This morning I looked out my window here at the Catholic Worker House and saw Jacqueline walking down the sidewalk. She's a homeless woman who came here to the Catholic Worker House a few weeks ago.
That night nearly a month ago, the doorbell rang. When a Catholic Worker opened the door, there stood Jacqueline. She explained that she was by herself. And then, she added, as she burst into tears and started sobbing, that she didn't know where she was going to stay for the night.
Although the Catholic Worker answering the door felt like she couldn't do anything to help, she figured she could at least try to calm Jacqueline. She suggested to Jacqueline that she sit down on our front porch and take some time to rest. She told Jacqueline that when another Catholic Worker got home in a little while, we could put our heads together to figure out how we could help her.
Jacqueline sat down on the porch and began to eat something someone had given to her. Later that evening, I went out to the porch to check on Jacqueline, but she was gone.
A couple of days ago, when I was out and about here in Redwood City, I saw a woman walking through a parking lot. Wanting to be friendly, I greeted her.
She came over to me and her face lit up. She revealed to me that she was the one who had been so distraught that night on the porch. Somehow I hadn't recognized her. Jacqueline expressed much appreciation and gratitude, saying that she had felt supported during her time in need by that Catholic Worker who had answered the door that night. She updated me on her life, relating that since then, she has started living in a homeless shelter here in Redwood City. She was beaming as she happily told me about how she is doing.
Now Jacqueline is finding shelter and security. That night a few weeks ago, it seemed she was inconsolable, yet in the midst of her trial, she was finding comfort and care: it had seemed that there was little or nothing that could be done to help, yet that Catholic Worker had been soothing her more than initially was apparent.
There in the little scraps of time which that Catholic Worker had had with her, in the present moment with her, were tiny chances to perform little actions of love for her. We can brush off opportunities to give little gifts of love to others, since in the duty of the present moment God might be calling us to such minuscule acts of love that we conclude such opportunities are too insignificant to bear substantial fruit.
Yet in every little chance we get to love our neighbor as ourselves* as Jesus taught us, we are given a chance to plant a little mustard seed for the sake of the Kingdom of God. If we seize every small chance we have to love our neighbor, if we plant every such tiny little seed of love, much fruit can result for the Kingdom of God.
Jesus told us if we have faith the size of a mustard seed, we could move mountains.** If we have faith the size of a mustard seed, we will have confidence in God's ability to bear much fruit through our little actions of love in each moment, in every tiny scrap of time. If we have faith, we can value little fragments of time which "The Cloud of Unknowing" describes, and we can be more attentive to "The Sacrament of the Present Moment" as Jean-Pierre de Caussade urges, and can be well-positioned to perform little acts of love, as Saint Therese of Lisieux related.
Little acts of love are like little grains of wheat: as long as they remain unused and unplanted, they have little value. Just as little grains of wheat yield a harvest once they are planted, so it is that little loving actions only yield much spiritual fruit once they are actually carried out.
Jesus told us that unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains a single grain; yet if it dies, it yields a rich harvest.*** If we but die to the inaccurate assumptions we have about what God calls us to do in the present moment, and instead embrace the person standing in front of us, the microscopic seeds of our miniature acts can bear much fruit in the heart of our neighbor. Having faith in this approach to life, we can let God move mountains through us, when it seems we are only picking up a grain of sand. With faith, we become more comfortable with dying to our own ideas about what we are to do, and are freed up to love our neighbor in his time of need.
When we love our neighbor in his time of need, his fear about surviving dies. When we love our neighbor, we let God love our neighbor through us, and our neighbor is reassured that he is loved by God and by us, and is given the strength from God to carry onward. When our neighbor lets the fear in her die, she can live to grow into the person God has always intended her to be; she can see who she is and what she is to do.
Dying to his fear, our neighbor rises from the death that fear had caused. Then when we see our neighbor risen from the dead, we do not recognize our neighbor.**** He has grown into the new person God has always intended him to be. He is living out the new life God has meant for him to live. We foster and nourish this new life when we die to our misconceptions of what we believe we are being called to do in the current moment.
By embracing the duty of the present moment, to love our neighbor in every little instant of time, we realize that every small act of love for another can bear much fruit in the heart of that person. By letting God love others through us, others have the love they need to become who God has always intended them to be.
