Mother and children fleeing ISIS The other day I had an appointment with someone in another parish, and the only room available was the homeless food pantry. Just after we prayed, a woman knocked on the outside door. “I want to help,” she said, glancing at her iPhone. “Sure,” I smiled, “what would you like to help with?” She seemed confused, and looked again at her phone’s Arabic to English translator. “I want … help,” she corrected herself, and pointed to a sign on the door: “St. Vincent de Paul food pantry.”
“Oh, certainly,” I replied, going back inside to get her some provisions. “Where are you from?” I asked, giving her two grocery bags. She gave me her phone, and I tapped in “where from?” and she said “Mosul.”
I looked more closely at this thin, careworn young woman. So this was one of the Middle Eastern Christians we have been praying for…. “My name is Miriam, and I am Assyrian,” she said. Assyrian Christians had been living in Iraq 500 years when Muslims invaded in the 7th Century. Miriam had no food, no home, and was completely dependent on the charity of others. She had moved her family in with another Assyrian family who had fled Mosul in 2008. I knew this family—Christina had been married 6 months when some armed Muslim men pulled up to her home. They took the family car and shot her husband and his brother in front of her.
Miriam stood quietly with her three little children, completely dependent on our charity. And if there had been no “Food Pantry” sign in that parish, where would they have gone? I very much desire a St. Vincent de Paul Society at Star of the Sea….
“Oh, certainly,” I replied, going back inside to get her some provisions. “Where are you from?” I asked, giving her two grocery bags. She gave me her phone, and I tapped in “where from?” and she said “Mosul.”
I looked more closely at this thin, careworn young woman. So this was one of the Middle Eastern Christians we have been praying for…. “My name is Miriam, and I am Assyrian,” she said. Assyrian Christians had been living in Iraq 500 years when Muslims invaded in the 7th Century. Miriam had no food, no home, and was completely dependent on the charity of others. She had moved her family in with another Assyrian family who had fled Mosul in 2008. I knew this family—Christina had been married 6 months when some armed Muslim men pulled up to her home. They took the family car and shot her husband and his brother in front of her.
Miriam stood quietly with her three little children, completely dependent on our charity. And if there had been no “Food Pantry” sign in that parish, where would they have gone? I very much desire a St. Vincent de Paul Society at Star of the Sea….
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