As Jesus said in Matthew 6:19-21, “where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Father Oscar Camomot, who runs KAMAMA Orphanage in the Philippines, takes this passage literally by placing his treasure in the Lord and in the children he cares for each day.

Father Oscar Camomot trusts that God will provide for the children in his care.

In Cebu City, Fr. Oscar devotes not only his time to the 19 children that live at the orphanage, but also his small personal pension from the Archdiocese of Cebu. If the orphanage falls short from time to time, Fr. Oscar uses his own money to pay the bills. To a man who gives almost everything for the children in his care, amassing worldly treasure isn’t important. Fr. Oscar knows that if he didn’t use his retirement account when necessary, the orphans might not receive the meals and school tuition they need.

Fr. Oscar also lives out Jesus’ words in Matthew 6:25: “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear.” Fr. Oscar trusts that God will provide for him and the children at KAMAMA Orphanage. With his faith and leadership, the children at KAMAMA  understand how important it is to store up treasures in heaven, not here on earth.

Cross International Catholic Outreach is committed to helping Fr. Oscar meet his orphanage’s budget. We commend Fr. Oscar for giving so selflessly out of what little he has, and we hope that American Catholics will help us make sure he has enough money each month to keep this important ministry running—without using his whole pension.

Click here to read about KAMAMA Orphanage and other programs for orphaned children that Cross International Catholic Outreach supports around the world!

When Mother Joan Clare first held little Prince and Princess, 17-month-old Filipino twins, they were only 6 ½ pounds. She tried to give them food, but they didn’t know what food was. She tried to give them milk, but they vomited what little they consumed. She says, “They were both suffering from severe malnutrition…they could not speak, walk, or even sit up. They were yellow from lack of blood, and too listless for comfort.”

Mother Joan and Sr. Aura cuddle 20-month-old Prince and Princess, twins rescued from the brink of starvation just three months earlier.

She rushed the twins to the hospital, but she knew the odds of their survival were slim. The hospital found their blood so anemic it was like water, and Prince’s condition was the worst. His tiny veins were collapsing, making an IV or blood transfusion nearly impossible. Mother Joan says, “The skin color of Prince was a sickly, pasty yellow, and the look of death was on his face. I emergency-baptized the baby.”

Mother Joan knew it was time to call in divine forces. She pulled out her cell phone and sent a text to her priest, “FATHER WE NEED A MIRACLE!” His response: “I WILL PRAY AND HOPE YOU GET YOUR MIRACLE!”

The next morning, Prince and Princess were still alive, and three IVs were finally feeding nutrients into Prince’s tiny body. A week later the twins were discharged into the care of Mother Joan at Cross Catholic-sponsored Queen of Peace Children’s Home. She says, “God never fails—I got my miracle!”

For many people, St. Patrick’s Day is a time to wear green, eat corned beef and cabbage, and have a night out with friends. But behind all the merrymaking is a story of a 4th century missionary whose life exemplified the kind of self-sacrificial love we strive to emulate here at Cross.

A stained-glass depiction of St. Patrick, who converted Ireland to Christianity in the 5th century.

Before St. Patrick came to Ireland voluntarily as a preacher of the gospel, he came in shackles as a slave. This injustice could have embittered Patrick toward the Irish people, who had kidnapped him from his homeland in Britain. But after escaping on a boat and vowing never again to set foot in Ireland, God gave Patrick a supernatural compassion for his pagan captors who desperately needed Christ.

It’s easy to have compassion on a friend, or on those who suffer by no fault of their own. But Cross Catholic aims to do more than this, because when we come across people who do not share our values or faith and who have made choices that have worsened their situation, Christ’s radical love compels us to show mercy. We are called not only to serve those who are kind, hard-working, intelligent, and attractive, but also those who are rough around the edges, difficult to look at, and unlikely to thank us for our help.