* Matthew 22:39; Mark 12:31; Luke 10:27; Leviticus 19:18; Romans 13:9; Galatians 5:14
** Matthew 17:20; Matthew 21:21; Mark 11:23
*** John 12:24
**** Luke 24:16; John 21:4
That night nearly a month ago, the doorbell rang. When a Catholic Worker opened the door, there stood Jacqueline. She explained that she was by herself. And then, she added, as she burst into tears and started sobbing, that she didn't know where she was going to stay for the night.
Although the Catholic Worker answering the door felt like she couldn't do anything to help, she figured she could at least try to calm Jacqueline. She suggested to Jacqueline that she sit down on our front porch and take some time to rest. She told Jacqueline that when another Catholic Worker got home in a little while, we could put our heads together to figure out how we could help her.
Jacqueline sat down on the porch and began to eat something someone had given to her. Later that evening, I went out to the porch to check on Jacqueline, but she was gone.
A couple of days ago, when I was out and about here in Redwood City, I saw a woman walking through a parking lot. Wanting to be friendly, I greeted her.
She came over to me and her face lit up. She revealed to me that she was the one who had been so distraught that night on the porch. Somehow I hadn't recognized her. Jacqueline expressed much appreciation and gratitude, saying that she had felt supported during her time in need by that Catholic Worker who had answered the door that night. She updated me on her life, relating that since then, she has started living in a homeless shelter here in Redwood City. She was beaming as she happily told me about how she is doing.
Now Jacqueline is finding shelter and security. That night a few weeks ago, it seemed she was inconsolable, yet in the midst of her trial, she was finding comfort and care: it had seemed that there was little or nothing that could be done to help, yet that Catholic Worker had been soothing her more than initially was apparent.
There in the little scraps of time which that Catholic Worker had had with her, in the present moment with her, were tiny chances to perform little actions of love for her. We can brush off opportunities to give little gifts of love to others, since in the duty of the present moment God might be calling us to such minuscule acts of love that we conclude such opportunities are too insignificant to bear substantial fruit.
Yet in every little chance we get to love our neighbor as ourselves* as Jesus taught us, we are given a chance to plant a little mustard seed for the sake of the Kingdom of God. If we seize every small chance we have to love our neighbor, if we plant every such tiny little seed of love, much fruit can result for the Kingdom of God.
Jesus told us if we have faith the size of a mustard seed, we could move mountains.** If we have faith the size of a mustard seed, we will have confidence in God's ability to bear much fruit through our little actions of love in each moment, in every tiny scrap of time. If we have faith, we can value little fragments of time which "The Cloud of Unknowing" describes, and we can be more attentive to "The Sacrament of the Present Moment" as Jean-Pierre de Caussade urges, and can be well-positioned to perform little acts of love, as Saint Therese of Lisieux related.
Little acts of love are like little grains of wheat: as long as they remain unused and unplanted, they have little value. Just as little grains of wheat yield a harvest once they are planted, so it is that little loving actions only yield much spiritual fruit once they are actually carried out.
Jesus told us that unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains a single grain; yet if it dies, it yields a rich harvest.*** If we but die to the inaccurate assumptions we have about what God calls us to do in the present moment, and instead embrace the person standing in front of us, the microscopic seeds of our miniature acts can bear much fruit in the heart of our neighbor. Having faith in this approach to life, we can let God move mountains through us, when it seems we are only picking up a grain of sand. With faith, we become more comfortable with dying to our own ideas about what we are to do, and are freed up to love our neighbor in his time of need.
When we love our neighbor in his time of need, his fear about surviving dies. When we love our neighbor, we let God love our neighbor through us, and our neighbor is reassured that he is loved by God and by us, and is given the strength from God to carry onward. When our neighbor lets the fear in her die, she can live to grow into the person God has always intended her to be; she can see who she is and what she is to do.
Dying to his fear, our neighbor rises from the death that fear had caused. Then when we see our neighbor risen from the dead, we do not recognize our neighbor.**** He has grown into the new person God has always intended him to be. He is living out the new life God has meant for him to live. We foster and nourish this new life when we die to our misconceptions of what we believe we are being called to do in the current moment.
By embracing the duty of the present moment, to love our neighbor in every little instant of time, we realize that every small act of love for another can bear much fruit in the heart of that person. By letting God love others through us, others have the love they need to become who God has always intended them to be.
* Matthew 22:39; Mark 12:31; Luke 10:27; Leviticus 19:18; Romans 13:9; Galatians 5:14
** Matthew 17:20; Matthew 21:21; Mark 11:23
*** John 12:24
**** Luke 24:16; John 21:4
No comments:
Post a Comment