30th Sunday A: The Two Great Commandments of Love

 Blood brother

True story:
An eight-year-old boy had a younger sister who was dying of leukemia.  His parents explained to him that she needed a blood transfusion and that his blood was probably compatible.  They asked if they could test his blood.  Sure, he said.  The results showed that his blood would be a good match.  Then they asked the boy if he would give his sister a pint of blood, that it could be her only chance at living.  He said he would like to think about overnight.

28th Sunday A: Wedding Feast & Garment

 ‘Thrift Store Saints’

Fifteen years ago, Jane Knuth, a math teacher and mom, began volunteering at the St. Vincent de Paul thrift shop in Kalamazoo, Michigan.  She approached the work with typical baby-boomer hard-charging determination to “fix the world” — but over the years, the experience changed her.  The poor and desperate she has been able to help have deepened her own faith and brought her to a new understanding of what it means to be a disciple of Jesus.

15th Sunday A - Sower, Seeds, Growth

Guerrilla Goodness –Kindness grows

A woman in a red car pulls up to the toll booth at the San Francisco Oakland Bay Bridge. “I’m paying for myself and the six cars behind me,” she says with a smile. One after another, the next six drivers arrive at the booth, money in hand. “Some lady up ahead already paid your fare,” says the collector. “Have a nice day.” The woman, it turned out, had read a note taped to a friend’s refrigerator: “Practice Random Kindness”. Judy Freeman spotted the same phrase on a warehouse wall, 75 miles from her home in San Francisco.