The question isn’t whether the needy deserve our compassion, but whether Christ deserves our obedience. When Cross Catholic provides houses for poor families living in the Filipino slums, the houses go to those who need them most, without discrimination. We give to everyone as if we were giving to Christ himself. In Ethiopia, our rehabilitation program for handicapped children has been a great opportunity for local Catholics to build bridges to people of other faiths and has resulted in a positive relationship with the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. When Catholics reach out in love to their neighbors, it makes people eager to learn why we do what we do.

Now that Lent has begun, Catholics are spending even more time in prayer and fasting in the weeks leading up to Easter, when we will celebrate our Savior’s resurrection.

There’s a tradition that during Lent, we are supposed to give up a particular luxury we enjoy, such as unhealthy foods or even television. But this year, some Christian religious leaders are calling for a slightly different approach: don’t just give something up – give it away. Reach out with your time and talents to others in need.

“Remember all the gifts God has given you,” suggests a recent Catholic Digest article. “Imitate God’s generosity by increasing your offering to your parish and to outside charities, and keep it up throughout the coming year.”

Lent is a great opportunity for believers to bless others while denying themselves. We can turn our thoughts not only to the needs of the neighbor across the street, but also to the poor and downtrodden around the world. Of course, not everyone can personally travel to a faraway land to feed the hungry and clothe the naked, but those of us who stay home have an important role to play in supporting those who go.

At Cross International Catholic Outreach, our mission partners simply could not do what they do without the generous giving of our Catholic donors. Whether you choose to feed orphans at the Impaputo Children’s Center in Mozambique or build houses for poor families in the Philippines, your gifts make a real difference. Check out our online project catalog to see how you can be a blessing in someone’s life today!

Disney’s 3D adaptation of A Christmas Carol is introducing a new generation to Charles Dickens’ classic holiday tale of greed, poverty, and repentance. This is good news for parents concerned by the avalanche of materialistic messages that too often overwhelm the humble story of Jesus’ birth and the value of giving.

Even if the latest incarnation of Dickens’ cautionary tale doesn’t hold a candle to the previous Disney effort in which a duck played the lead role, the theme of a sinner repenting of his greed and finding compassion for the poor remains as relevant as ever.

A recent article by history professor Lisa Toland encourages us to think about “today’s Tiny Tims”:

For a great percentage of the world—and especially for children—the current recession is not a new experience of real need; many have lived in poverty for generations, even centuries. Theirs is an unending recession….

Scrooge’s newfound compassion pushes Dickens’s readers of every age and culture to pursue their own courses of charity. For there will always be faces pressed against our windows.

When those faces appear in our windows, as they inevitably do, our instinct is to close the curtains. We want to shut out those unpleasant images that threaten the comfortable world we have built around ourselves. But God’s way is different. He wants us to open our doors and welcome in the hungry and the homeless. He wants us to remember that we too would be beggars on the street, but for the grace we did not earn.

Cross International Catholic Outreach needs your help to reach out to today’s Tiny Tims. You can support orphaned and abandoned children in Ethiopia, provide meals and care for disabled children in the Philippines, or check out some of our other great projects today!

We’re grateful to all our supporters who have responded to our Disaster Relief campaign for the flood-ravaged Philippines. The crisis may no longer be a front-page headline, now that weeks have passed since typhoons Ketsana and Parma swept through the country, but much work remains to be done.

A new danger now threatens the area of Manila, where a lot of land is still underwater. Health officials are reporting a deadly outbreak of a bacterial disease called leptospirosis.

The initial impact of the storms – the deaths of more than 850 people and displacement of hundreds of thousands – can’t be minimized. But a new danger now threatens the area of Manila, where a lot of land is still underwater.

Health officials are reporting a deadly outbreak of a bacterial disease called leptospirosis, which is caused by exposure to animal urine. The outbreak has already killed more than 130 people, and the latest report was that nearly 2,000 sick patients remained in government hospitals. The situation is so bad that one health official is calling this outbreak of leptospirosis one of the worst in the world.

Large areas of floodwater are not expected to recede until December, and it was feared that a third typhoon, Lupit, would cause even more problems. Thankfully, Lupit changed direction late last week and was downgraded to a tropical storm.

