It is the soil, sun and water! Like last year, tomatoes in the front garden are doing well. The soil is homemade, the sun is from Nature and the water comes from the rain in the sky and from the sprinkler and garden hose.

It Mexico we saw a lot of evidence of worship of Sun god, rain god and to Mother Earth. Nature is built in each of us and when we get away from it by war, greed or neglect we get in trouble. A quote I have been using on the bottom of my emails say it all: “The goal of life is to make your heartbeat match the beat of the universe, to match your nature with Nature.” (Joseph Campbell).

My wife, a friend and I made a number of St. Vincent De Paul home visits today to people in need. One young man had recently got out of prison and was trying hard to get his life together. On the porch of his apartment building a number of the residents were talking and sitting in the shade. We struck up a conversation with them and at the end they were all asking for the number of the St. Vincent De Paul central office so they too can make calls requesting help for basic items like beds, stoves, refrigerators, furniture and clothes.

The number of people in need for basic household items, like beds, is increasing while the number of people and organizations providing these items is decreasing.

I am now doing some research on poverty levels on the north side of Milwaukee, in vast area where the Catholic Church has closed churches like ours and left only one. I can find the neighborhoods most in need but the real challenge will be to find the people and resources to serve this people in the Vincentian spirit of sharing without judgment. We will need to form an open conference where people of all neighborhoods and suburbs can share it this work. There are many blessings to be had from the poor so that might be a draw.

Yes we do need to change the structures of injustice in our society but, in the spirit of the Catholic Worker movement we must start with charity at home to our neighbors in need.

They always say social change comes from a change of heart. Hearts change when they encounter other hearts, especially the blessed ones of the poor, marginalize and ill. It is part of nature.

The founders of St. Vincent De Paul society were young college men who in the time right before the French Revolution left the ivory time of the University of Paris and with a sister of the Order of St. Vincent De Paul traveled to a poor section of the city to bring needed supplies. Their hearts were changed by their experience and so began the largest Catholic lay organization in the world serving people in need.

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