Pfleger, Saint Sabina fed 550+ homeless families for Christmas

Gave away 10,000 toys, turkeys in a week

By Chinta Strausberg

Saint Sabina’s Father Michael L. Pfleger Wednesday was busier than ever this Christmas as he accommodated 550 homeless people and families who showed up for a free sit-down hot meal dinner, toy giveaway and home-delivered meals for the shut-in held in Bethune Hall, 7801 South Throop St.

Over the last week excluding Christmas Day, Pfleger and the Family of Saint Sabina, gave out more than 10,000 toys, turkeys including 2,300 hot meals at BJ’s Market & Bakery.

Billed as a “Christmas Feast Fit For A King,” Pfleger thanked the CTA for providing two buses that transported people from shelters. Members of Saint Sabina cooked the meal that included numerous pies, cakes, cookies, turkeys, hams, potato and macaroni salad, greens, many other dishes and beverages.

Pfleger, who also spent a great deal of time with his son, Lamar, told reporters 450 people from shelters across the city were bussed into this Christmas dinner and that “we want them to know they are our family.” That is why he had asked his members to bring home-cooked meals to this program. However, an additional 100 families showed up for the popular annual meal.

Asked to respond to Pope Francis’ call for a “better world” when he called for an end to the “hatred and vengeance” in Syria and to “heal the wounds of the beloved country of Iraq,” Pfleger said, “I am so grateful for the message that Pope Francis is sending not just to the Catholic Church but to the world.

“I think what he is reminding us is that we have abandoned our calling” to help the poor. “We have become obsessed with gay rights and abortion and forgotten the war on poverty, racism, sexism and all the other issues” including unemployment, Pfleger told reporters.  He said there are many people who can’t get a job, can’t eat and have no place to stay. Pfleger said the Pope has “refocused us to let’s look at the poor….”

State Senator Jacqueline Collins (D-16^th) said, “We were overjoyed to see the overflow of people. I think next year we may have to move it to another arena possibly the gym or the ARK. It’s wonderful that we have been blessed as the faith community to provide the refreshments, the food, and the family environment Saint Sabina is so well known. Hopefully, we imported something into their spirits today, stirred up their spirit and that they move forward with a sense of hope.”

Betty Richardson, a member of Saint Sabina since 1975, the wife of Leonard Richardson, senior deacon at Saint Sabina, was one of numerous volunteers to baked food and welcomed the guests. “I love doing this…. It is a church event and God gets the glory.”

Before the Christmas dinner began, Pfleger blessed the food and told his guests, “You may be in a difficult situation right now, but you need to understand that this is temporary…just a bump in the road. Don’t get confused. This is not my end. This is an effect of the enemy. I’m getting ready to blow up…. Please don’t let the enemy let you think that a temporary situation is a dead end for you. This is just a bump in the road. I believe in 2014 things are getting ready to turn around….”

“I believe when you come out of 2014, you ain’t going to look like what you went through. People are not going to recognize you because of what’s getting ready to happen,” Pfleger told the crowd.

Asking each to take the hand of the person standing next to them, Pfleger prayed. “Because light came to break darkness, we are reminded that no darkness in the world or in our personal lives can ever turn out the light…that your life, your hope and your love are more powerful than any problem in the world or in our personal lives.

“We don’t get discouraged by a situation, but we just tell the devil take your best shot because the fight is fixed and we win…. We are all family…. You are not alone. We stand together with a God that is with us…,” Pfleger said. “May we be ever reminded that we are going to struggle and work for that day when everybody has food to eat, a place to live, a job to go to and place to share it with.

“We’re excited about 2014 and we know God you’re getting ready to do an awesome thing in every one of our lives. We’re excited now….. We have so much faith in you, God. Your credit is so good we don’t have to wait for the battle to be over. We can shout right now….”

But, first there was Christmas Mass performed by Rev. Thulani Magwaza, pastor at Saint Sabina Church. Father Thulani talked about the birth of Christ he says “reminds us that Christ is living among us and that we should imitate Christ.

“Christ reminds us that we all have an assignment and that is to do the will of God, and if we stick to God’s will then we know that sin will be away from us. God wants us to do his will as Christ did his father’s will,” Father Thulani told the church during a 10 a.m. Christmas service.

After the guests received their food, many volunteers served them a wide assortment of deserts and beverages.—a dinner Pfleger described as being “fit for a king.”

Holding up a baby of one of the members as a symbol of a new born baby, Father Thulani said, “It comes to us in our own flesh, just as human as we are; however, it is a baby born without sin and you can learn from that baby that sin can be avoided if you do God’s will.

“At times you will come across people who will challenge us not to be doing what God is calling us to do. That is why we, as Christians, we ought to be like children and say ‘Get behind me Satan.’  We all have to do the will of God all the time,” Thulani said.