Parishioner Laura Brodell talks about her experiences serving food at the Connection Cafe.
To get involved contact:
Second Friday group: Toby Berberich - Tberberich@ssactivewear.com 515-975-5137
Fifth Wednesday group: Jane Alderman, janealderman55@gmail.com 515-723-3958
Come be fed - spiritually and physically! TONIGHT (Monday) with Steve Angrisano at 7pm in the church.
Dinner served by or Peace and Justice committee tonight beginning at 6pm.
Come for a simple meal as we begin our Lenten season
with a focus on those who are hungry.
Can’t make the evenings work? Steve will also be presenting to those available on Monday morning after Mass (9am).
Here are the readings for this weekend.
As Jesus is about to experience his 40 days in the desert and his time of hunger and thirst due to fasting, it brings to mind our hunger for someone to listen to our problems, our longing for company, someone that will try and understand all of us.
So often in our crazy & mistaken belief we can multitask our way through the day, we miss the people we love and those we encounter without really seeing their hunger, their needs for love, their need for a listening ear; we are so easily distracted from what really matters.
This Lent, I am trying to fast more from the computer, the TV, and the cell phone, to really pay more attention to the one who God places in my life today—to listen, with my eyes on them, so that they see how important they are, both to me and to the Father.
We always talk about doing something for lent, I would have you look intently at all the little and big spiritual challenges right in front of you today that call you to be present to a deeper spiritual reality.
Feed that hunger and need in the one right in front of you today and for the next 40 days. Give them your full attention. Listen to them with your gaze firmly on them. Listen to each other from your hearts.
The Connection Café offers lunch to whomever needs a lunch in Downtown Des Moines. The program was started by four downtown churches to address the need they saw in the downtown area. For more information please visit the Connection Cafe’s website.
Volunteers from more than 50 churches, schools, and civic groups donate and serve an average of more than 100 people every weekday. In 2017, more than 2500 volunteers served 35,291 meals. There are two groups at OLIH that provide and serve meals at the Connection Café.
One group serves the second Friday of every month. They have 12 members on the team and each month one of the teams' members is responsible to be the lead for that month and responsible to purchase supplies and deliver to the Connection Café. There is a set list of supplies they purchase each month. The prep work can be done in volunteers homes on their own schedule or the Thursday night prior in the OLIH kitchen. Volunteers are needed to serve the food on the scheduled Fridays.
The other group serves every month there is a 5th Wednesday. Volunteers can select to help with various tasks to prepare, purchase supplies, deliver and serve the meal. For the 5th Wednesday group, the prep work can be done in your own home on your own schedule, or the Tuesday night prior in the OLIH kitchen. Volunteers are needed to deliver and serve the food on the scheduled Wednesdays.
You are answering Jesus' call to "When did I see you hungry". from Matthew 25. It’s also a wonderful chance get to know other parishioners involved in the ministry as you prepare and serve the meals.
To get involved contact:
Second Friday group: Toby Berberich - Tberberich@ssactivewear.com 515-975-5137
Fifth Wednesday group: Jane Alderman, janealderman55@gmail.com 515-723-3958
Everything we do ought to help us become more united with God. Our Lenten sacrifices of almsgiving, fasting, and prayer can help us get rid of distractions so we can speak and listen clearly when we talk to God in prayer.
Jesus prayed. Jesus often withdrew to pray and communicate with God before going out in ministry somewhere. Jesus used his time on earth to set an example for us to follow.
Sometimes its hard to recognize sin. The closer we get to God in prayer, the more we will be able to see the things of this world that are leading us away from God. When something evil and sinful is brought to the light, we can see it for what it truly is.
Prayer fills us with hope for what is to come. It helps us look beyond the immediacy of the moment and look ahead to the promises of Christ in the Kingdom of Heaven.
Prayer is our relationship/friendship with God. Just as we just check in, talk with, and spend time with our friendships, so too do we need to check in, talk with, and spend time with God in prayer.
Adoration: Mondays in Lent 9am-7pm Saturdays in Lent 8:30-10:30am Holy Week (Mar 25-27) 9am-7pm
Stations of the Cross: Tuesdays 9am (following morning Mass) & Fridays 6:30pm
Retreat Morning: Saturday, March 9 9am-12noon facilitated by Patty Mayer, visit our Lenten website for more details and to sign up.
