SENTINEL WATCH June 1, 2009 Issue

A PRAYER FOR TODAY'S HOMELESS

EVAN MEHLENBACHER

Mounting Debt, Foreclosures, job losses, and declining income have cast thousands of families onto the streets over the last year.

An article on the front page of USA Today recently announced, "Homelessness up as families on the edge lose hold." The article stated: "Cities and counties are reporting a sharp increase in homeless families as the economic crisis leads to job loss and makes housing unaffordable. In Seattle, 40 percent more people are living on suburban streets. In Miami, calls from people with eviction notices have quadrupled" (USATODAY.com, April 6, 2009). Bleak news like this calls on concerned citizens to take up consecrated prayer on behalf of all those seeking refuge. Wherever one is homeless and for whatever reason—including economic decline, chronic poverty, or displacement caused by earthquake, flood, or fire—it's a plea for every individual to have a safe place to live, a place to call home.

And our united prayers to that end do make a difference!