Lovingly Respect Yourself

Yesterday I saw a certain homeless woman who I'll once again call "Sally."  As I've previously mentioned, Sally has repeatedly suffered domestic violence at the hands of partner after partner.  

Last night Sally shared with me that now she looks for warning signs that a man will abuse her.  She is trying to avoid getting into relationships in which men will mistreat her.  

By requiring her next partner to respect her, Sally is choosing to respect herself.  She is realizing and embracing her own dignity.  Sally is choosing to love herself.  

Loving herself, she can then love her neighbor as herself.  To love our neighbor as ourselves*  just as Jesus taught us, we must love ourselves.  

* Matthew 22:39; Mark 12:31; Luke 10:27; Leviticus 19:18; Romans 13:9; Galatians 5:14 

Respect Your Dignity

This afternoon a certain homeless woman stopped by here at the Catholic Worker House.  Again here I'll call her "Kimberly."  
Kimberly excitedly told me that she has been invited to start an outpatient rehabilitation program.  When she shared this good news with me, we happily exchanged high fives.  

She explained that the people running the program told her that if she wanted to enter the program, she should not use illicit substances.  Immediately she announced that today is her third day in a row being sober.  Upon declaring this wonderful news, her eyes welled up with tears.  

I rejoice in my soul that my dear friend is taking healthy steps to proclaim her realization of her own self-worth.  She is putting her self-respect into action by not abusing her own body.  

She is being lifted up from the spiritual and emotional morass in which she had been dwelling.  She is being delivered from her sins.  

God has raised high the lowly.*  He has helped her to recognize and to respect her own dignity.  God has filled the starving with good things.**  He has come to her aid, and in her dire hunger, craving true food, He has nourished her with the insight she has needed to value her own self.  

God has come to our help.***  God raises us up, mindful of His faithful love.****  

* Luke 1:52 
** Luke 1:53 
*** Luke 1:54 
**** Luke 1:54 

Care For Yourself

Yesterday I saw a certain homeless woman who I'll once again call "Kimberly."  Kimberly looked calmer and more composed and sounded more coherent than she had been.  

I noted, "You've seemed like you've been doing better lately.  Today it looks like you're doing even better."  

She explained, "Yeah, I decided not to get high today."  

I reassured her, "Well, it makes a difference."  

Kimberly has realized the ill effects which methamphetamines have on her.  She wants to stop using meth.  

Kimberly is choosing to take care of herself, and so she is loving herself.  When we love and respect ourselves, we begin to live the life God created us to live.  

Ask And Receive

Just yesterday I read for the first time about how Our Blessed Mother Mary appeared to Saint Catherine Laboure.  Our Blessed Mother Mary told Saint Catherine Laboure that there are graces that are available but people don't receive them because they don't ask for them.  

It makes me think that people could mistakenly conclude that God has not called them to a particular vocation, because they do not have a specific grace they need to live out that vocation.  Yet perhaps God is calling them to that certain vocation, but they feel unable to embrace that vocation only because they have not asked for what they need to follow that vocation.  

God gives us what we ask for,* when we ask for what we need to do His will.  God waits for us to ask for the right thing.  God wants us to exercise our free will.  God loves us so much that he respects our freedom of choice.  Truly loving us, God will not force us.  We see evidence of how God does not coerce us in the gentleness and the tenderness and the humility of the heart of Jesus.**    

God is love.***  Love is patient.****  God patiently waits for us to decide whether we will choose to be who He made us to be.  If we embrace who God has always intended us to be, we become our true selves.  If we accept who God created us to be, we welcome the truth of who we are.  Let us ask God for what we need to do His will, and become who God has always meant us to be.  Amen.  

* Matthew 7:7 
** Matthew 11:29 
*** 1 John 4:8,16 
**** 1 Corinthians 13:4 

Give Him Honor

Who do we think we are?  What do we think we know?  What do we think we owe?  To whom do we think we owe it?  

In today's Gospel reading, Jesus speaks to us about what we owe and to whom we owe it.  In those verses we hear 

The Pharisees went off
and plotted how they might entrap Jesus in speech. 
They sent their disciples to him, with the Herodians, saying,
"Teacher, we know that you are a truthful man
and that you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth.
And you are not concerned with anyone's opinion,
for you do not regard a person's status.
Tell us, then, what is your opinion:
Is it lawful to pay the census tax to Caesar or not?" 
Knowing their malice, Jesus said,
"Why are you testing me, you hypocrites? 
Show me the coin that pays the census tax." 
Then they handed him the Roman coin. 
He said to them, "Whose image is this and whose inscription?" 
They replied, "Caesar's."
At that he said to them,
"Then repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar
and to God what belongs to God."*  

When asked whether people had to pay taxes or not, Jesus asked for a coin.  He asked and was told that the emperor was shown on the coin.  Jesus then instructed us that we should give to the government what belongs to the government, and to God what belongs to God.  

In expounding upon Scripture, it has been written that we are to give to earthly rulers what is due to them, as long as it does not controvert what is due to God.**  With similar reasoning, some people conclude that they do not have to pay taxes, claiming that they need not pay taxes to a government which then uses taxpayers' money to fund warmaking.  The logic goes that since war is all too often unjust, citizens are not obligated to pay taxes to support unjust wars.  

