Our nelwy elected Pope has already in such a short time shown himself to be the embodiment of charity, of caring for the less fortunate and presenting himself to the world as an equal to every man. This Pope gives me a sense of the humility that he exudes. His actions with and to the general public and even with the convicts show us that he is one that indeed practices what he preaches.
This past Saturday, I was in the process of packing and sorting items in our shed. While making the stacks of "absolutely keep", "good useable donation" and "throw out", more went into the donation pile than anticipated. I am not bragging, only stating that while looking through 40 years of accumulated "stuff", I kept thinking of how someone else may be able to make much better use of this or that item. I thought of how donating would accompolish 2 things, 1.) help others with good useable items and 2.) Cut down on the amount of stuff I will have to pack and unpack.
I am somewhat of a clutter bug as is my husband Mike. We both still have items in boxes from when we each moved here to Dallas area in October of 1994. He from Albuquerque and me from Goodland, Kansas. The home he had was about 1200 square feet and my home in Kansas was 2100 square feet. We both had large 2 car garages and sheds. The home we ended up in here in Irving, Texas is 1100 square feet. We do have a 2 car garage and a large shed and small shed. Everything is full of "stuff". Now add to that my mother's things that we brought back here to Texas with her.
Shortly after Mike and I got married, we consolidated and had a large yard sale. We had 2 and 3 of several items. Things like toastes, blenders, crock pots, irons & boards. The yard sale was interesting, we had a lot of lookers and many wanted to get items for nothing. I will not do that again. I think it is far less frustrating to just donate and write off off your taxes than to try to make a few bucks.
I have strayed from the topic at hand. Chatiry. This past Saturday, I took several items and dropped at the GOODWILL STORE donation center. There were many people there also donating. Could it all be the annual "spring cleaning" or could it be that our new Pope has lit a fire in our hearts to share what we have with those that do not have? I know that his words and actions are what had prompted me to look more closely to determine what I wanted to keep and what I wanted to donate. I still have a great deal to go through in the sheds and in the house. I am sure there will be many more trips to donation centers like St. Vincent De Paul, Disabled Veterans and Goodwill. Even my local Parish will get some of the stuff. They have baskets for gathering books to take for the prision ministries.
I imagine that once we get moved back to New Mexico we will be donating more of the stuff we pack. When we unpack, there will no doubt be things that after second thought will be donated to the local charites there in Grants. I now understand better why mom and dad had so few things. Almost everything they had, had a purpose and use. Thye lived very simply and though I so not think I will ever live asw spimply as they did, I can certainly do better than I have.
I pray that Pope Francis encourages and causes people all over the world to be more charitable to those in need, tolerant to those that are different and forgiving to those that do or wish harm on others. I believe this Pope will have a much more charismatic papacy than our previous one Pope Benedict 16. I do believe that the Holy Spirit does in fact cause the Cardinals to vote in a particular manner as to come to a certain conclusion. I also believe that it is this pope that the future of the Catholic Church will thrive and regain it's vitality.
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