Tammy Becht and her family sought shelter in the basement of their Floyd County home when tornadoes ravaged small towns across southern Indiana. About an hour later, she began seeing the devastation through live TV reports from the affected towns. "I realized that we were dealing with a massive amount of destruction," said Becht, a member of Our Lady of Perpetual Help Parish in New Albany. "And that meant that people were going to want to respond." Becht soon sent a message through the Internet social networking website Facebook to her pastor, Father Eric Augenstein. Becht was ready to help in large part because of her experience more than five years ago in leading four relief trips to the Gulf Coast in the months immediately after Hurricane Katrina ravaged that region. "(Helping after Katrina) impacted me in so many ways," she said. "I realized how much power we have as a faith community to be able to reach out to other people. It doesn't matter if they're in our backyard or not. If we feel called to help in some way, then God is going to enable us to be able to do something with it if we're faithful to it." Approximately 50 Catholics across the New Albany Deanery felt that call and attended a meeting at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church about 18 hours after the tornadoes to begin organizing relief efforts. "This is what a Catholic community is all about, the support for one another," said Father Augenstein after the meeting. "It is always heartwarming. But it's not surprising to see the support that we have from the community to reach out to those in the greatest need. I know that our people always band together." Let us pray this Lent that Catholics throughout the world respond to all the needs including the aggressive attacks against the Church.
Born during the turbulent era of the French Revolution, Saint Jeanne Jugan rose above hardship and a lack of formal schooling to become a profound vessel of Christ’s mercy. After losing her father at a young age and working through her youth as a kitchen maid and nurse, her life radically changed one freezing night when she encountered a blind, paralyzed elderly woman with nowhere to go. Jeanne carried the woman back to her own home, placed her in her own bed, and began a lifelong mission of radical hospitality. This act of profound love blossomed into the Little Sisters of the Poor , a thriving community dedicated to sheltering and honoring the destitute elderly. Despite later facing heavy trials—including being unjustly sidelined and stripped of her leadership by a controlling chaplain—Jeanne accepted her obscurity and exile with a joyful spirit, resting her complete trust in God's hidden providence until her death in 1879. In our daily lives, Saint Jeanne Jugan invites us to lo...
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