‘On the foundation of Christ’s love’
As I started working on this issue, the connection between Jubilee 2025, with its focus on hope, and the Diocesan Annual Appeal, also known as Catholic Charities, was, by no means, a hard stretch. To be sure, the effortlessness of the correlation provided me with a sense of relief, thinking this issue would come together without any major difficulty. The feeling, though, was short-lived because I had a problem. The roadblock came courtesy of two short words: hope and love.
As I started working on this issue, the connection between Jubilee 2025, with its focus on hope, and the Diocesan Annual Appeal, also known as Catholic Charities, was, by no means, a hard stretch. To be sure, the effortlessness of the correlation provided me with a sense of relief, thinking this issue would come together without any major difficulty. The feeling, though, was short-lived because I had a problem. The roadblock came courtesy of two short words: hope and love.
Those two simple words have become so overused — to the point of even seeming trite — that when I hear them, my mind instinctively goes to the aisles of stores the likes of Hobby Lobby and Kirkland’s. I do realize that admission seems a little on the harsh side, but there is a part of me that wishes someone reading this is nodding their head in agreement.
Levity aside, as I pondered over how to avoid the drone of meaningless cliches, the Holy Spirit once again stepped in, as He has always done, to show me the way.
I was guided to Sister Marta Tobon, M.G.Sp.S., the subject of this issue’s cover story. As the director of Eutaw’s Catholic Center of Concern, Sister Marta works day in and day out with people longing to be loved as they face the Herculean task of first finding hope then clinging to it through unimaginable and seemingly insurmountable hardship. These hardships, explains the diminutive religious sister, are not exclusive to a specific group of people, yet for some, the hardships are merely too much to handle.
Sister Marta’s explanation of the response to the hardships, not by the people experiencing them but by others, provided a breath of fresh air, countering my cynicism and imbuing a new and fuller meaning to those often flippantly used words of hope and love. She insisted, “God will be present, and He becomes present when one reaches out to a brother and sister in need.”
My limited vocabulary only permits me one word: Wow! While it is true that hope and love are all too often inserted into meaningless platitudes, their true power is found in Christ and our choice to know Him. If we know Him, we know both His love and His hope for us. If we know His love and His hope for us, then we can’t help but share it. If we share it, then we, in turn, are giving others the chance to know Him.
For me, that is at the heart of the Diocesan Annual Appeal. Are we helping someone with groceries, rent, or clothes on their back? Of course we are, but it is more than the physical resources, as helpful as they are. Pledging to the Diocesan Annual Appeal affords every Catholic in the Diocese of Birmingham with an opportunity to build futures of hope on the foundation of Christ’s love.