Fr. Curt’s Message to Council

 
 
September 4, 2016 was a splendid day for the Catholic Church.  Pope Francis canonized now SAINT Mother Teresa of Calcutta.  Mother Teresa has a special link with the National Council of Catholic Women.  She spoke at the NCCW national convention in 1960 in Las Vegas.  It was Mother Teresa’s first visit to the United States and her first public address.
 
This says a lot to me about the vision of the NCCW.  Before anyone else got on the Mother Teresa “ band wagon” these women recognized her remarkable ministry to the poor and invited her to come to America and bring them a message.  You can read her remarks on the website,  “ motherteresainusa.net “.  This is a webpage sponsored by the U.S. Embassy to the Holy See.  In her talk to the convention she retells a number of accounts of the many ways she and the sisters bring merciful care to the poorest of the poor.  She is certainly an inspiration to people all over the world.
 
Mother Teresa continues to inspire the women of CCW.  As you know this year the NCCW has instituted a program titled:  A Million Works of Mercy.  CCW members all over America have been challenged to do acts of mercy, large and small, and to tally these to demonstrate the amazing difference that CCW can make by its ministry of mercy.  The great thing about this program is that it is not focused on dramatic and large scale projects of mercy.  But rather, it invites each member to be mindful of the little ways that they can touch people’s lives with smaller acts of mercy:  give a bottle of water to the trash collectors or other workers on a hot day, bring those bags of rice and beans to St. Lucie church for the monthly collection, drop off food items to the local food pantry, visit a home bound elderly person in your neighborhood.  Even a genuine smile and compliment to the check out person at Publix is a small act of mercy.  And each of us can offer prayers on behalf of the poor and needy.
 
None of us will be another Saint Mother Teresa and God doesn’t intend for us to be so.  But with her inspiration we can be an extension of her message of mercy in our own families and neighborhoods.  And DON’T FORGET,  jot down on a piece of paper these acts of mercy and let your parish affiliation know what you are doing so they can be tallied up to go well beyond the goal of a “ Million Works of Mercy”.


 
Fr. Curt Kreml, OFM Conv.
Northern Deanery Spiritual Advisor