The Catholic Worker Movement was founded in 1933 by Peter Maurin and Dorothy Day in New York City to implement the teachings of the Gospels and to promote the Biblical promise of Mercy, Compassion, Justice and Love. The Des Moines Catholic Worker Community follows this philosophy of living among the poor and opening its doors to those in need of food, clothing, bedding, showers, coffee and conversation. In order to do this, it relies heavily on volunteers and donations.
Every month volunteers from OLIH prepare a meal to deliver and serve to guests at the Catholic Worker House in Des Moines. Groups of 5 – 10 or individuals sign up to provide and serve a meal to feed dinner to approximately 75 people on the 4th Friday of the month.
OLIH has made a commitment to serve a meal every month so groups can and often do sign up for one or two months of the year. Examples of meal ideas are provided as well as general guidelines that best meet the needs of those being served. This ministry allows our volunteers to not only feed and serve the poor as we are asked but to experience the grace of meeting and serving individuals and being in community with people who are so often not seen.
Every volunteer has come away from this ministry feeling they have gotten so much more than what they have given. It is truly a blessing for all involved.
To get involved:
Shelley & Jerry Tegels cyclone618@msn.com.
because Jesus fasted. Lent is 40 days because Jesus spent 40 days in the desert being temped and fasting and praying before his public ministry began.
because disciplining our bodies disciplines our souls. By denying our bodies we are keeping ourselves from being controlled by our impulses. Our bodies and souls are connected and can’t be separated. One affects the other.
fasting keeps us from being enslaved to every urge in the body and lets our mind and soul be the master of our actions. Jesus showed us that having self-discipline allows us to follow God in total freedom.
On Ash Wednesday and Good Friday, Catholics should eat only one full meal and two smaller meals which, combined, would not equal a single normal meal. Additionally, Catholics may not eat meat on these two days–or on any Friday during Lent.
These norms on fasting are obligatory from age 18 until age 59. The norms concerning abstinence from meat are binding upon members of the Catholic Church from age 14 onwards. Canon Law does mention that for young children not fasting, parents should still communicate the meaning and penance.
(NOTE: Children, adults with physical and mental illness, pregnant women and those nursing are all exempt. The USCCB stresses that “common sense should prevail” and that no one should jeopardize their health to fast.)
If possible, the fast on Good Friday is continued until the Easter Vigil (on Holy Saturday night) as the "paschal fast" to honor the suffering and death of the Lord Jesus and to prepare ourselves to share more fully and to celebrate more readily his Resurrection.
Do Sundays count for fasting?
It’s been a custom for Catholics to give something up during Lent, in addition to the fastings and abstinence rules. Some keep their sacrifice continuously, but Sundays during Lent are not “prescribed days of fasting and abstinence.”, as each Sunday is considered a “little Easter”. Ultimately, it’s a personal decision.
A Reflection on Lenten Fasting from USCCB (US Council of Catholic Bishops)
February 24 and 25 we will be handing out M&M containers as our “Thank you in advance for you generous response!” We ask that you bring your container back in the following weeks filled with your donation to this very worthy cause. Our goal is $10,000. Can we do it?
On Saturday, March 23 it will take about 80 parishioners to fill those bags. Watch for the sign-up sheet to get your family, neighborhood group, or friends to go package together! Consider giving your time also - Meal Packaging will be Saturday, March 23!
it helps us to be less selfish. We are hardwires to think about ourselves first. Our lives in Christ, however, are meant to be poured out for others, through our material goods and all of our gifts and talents.
those afflicted with poverty need our help. Praying for the poor is necessary, but it doesn’t put clothes on their back or food on their plate. Consider taking some of the money you would spend on eating out or grabbing a quick snack and donating it instead!
our world is spiritually poor. Giving alms doesn’t only mean giving food and clothes to the poor with the ‘Corporal Works of Mercy’. We are also called to perform the “Spiritual Works of Mercy”, which include calling our brothers and sisters to a life of holiness even as we strive to live a life of holiness.
Since we are both body & soul, our giving must include both. It is easy to find ways to physically donate our time and money to help feed the hungry; we are called to also help people fill their spiritual hunger, by walking with them on our journey together to heaven.
“almsgiving is a witness to fraternal charity and a work of justice pleasing to God”
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