Sharing Fund

Richard A. Sokerka

J. is facing tough times. He is a carpenter by trade but work is scarce. His wife, M., is pregnant with a child he knows is not his. But he loves his wife and is committed to do what is best for them as a family. Soon, they will have to make a trip. J. worries that they will have no place to stay and may be homeless for a time. The baby is due to be born in the next few weeks and they do not have a shred of clothing for the baby. Can you find it in your heart to help them this Christmas season?

Think this is just another in a long line of cases about society’s neediest that you read about each week in The Beacon’s Christmas Sharing fund stories?

Think again. It’s the story of the Holy Family Joseph and Mary, who is carrying Jesus, the Savior of the world, in her womb. They are poor and alone as they prepare to make their way to Bethlehem forced from their home by a tyrannical ruler.

Certainly, they did not want to be in this situation so near to the Christ Child’s birth. But just like many of the cases from our Catholic Charities agencies that we present each week to our readers, they find themselves in circumstances beyond their control and have to rely on the help of others in their hour of need.

When the innkeeper told Joseph there was no room at the inn that cold, dark night in Bethlehem, he forever marked Jesus’ kinship with the poor and downtrodden of society.

The Beacon’s Christmas Sharing Fund, now in its 34th year, renews that kinship with the poor that Jesus had from the moment he was born in the manger. Because the meaning of Christmas comes in sharing with others, The Beacon’s Christmas Sharing Fund gives every reader the opportunity to not only bring joy to those they donate to but also to bring the giver closer to the baby Jesus and what he came into this world to accomplish: to be our Savior and to teach us to love one another.