We are Called...

**Quotes are the words of Catherine McAuley foundress of the Mercy Sisters**

I am called every day...literally. I receive hundreds of, what I refer to as, "calls of desperation" a week; people trying to find help and its not just for health care. I need help is the first words that I hear on the other end of the line. I have been called to show compassion, understanding, and to be a resource to the people of Detroit who are left with no where else to turn.

What this means is that we are called to behold one another, all that anyone really wants is to be recognized.

We are called to instruct the ignorant

"No work of charity is more productive of good than the education of youth"

We are called to shelter the homeless

"It is better to relieve a hundred imposters than to suffer one really distressed person to be sent away empty"

We are called to give drink to the thirsty

"the poor need help today, not next week"

We are called to feed the hungry

"God knows I would rather be cold and hungry, than the poor...should be deprived of any consolation in our power to give"

We are called to counsel the doubtful

"There are three things which the poor prize more highly than gold, though they cost the donor nothing; among these are the kind word, the gentle compassionate look, and the patent bearing of their sorrows"

We are called to comfort the afflicted

"The spirit of the Community is one of mercy toward the poor and afflicted in whom they shall see God himself"

We are called to bear wrongs patiently

"Mercy receives the ungrateful again and again and is never weary in pardoning"

We are called to forgive all injuries

"Pray fervently to take all bitterness from me, I can scarcely think of what has been done to me without resentment"

We are called to pray for the living and the dead

"Prayer will do more in solving our difficulties than all the money in the Bank of Ireland"

We are called as a community, as a nation, and as a global society to serve one another; to live in solidarity with the poor, afflicted, weary, the ones on the margins, the forgotten. For those who identify with a religion or a God you will not find Him in materials or money - He walks with the hungry, homeless, and the impoverished. This is where you will see Him in his purest form.

Have you been called yet?