Thank you for keeping our Filipino friends and ministry partners in your prayers. It’s not too late to send a gift to our Cross Catholic Disaster Relief Fund to help us deliver food, medicine, and other emergency items to displaced families.

Still reeling from the damage and flooding caused by Tropical Storm Ketsana just days ago, our partners in the Philippines are bracing for another destructive storm. Super Typhoon Parma (called Pepeng locally) is expected to bring heavy rainfall and major property damage to the Philippines on Saturday, according to meteorologists.

A boy is lifted onto the roof of a building to escape the flooding in the Quezon City suburban of Manila.

At least 284 people in the Philippines were killed by the first storm, which strengthened into a typhoon and barreled into Vietnam Wednesday, killing at least 74 people. Both countries are struggling to recover with hundreds of thousands displaced by the floodwaters.

We are responding to this desperate situation by offering emergency funds to our mission partners in the field for disaster relief. Click here to see how you can help by donating to our Philippines/Vietnam disaster relief fund.

Over the last several days we have been in touch with some of our partners in the Philippines and Vietnam. Some of them have sustained heavy damage. (Click here to see some photos from one of our partners in the Philippines.) They say the people’s greatest needs right now are food and clean water. They are holding on, but they need our help — especially with the super typhoon closing in.

One of our partners in Manila emailed us today describing the need:

It is by God’s grace that we are spared and still able to minister to the people. Some of people were badly affected by the previous typhoon and there is still a lot of relief work that needs to be done. Please continue to pray for the Philippines as we are preparing for two more typhoons coming our way. Thanks.

Please continue to pray for the safety of those in the Philippines and Vietnam as Super Typhoon Parma approaches, and join us in providing emergency disaster relief to our partners there.

We reached out to several of our ministry partners in the Philippines and Vietnam over the last few days to see if they were OK after the devastating floods caused by Tropical Storm Ketsana. So far, we’ve only heard back from one of them — please continue to pray.

At least 400,000 people from Manila and the surrounding provinces have been displaced by Tropical Storm Ketsana’s flood waters.

On Saturday (Sept. 26), Tropical Storm Ketsana barreled into the Philippines, dropping the heaviest rain the country has seen in decades. Massive floods quickly engulfed the capital city of Manila and the surrounding areas, claiming the lives of at least 284 people and leaving nearly 400,000 displaced. (Click here to see photos.) Local officials say the death toll from flooding in the Philippines continues to rise as the strengthened storm, now Typhoon Ketsana, moved on to slam into central Vietnam today (Tuesday), killing at least 23 Vietnamese.

This morning we received an email from Sr. Irene, who runs the Marie Louis Trichet Learning Center, a school for handicapped children we support in Manila. Though she admits that the floods have been devastating, she offers words of hope for the school and her country’s recovery:

Sr. Irene runs the Marie Louis Trichet Learning Center, a school for handicapped children we support in Manila.

My dear brothers and sisters,
Thanks for your concern. This typhoon is really a tragedy. All schools are closed for the week. People still have water in their house waist deep. Many of our parents have nothing left. What they have salvaged they are trying to dry in the sun, but another typhoon is expected in the next few days. But you know the people here they are very resilient and say, “At least our kids are alive.”

The casualties are up to 150 dead but many are still missing, mostly children who could not fight the current when the rivers were overflowing and the dams opened. In Cainta Rizal, all six kids from the same family died in a landslide. The people from U.S. Embassy are really doing a lot and want to help our kids also with rice and especially bottled water. You can just try to imagine what the place looks like with the garbage everywhere, the rats and what not. Lucky the government is responding quite well, and Malacanan was turned into an emergency center.

Despite the devastation, we know God is in control and we will recover.

Take care,
Sr. Irene

Continue to pray for the people of the Philippines and Vietnam, and say special prayers for Sr. Irene and our other ministry partners working so diligently to help the storm-devastated people. Click here to learn more about what we are doing to help Sr. Irene and the poor her ministry serves.

