Can 13 year olds change the world? They certainly can do good which changes things! This week I heard a testimonial about some faith filled 13-year-olds. It reminded me of some of our own kids. To help prepare for Jesus’ coming, the student council has begun a penny drive for Catholic Relief Services. The children with a little direction from their faculty advisor have put together a simple school wide program. They have containers in all the classrooms and are encouraging the children to give from the goodness of their heart. The Student Council members went from room to room to tell the children of the program.
In the midst of their presentation they stated that the main reward for giving will be from our Lord for your goodness as well as your own knowledge of having done good to others. That reflects level D and C motivation, to please the Lord and help us get along well with one another (as opposed to A and B which serve myself only).
Today before school in the courtyard it was good to see many kids clutching their change, some in plastic bags some in bare little hands. I could see kids showing something to one another, when I went to check it out…..little fists of change.
As two Student Council members were preparing to announce the program to all the children in the school after Mass on Monday, I had an interesting dialogue with one of the girls. We were talking about the good that can be done with a little money in some of the very poor countries. She told of her sister’s sponsorship of two girls from Guatemala, providing for them on a monthly basis for a number of years. After several years she was notified that the young women were on their own and no longer in need of the support for education and daily sustenance. This young woman was a little disappointed that they didn’t need her sister’s sponsorship anymore.
When her birthday rolled around she asked her mom if she could sponsor a child of her own. So at the ripe old age of eleven, she adopted the sponsorship of Wadley, a four-year old boy from Haiti, pictured below. She told of Wadley, who shares her same birthday, with great joy. She spoke of planning for his birthday and buying things that would be useful to him, little, simple things like pencils, school supplies and stickers. The blessing of giving exuded from this young woman and brings great delight to my heart to see such generosity and joy in living the Gospel as Jesus would have us. Amen Alleluia and thank you for helping me prepare for Jesus coming this Advent
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Here’s one more example from beyond our walls, from Matthew Kelly:
In Christ’s Love,