October 2

CHRIST the LOVER of WHOEVER: “Whosoever believes in Him should not perish” (Jn 3:15): Mary McLeod, 15th of 17 children, was the daughter of ex-slaves so poor the children pulled the plows. When a mission school opened nearby, Sam McLeod asked God to help him select one child to go, all he could afford. Mary was chosen. Excelling in her studies, she won a scholarship to Moody Bible Institute. Marrying Albertus Bethune, they moved to Florida and began work with the poor children of railroad workers. With $5 down and five a month, she bought an abandoned garbage dump known as “Hell Hole.” Within two years, despite opposition, her school had 250 students where the children were “trained in head, hand, and heart: their heads to think, their hands to work, and their hearts to have faith.” In her early training, she said the first great secret she learned was that “whosoever” meant that, to God, a black girl had as much opportunity as anyone. “Whosoever will may come!”

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