The top-selling carol by the Jackson
Consider applying the message in real life, with ONE ALTERATION: Instead of giving it on Christmas Day, let’s begin giving love for Christmas, NOW.
Not just to our families and friends but to the POOR, SICK and the NEEDY.
Scores of the less-fortunate are all around us.
They roam the streets begging for alms. They sleep on the sidewalks. They dig into garbage bags to search for food. The sick among them fill the charity wards of hospitals. Orphanages and homes for the aged never run out of residents.
No matter how much or how little, any extra money or food, or possessions we can share will be a very big help for them.
Start with your poor neighbors, if any, or long-time friends. Prioritize those whom you know are uncertain of having food for noche buena.
Or send your donations to your parish churches, or known pro-poor foundations like Caritas
A heartwarming alternative can be a visit to abandoned kids, for example at Hospicio de San Jose or Asilo de San Vicente de Paul, both in Manila, or Tuloy sa Don Bosco near the Alabang Town Center in Muntinlupa.
Or to forgotten senior citizens, for example those at Elsie Gaches Village
Two of the good places to find sick people with no money for medicines or doctors are the Philippine General Hospital and Jose Reyes Memorial Medical Center , both in Manila
If you want to be really anonymous, you can just drive around town or go on a joyride with friends if you don’t have a car and share your blessings with the poor you’ll see along the way.
You can also send donations to on-going relief efforts for victims of disasters or tragedies. A personal visit to them at evacuation centers would also be interesting.
There are a thousand other ways to share your blessings. Money, food, clothes, medicines are among the most common needs of the poor.
I repeat, it’s not the amount or the quantity that counts. It’s the kindness, the effort of helping someone even in your own little way.
Remember, Jesus Christ Himself had said “Whatever you do to the least of my bretheren, you do unto me! 30
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