send to Catholic Charities in Oklahoma City. In a recent conversation with Becky Van Pool, who is the parish outreach coordinator, I asked her what she needed most. She said, "The bad news is, disasters happen here frequently, but the good news is we are good at responding!" In other words, while we sent cash and material items like bottled water, food, diapers and other essentials to the affected area post Katrina, Catholic Charities in Oklahoma City is in need of mainly financial donations because their network is well established. If one looks at a map of which places are most prone to tornados, this makes sense.
Bishop Conley has approved at the pastor’s discretion a second collection to be taken in parishes across the diocese which will be sent to us. We will then send the monies to the affected area to assist individuals and families that will need to start over. Many have lost everything. If anyone wants to send a check directly to us, please make your check out to ‘Catholic Social Serves’ and in the memo portion of the check, please write, ‘tornado relief.’ Please mail them to: Catholic Social Services, PO Box 30425, Lincoln NE, 68503.
Some may ask, "Why not send your check directly to Catholic Charities of Oklahoma City?" The answer is, you can, but it will be easier for our friends in Oklahoma City to open one letter and process and deposit one check rather than thousands. We are happy to do this for them.
Thank you for loving your fellow members of the Mystical Body of Christ. We are most grateful for your faith formed by charity. Please remember that in addition to praying for the victims of this latest tragedy, we are praying for you as well.
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