March 5, 2006

Dear Friends,

A monk who was traveling in the mountains found a precious stone in a stream. The next day, he met a traveler who was hungry, and the monk opened his bag to share his food. The hungry traveler saw the precious stone in the monk’s bag, admired it and asked the monk to give it to him. The monk did so without any hesitation. The traveler left, rejoicing in his good fortune. He knew the jewel was worth enough to give him security for the rest of his life. But a few days later he came back searching for the monk. When he found him, he returned the stone and said, “I have been thinking. I know how valuable this stone is but I give it back to you in the hope that you can give me something more precious. If you can, give me what you have within you that enabled you to give me the stone.

That simple story reminds me of my Dad and his continual generosity, a generosity that he has passed on to Madeleine, Jack and me. A story that my Dad tells, that I can never hear enough times, is when he was collecting money for the annual Catholic Charities Fund Appeal in our home parish of St. Mary’s in Providence, RI. Back then there were no mailings. The parish was divided into different sections, each assigned to a different parishioner volunteer. As the story goes, Dad went to the second floor of a tenement house and knocked on the door to receive the donation. When the door opened he saw an elderly woman who was caring for her husband, who Dad could see in the next room. She had very little, materially speaking. She scurried to a small container in the kitchen for the money that she had set aside. She intended to give two dollars but all she could find was one dollar. “Wait a minute,” the woman said, “I know I have the other dollar around here someplace,” as she quickly went to the other room to try to find it. My Dad saw the poor conditions that the woman was living in and he quickly took two dollars from his own billfold and put the money on a shelf in the kitchen. That woman was giving of her want. Dad responded by hiding his two dollars in her kitchen, which she would unexpectedly find some time later. What is more meaningful is that it happened 50 years ago, but we just heard the story a couple of years ago. Dad is a wise man who taught us the importance of generosity and looking out for the other person. Many times he has told Jack, Madeleine and me, “Whatever you give out comes back double.” A few weeks back, my brother told me that Dad said, “I feel badly that I can’t still provide for the family,” to which Jack responded, “You’ve been providing for 69 years now!” Mom and Dad, both 92, have slowed down, both use walkers, but they are still teaching us.

I share the two stories above, as we begin our annual Lenten Operation Starfish^®. In the past 8 years, our parish has built 27 houses in Canape Vert, Haiti; we helped rebuild an orphanage in Port-au-Prince; we funded a mobile medical van that went throughout the countryside of Haiti caring for the sick and giving children needed inoculations; we built 500 cement houses in Nativity Village and are in the process of building a two-story school that should be completed within a few months. Your Lenten sacrifices, placed in a simple wicker basket located at the entrance to the church, has generated slightly over 1 million dollars for Food For The Poor. Over these years, we have had several pilgrimages, averaging about 15 persons in each one, so that parishioners could see first hand the poverty in Haiti, the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere.

This year our Lenten Starfish Project will continue to assist those at Nativity Village, as we begin another venture to be named after our parish - Nativity Village at Petit Anse, near Cap Haitien, about 100 miles north of the Capital, Port-au-Prince. In addition to building houses, we have been asked to begin a fish farming project. This will enable people to raise tilapia, for selling purposes and to feed their families. We will also set up a fishing co-op program, which will provide boats to venture into deeper waters. Most importantly, we will be installing wells for sanitation in the school and for clean drinking water. What we take for granted, clean drinking water, is in many areas just a dream.

Next week, I hope to explain further the concept of Starfish for those who are new parishioners. Basically, it is about one person making a difference. You, our Nativity community, have made a difference in the lives of hundreds of people, young and old. You have helped 500 families live in dignity in houses that were at best a dream in their lives. You have helped children avoid serious disease through inoculations given from the medical van you provided and you have rebuilt the Little Children of Jesus Orphanage, destroyed by fire.

Thank you for making a difference. Please reflect on the story of the monk above. Reflect on the story about my Dad. Whatever you give out comes back double. Our parish has truly been blessed through Operation Starfish^® and hopefully you have as well.

Fr. Martin

During the week of August 25th, 2003, a group of parishioners from Nativity Church in Burke, Virginia are traveling to Haiti. This is the 4th pilgrimage sponsored by Nativity Church. Parishioners will experience first hand the problems of the poor and the efforts to address those problems.

In the Nativity Church Bulletin, for the weekend of August 23-24, 2003, Fr. Richard Martin wrote about Nativity's upcoming pilgrimage to Haiti in his "Pastor's Corner."