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† "Whoever has two coats should share with the person who has none. And whoever has food should do likewise…Stop collecting more than what is prescribed…Do not practice extortion, do not falsely accuse anyone, and be satisfied with your wages."
Exhorting them in many other ways, John preached the good news to the people.
-Luke 3: 10-18
OTHERS'
A holiday memory about those dedicated folks of The Salvation Army, who spend these busy days in malls and on street corners ringing their bells for donations for the poor in our midst:
When William Booth founded The Salvation Army in the London slums in 1865, Victorian England was not kind to its poor. Booth was actually arrested for his charitable work. He persevered nonetheless, and by 1880, he was ready to send his troops to America, where The Salvation Army now numbers thousands of members in all 50 states.
One Christmas, Booth wished to send a cable to Salvation Army posts all over the world. A long cable was out of the question; money was tight. So he chose to cable one word. That Christmas, Booth greeted his coworkers around the world with this cable: Others'.
CONNECTION: That single word others is the essence of the Gospel; it is in doing for others that we come to know the presence of God in our midst, a presence that we are often too busy or too jaded or too proud or too overwhelmed to realize. As John proclaims at the River Jordan, we can only celebrate the Messiah in our lives when we step beyond ourselves to embrace the needs and hopes of others. In baptism, we are called to be heralds of His justice by our unfailing commitment to what is right and good for others; we are called to imitate the example of Christ the Servant in our humble, joy-filled service to others.
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