Deacon Keith Fournier over at Catholic Online sure knows how to make a 2,000-year-old story feel as current as the evening news. Check out these challenging words he shared this weekend in honor of the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary:

That same Redeemer now resides within – and lives through – all those who respond to the invitation of Love like (Mary) did…. Each of us, now baptized into Him, are also called to become full of grace. The Lord desires to take up residence within us and be borne into a world that hungers for His love. Mary shows us the way. She heard the promise, believed, was filled with grace, and conceived the Lord who is Love incarnate. We can do likewise if we learn to pray, to listen, to hear, and to respond with our own “Yes”, living our lives in surrendered love.

What a powerful calling we’ve been given! At Cross Catholic, we have the privilege to work with compassionate men and women who are “incarnating” our Redeemer to the poor on a daily basis. The need for grace is as real today as it was in the time of Mary.

Dolores Rodriguez leans on the cane Sr. Liane provided to help her walk after she had a stroke while in prison.

Dolores Rodriguez is glad that Sr. Liane Rainville answered “Yes” to the call. Dolores is one of nearly 600 women crammed into a prison built for 175 in the Philippines. Most of these women have been waiting for years just to go to trial, and many are innocent. They rely on family and friends to provide basic items such as soap, shampoo, and toothpaste – but most of them are completely alone.

The situation was bad enough to begin with, but it got worse when Dolores had a stroke. She became weak on her right side and had trouble walking, and would have been left to deal with it on her own if Sr. Liane hadn’t intervened. Sr. Liane is the only family, the only friend, most of the women have. She brought a cane for Dolores, and provided whatever other needs were not being met.

With our help, Sr. Liane supplies soap, toothpaste, medicine, and other basic necessities to the women on a weekly basis. Click here to find out how you can be a part of this ministry of grace.

Though we evaluate our work in terms of the benefit to the poor, the fact is that our projects also have an incredible impact on the men and women who have dedicated their lives to charity and self-sacrifice. One person who comes to mind is Bobby Rodrigo. He is a resource general director with Gawad Kalinga, a project we support that provides housing for poor families in the Philippines.

Bobby experienced the best the world had to offer, and realized it wasn’t enough. The retired Filipino businessman was living in a 75,000 square-foot mansion with 12 bedrooms and a 10-car garage when he decided to get involved with the Gawad Kalinga project. His garage alone was a luxury resort compared to the dilapidated slums he soon found himself in. The small shanties, pieced together with salvaged scraps of cardboard, tin, tarpaulin, and discarded wood, were homes to entire families who could only dream of owning one car, let alone 10. The disparity touched him deeply.

Bobby Rodrigo (right) gave up a life of luxury so that he could serve the poor through the Gawad Kalinga housing project.

In the face of such need, Bobby felt he could no longer justify his lavish lifestyle. He sold his mansion and moved into a much more modest home, and focused his attention on alleviating the suffering of desperate families in the slum communities.

Later, Bobby developed a blocked artery and needed open-heart surgery. His doctor scheduled an angiogram in the morning – so Bobby could see the blockage for himself – and the surgery for the afternoon of the same day.

What happened next is best explained in Bobby’s own words. “The night before the procedures, I prayed, ‘Lord, please help me be well so I can finish all the Gawad Kalinga work we’ve got going for the poor.’ I prayed harder than I had in my whole life.

“The next day, they could find no blockage. The doctor said, ‘You must have strong connections upstairs, because there’s no explanation. It’s a miracle!’”

Bobby didn’t need the doctor, because God had already performed surgery on his heart, in more ways than one. He’s become a new man with a new calling and a new lease on life.

We are so thankful for the compassionate men and women who are helping us bring God’s love to the poorest of the poor. They are out in the field every day, providing the needy with shelter, food, medicine, clothing, education, and hope for a better future. And we want you to be a part of it.

To find out how you can get involved with our work in the slums of the Philippines, click here.