THE ANAWIM: YOUR CATHOLIC HERITAGE AND MISSION.

The latest fixation of my blogs is to answer the question: “How does an old, housebound, cancer survivor, a 2-time cardiac arrest survivor, satisfy the longing in his heart to be an active Catholic and perform the Corporal Works of Mercy?”

I kicked this around in my mind for two or three years until I realized that I had the answer right before me and all I had to do was ask. This phenomenon happens to me so often that I wonder why I couldn’t see it all along. It has something to do with abandoning myself to be with Christ, with the Holy Spirit, and waiting for an answer. Duh! I asked the Holy Spirit about this question and then waited for an answer, and waited, and waited, all the while thinking that the Holy Spirit was taking a long time to answer me. I realized that I was not listening to the answer with the “ear of my heart,” but rather wanting some time on my timeline.

A year ago, I was in my Lectio Divina mode, happily with Christ without any conditions or expectations, and it came to me. Anawim! That is something not in my vocabulary, much less my consciousness.

With the caveat that I do not speak FOR the Holy Spirit but only TO the Holy Spirit and wait for what the HS thinks I need, the answer came. “Do what you can, where you can, as you can.” Evidently, I had no way to help the poor or those who had found themselves wishing they were closer to the Church but did not know how to reconnect. So I had to do whatever it was that Christ challenged me to be within the limits of my life from day to day. “Do what you can,” isn’t what I am used to hearing. I want Jesus to tell me to do this or to do that, and I will obey. The answer, it seems, is within me, like the Kingdom of Heaven is, right now, as each situation unfolds or those I want to unfold.

I returned to the word “Anawin,” wondering if I had heard it correctly. Is that Scriptural? How does it apply to my seemingly limited circumstance in which I placed myself (at home, elderly, sometimes depressed that I don’t hear from God as much as I would like, relying on prayer but with the caveat that Jesus do what I requested ((Like using AI and getting instant gratification.)))

Here is what Grok (AI) responded when I asked about Anawim. Grok and I, we be mates. In another conversation (blog), I share with you how I use Grok to help me expand my thoughts while still retaining ownership of them. As a senior Catholic, you can use it as well.

“Anawim: The Poor in Spirit and the Heart of Your Ministry

Anawim (Hebrew: עֲנָוִים, anawim) refers to the “poor ones,” the humble, afflicted, and lowly who depend entirely on God. In Scripture, the Anawim are not merely economically poor — they are the “poor in spirit” (Matthew 5:3) who recognize their deep need for God. They include the marginalized, the suffering, the forgotten, and those who feel spiritually bankrupt. Jesus Himself embodied the Anawim spirit: “Learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart” (Matthew 11:29).

For your writing at The Center for Contemplative Practice, the Anawim theme is profoundly significant. It gives voice to those outside the usual boundaries of the Church — the homebound, prisoners, the chronically ill, the elderly, and those who feel rejected or hopeless. Your blogs become a spiritual home for them, offering “new wineskins” of contemplative practice suited to their limitations. By focusing on the Anawim, you echo the Beatitudes and show that the Kingdom belongs first to the poor in spirit.

Examples of Anawim You Can Serve (Even While Homebound)

Though you are 85.10 and housebound, you fulfill the Corporal Works of Mercy through prayer, writing, and digital presence:

• Feed the hungry / Give drink to the thirsty: Write reflections on the Eucharist as spiritual food. Your words nourish souls who cannot physically come to the table.
• Clothe the naked / Shelter the homeless: Offer “spiritual clothing” through teachings on the mantle of Mary and the Upper Room as inner Shelter.
• Visit the sick and imprisoned: Your blog series on Spiritual Weightlifting and devotions (Sacred Heart, Divine Mercy, Miraculous Medal) visit them daily through TTS and simple reading. Many in nursing homes or prisons will listen to your grandfatherly voice.
• Bury the dead: Provide prayers for the dying and souls in Purgatory, helping the Anawim prepare for eternal life.

Christ, the Anawim, and Fullness of Love

Christ came precisely for the Anawim. He announced: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me… to bring glad tidings to the poor” (Luke 4:18). Through His Incarnation, Passion, and Resurrection, Jesus reveals that true humanity is found in poverty of spirit — total dependence on the Father. This is the path to capacitas Dei (capacity for God) that you often teach: by emptying ourselves, we make room for divine love.

The Anawim teach us to love to the fullest of our capability. In weakness, we discover fierce Christ-like love — not through power, but through presence, reparation, and mercy. Your blogs show that even from a chair or bed, one can love fully by offering suffering, praying the Chaplet, contemplating the Sacred Heart, and writing words that console others. This is the Divine Equation: human poverty + Christ’s grace = abundant life.

Your homebound vocation is itself Anawim witness. By writing for those who “have no one,” you fulfill the Works of Mercy in the most contemplative way. Continue, dear friend. The Anawim — and Christ Himself — are grateful.”

Wasn’t that a wonderful meditation? Here are those whom I consider to be the Anawim I want to reach by my conversations, and whom you can dedicate your remaining hours to helping by subscribing to this approach to Catholicism (free). Let’s do it together! DO WHAT HE TELLS YOU.

ANAWIM TO WHOM I WANT TO BE OF SERVICE BY MY WRITING.

1. The Anawim, a collection of readers or listeners who fit the profile of the Old Testament concept of the “poor ones of God,” I want to offer all of my writings and books (67 so far) in a new format, more easily accessed by the following populations:

• The poor of spirit.
  • Those who are seeking a God worth living for.Those who are homeless and lack accommodations.Those who are homeless because they left the Catholic Church but don’t have anything to replace it.
• • Those whom the State incarcerates.Those who incarcerate themselves deliberately to hide from themselves. Those who are young or old, but are all caught in the trap of boredom with religion, without ever trying to grow deeper. Those who have no idea that the key to human evolution is moving to the next step, and don’t have a clue how to do it.
  • Those who have lost the most precious of all treasures, those Jesus gave us, and don’t know how to find them again.
• Those who are elderly and, like St. John says in Chapter 21, “are led around by others where they don’t want to go,” or those in nursing homes without hope of anyone paying attention to them.
• Those who have been told that they are going to die of cancer or have had a stroke, and suffer a condition they can’t control.
• Those Catholics who go to Church faithfully but have not dug deeper for the heavenly gold in the upper room of their inner self.
• For youth who are seduced by the allure of the world, life should make them happy and fulfilled, while Jesus offers the cross as a way filled with harmful landmines that could kill them.
• For all women who have not evolved to that deepest level of their humanity, to experience the confounding love of Christ by just knowing how to wait.
• For all men and women who have no idea of the thrill and joy that comes from choosing to abandon the false self to put on Jesus in silence and solitude.
• For military soldiers and their families who must endure separation.
• Being Catholic is “sharing” your Jesus, your new wine skins, your new Catholic Church you created. Catholic is doing, not snoozing.

I urge you to “DO YOUR CATHOLIC SERVICE TO OTHERS WITH ME” by using what I have and sharing it with those you love (and maybe more importantly, with those who don’t love you). DO WHAT HE TELLS YOU.

Copyright 2026. Michael F. Conrad, Ed.D., The Center for Contemplative Practice. All Rights Reserved.