Where are all the turkeys?

Larnaca Town Hall is considering cancelling its annual 10,000 euro staff party this Christmas, to spend the money on needy families instead, the Cyprus Daily reports today (print edition).

Aww, isn’t that considerate?  

the mayor said: "gobble gobble"

Mayor of Larnaca Andreas Louroujiatis said the number of destitute families in Larnaca has gone up recently.  Resources at the municipal food bank are overstretched.  The mayor says 800 people per week are currently seeking food aid.  That's about 3,200 handouts a month in Larnaca alone.  Louroujiatis is “concerned” about numbers rising further.  If they do, all the nice hard-working employees at the town hall won’t be able to party, and wouldn’t that be a shame.  

The local authority is attempting to find Christmas turkeys and chickens for the food bank, the paper reports.  The turkeys and chickens were last spotted hiding under a huge pile of paperwork. 

10,000 euro for a party?  Wow, must be great working there.  That’s a lot of turkeys.

Our Lady of Graces Church (Terra Santa), Larnaca, operates a food bank for people in need on Sundays from 11 am to 1 pm in the community centre (go through the church).  All food donations come from the parishioners.  More donations needed, particularly baby food and powdered/condensed/UHT milk, or milk formula, plus all non-perishable foodstuffs.  

 

The Association of St. Joseph, Larnaca, is dedicated to helping the needy in the Larnaca area.  See the fundraising Christmas Bazaar coming up this weekend. 

they offered Him gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh

Advent: from the Latin verb, advenire, ‘to come to’, noun, adventus, ‘arrival’.  We await with joyful anticipation the coming of Our Lord, and prepare for it with the Sacrament of Reconciliation (confession of sins) and Penance - prayer, fasting, abstinence, works of charity and self-sacrifice. Advent is a "Little Lent".  

Let us give generously this Advent season. 

God prepared for the coming of his Son over the centuries.  He awakened in the hearts of pagans a dim expectation of this coming and he prepared for it specifically through the Old Testament, culminating with John the Baptist who was the last and greatest of the prophets.  We relive this long period of expectancy in the annual liturgical celebration of the season of Advent.  At Christmas the glory of heaven is shown forth in the weakness of a baby.

- Catechism of the Catholic Church (CTS Compendium, 2006), teachings 102 -103