Charity and Not for Profit Welfare – September 2019

(By Lilian Schmid, reviewed by Bjorn Schmid)

Introduction – A Story of a Sacred Place

In Rio a group of Christians were working with street children, of whom there are twenty-five million in Brazil. Everyday boys from the street got together at one sport to chat, to discuss their problems and to share their fears and anger with one another. Many came regularly. The church people consisted of a Catholic priest, a Methodist, a priest of the Umbanda cult, a Presbyterian and a young Lutheran pastor.

One day one of the boys said: “I would like to be baptized.”

“In which church, then?” asked the Catholic priest.

“Which church? In ours here of course.”

“But to which church building would you like to go?”

“Building? No, to our church here on the street. I want to be baptized here among us.”

The Methodist said he couldn’t issue a certificate. The Catholic priest thought it wouldn’t be possible to perform jointly with the man from Umbanda cult. The boy stuck by his wish.

Finally the Lutheran pastor organised the necessary things. He laid a board over two crates and filled an old boot with water for flowers, which the children provided. The Catholic brought along a candle. The baptism took place on the street, in the name of Jesus Christ.

(From The Way of the Cross in Latin America” tr, Joice Irwin [Mowbray 1993] p.78)

God, as the source of all life and all goodness, deserves our love, and that love is not something that we can confine to attending Mass or Service on Sundays. We exercise the theological virtue of charity whenever we express our love for God, but that expression does not have to take the form of a verbal declaration of love. Sacrifice for God’s sake; the curbing of our passions in order to draw closer to Him; the practice of the spiritual works of mercy in order to bring other souls to God, and the corporal works of mercy to show the proper love and respect for God’s creatures—these, along with prayer and worship, fulfill our duty to “love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind” (Matthew 22:37).

Charity fulfills this duty, but also transforms it; through this virtue, we desire to love God not simply because we must but because we recognize that (in the words of the Act of Contrition) He is “all good and deserving of all of my love.” The exercise of the virtue of charity increases that desire within our souls, drawing us further into the inner life of God, which is characterized by the love of the Three Persons of the Holy Trinity. Thus, Saint Paul rightly refers to charity as “the bond of perfection” (Colossians 3:14), because the more perfect our charity, the closer our souls are to the inner life of God.

“Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded. Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.” [James 4:7-10 King James Version (KJV)]

Prayer Strategy

There a many directories and listings of Charities and Non-profit Organizations, try to find some in your country and uphold them in your prayers.

E.g. in the USA there is https://www.guidestar.org/NonprofitDirectory.aspx?cat=8&subcat=44&p=1

A Christian Aid Week Prayer from 1958

O Holy Spirit of love,
quicken our imaginations
that we may feel more deeply
for the needs of others
as we put ourselves in their place.
Give us hearts of self-forgetting compassion
which will move us to give
from that which you have given us,
and to be good neighbours to those both near and far,
for the sake of him who taught us
that it is more blessed to give than receive,
even Jesus our Lord. Amen.

Prayer to Claiming the Blood of Jesus

Father God, in the name of and under the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ, we plead the Divine Holy Blood of Jesus over our physical bodies, over our souls and over our spirits.

We plead the divine Blood of Jesus against any natural accidents or catastrophes that may come against us or against our nation.

We plead the Holy Blood of Jesus against any diseases, viruses, or illnesses that could possibly come against us, or our nation.

Heavenly Father, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, we now have full faith and belief that the divine Holy Blood of Jesus will fully protect us, protect the body of Christ all across the world, protect our works, our ministries and our calling to give glory to Jesus in everything we do. Protect us against all of the things that we have just Plead His Blood on, in our Lord Jesus name.

We plead the Holy Blood of Jesus against any evil who may try and come against us in this nation and against all religious and secular Charities and NFP Organisations. As it is written in Revelation 12:11; “And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony”, the Holy blood of our Lord God Jesus Christ has full divine power to restore, to forgive, to expel evil, and for every necessity we have.

In Jesus name, Amen,

Prayer of Commitment

Keep me, O God, from pettiness; let me be large in thought, in word, in deed. Let me be done with fault-finding and self-seeking.
May I put away all pretense and meet everyone face to face without self-pity and without prejudice.
May I never be hasty in judgment and always generous. Let me take time for all things.
Make me grow calm, serene and gentle.
Teach me to put into action my better impulses, straightforward and unafraid.
Grant that I may realize it is the little things of life that create differences and that in the big things of life we are one.
And, O Lord God, let me not forget to be kind!
Amen