Autumn Changeover

11-12-2017Weekly ReflectionFr. Brian Jazdzewski

One of the countless delights in living the vocation of the Holy Priesthood is meeting countless people from countless walks of life. Recently I was having a conversation with a well-established realtor. He commented on how he and his wife move often and find the moves to be a good opportunity to do some serious housecleaning. In fact, they continue to strive to keep their belongings down so as to have less labor when a move comes around.

The simplicity mentality is also part of the mindset of some members of the millennial generation. Some of the millennial strive for minimal belongings minimalist homes. So in the spirit of simplicity, the realtor said his wife has two questions for him when they perform their autumn and spring cleaning. #1: have you used it in a year? #2: Can you get a new one? If the answer sequence is #1: no, #2: yes; they get rid of the item(s).

Deducing from my ordinary conversations with people, there seems to be a sense that people do some autumn cleaning as they transition from warm weather to cooler, bug-free weather. Perhaps you will consider which possessions you will free yourself from as you participate in your personal changeover. In the spirit of getting rid of things, we continue to become more aware of the need in our local area from people who are less fortunate than we are. You do not need to search too far to find places where your donations will be accepted tohelp people who are less fortunate.

While I write this article, we have a low number of volunteers helping with the Southern Buffalo County Mobile Food Pantry. Some of these volunteers assist month after month to provide food for people in our area. We have made some changes in recent months to order food which is healthier for the recipients. You may like to know that we help around 50 households each month which computes into well over one hundred people. Some of these households have young children who also benefit from our program. Further, there are some who are disabled and genuinely appreciate our assistance.

I hope the autumn cleaning in your home will inspire a sense of awareness and generosity to people who are in need. We are moving into the time of year when a spirit of generosity is found in abundance. Our hope, in light of the Gospel, is to be abundantly generous with all that God has given us.

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