However, Jesus did not teach us to pay taxes unless the government is waging an unjust war.  When he offered his reply on this question of whether we must pay taxes, the Roman empire was conquering and subduing many persons.  Jesus could have said that taxes should be paid, but not to the Romans since they were subjecting so many people to their forced imperial expansion.  However, he did not say so.  Despite the warmaking of the Roman empire, Jesus taught people to give to Caesar what was Caesar's.  

Elsewhere in Scripture we hear that we are to pay taxes.  Today in his sermon here at the hermitage, Father Cyprian reminded us that Saint Paul tells us, "Pay to all their dues, taxes to whom taxes are due, toll to whom toll is due, respect to whom respect is due, honor to whom honor is due."***  When taxes are due, we are to pay them.  We are to give the honor and respect to our leaders which is due to them as our earthly leaders.  We are to worship God since He is Our Heavenly Father, and we are to give Him the glory, praise, honor and adoration which is His due.  

Scripture tells us to pay the taxes we owe.  Jesus Himself directs us to give our earthly rulers what is due to them.  If we decide not to pay taxes, we turn away from Scripture.  We all have to decide whether or not to listen to Jesus.  

God tells us what we are called to do.  God has already chosen who we are.  Yet some people try to decide that they are someone other than who God made them to be.  Some people were born men but decide they want to be women.  God had already chosen their gender.  Some decisions have already been made for us.  If we try to ignore who God made us to be, we ignore the truth.  If we try to be people other than who God created us to be, we are living lies.  We all have to decide how we will relate to the truth.  

In deciding how we will relate to the truth, we either accept God or reject Him.  If we embrace who God made us to be, we welcome the truth into our hearts.  The truth is that God made us; He is our Creator.  We owe Him the respect due to Him as our Creator by respecting the choices He made for us when He knit us together in the womb.****  We pay him the respect and honor due to Him when we acknowledge our proper place before Him, that we are nothing without Him, that without Him we can do nothing.*****  To God be all glory, praise and honor, now and forevermore.  Amen.  

* Matthew 22:15-21 
** Jerusalem Bible, Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group, Inc. (New York, 1990), p. 1646, note "d" to Matthew 22:21
*** Romans 13:7 
**** Psalm 139:13 
***** John 15:5 

Love Through Respect

On Friday mornings, in our driveway persons in need line up and get free food.  Thus this morning people here filled their bags with fruits and vegetables and bread and desserts.  

Today after everyone had acquired their food, the leftover food was being brought out of the driveway.  Some was being loaded into the volunteers' cars for them to take home.  Overripe food had been sorted to be added to compost.  

As this leftover food was being carried out of the driveway, I noticed that a woman walking her bicycle on the other side of the street had stopped.  She called out asking if any of us needed any help.  

At this point, a box of brussels sprouts was being brought to a truck.  The box fell to the ground and the brussels sprouts spilled onto the street.  

Suddenly the woman with the bicycle was next to us.  She had grabbed a broom and a standing dustbin and was sweeping the brussels sprouts into the dustbin.  

Soon I was talking with this woman, who I'll call "Melinda."  She quickly offered that she is homeless.  She related that another homeless woman had told her about the Catholic Worker House.  Melinda was asking me about the Catholic Worker House, so I was explaining to her some of the work we do.  

In addition to talking about the Catholic Worker House, Melinda started telling me about herself.  She began to tell me about some of her goals, about how she wants to become a more productive and giving person. She shared that she wants to rise above past experiences she has had.  

During our conversation, Melinda told me that sometimes men immediately make advances to her and expect her to promptly comply.  She explained to me that she rejects such premature propositions made to her.  

I said, "It sounds like you respect yourself."  

She replied, "Yes, that's right.  I respect myself."  

With her bold, confident, self-assured manner, I found Melinda refreshing and relieving.  She put me at ease since I knew I needn't be concerned about her.  I was aware that she takes care of herself.  I was able to relax insofar as I was conscious that she is tending to her own well-being.  

Melinda loves herself.  Loving herself, she is empowered to love her neighbor as herself,* as Jesus taught us to do.  Loving herself, she reassures her neighbor that she is all right, and in giving that reassurance to her neighbor, she is loving for her neighbor and caring for her neighbor.  

When we respect ourselves, we love ourselves, and, consequently, we love our neighbor.  When we respect ourselves, we give the gift of peace of mind to our neighbor and thus we love our neighbor.  

* Matthew 22:39; Mark 12:31; Luke 10:27; Leviticus 19:18; Romans 13:9; Galatians 5:14 

Love Gently Waits

If you love someone, you wait for them.  Feeling love, you do not try to force or coerce another person.  

If your friend does not wish to go with you, with love you do not insist on your friend going with you.  Love does not demand; love does not intimidate; love is not overbearing.  

Love gently waits.  Love generously gives room to another person to come when he or she is ready, or even never at all, if that is what the other person chooses.  Love lets someone else choose for herself.  

Love respects another person's free will.  Love gives someone else comfort and peace from the dignity of being allowed the latitude to make his own choices.  

Love softly submits to the law of freedom.  Love obeys the necessity that people must have the dignity of making their own choices.  Love tenderly tells that others must be free to realize in their own time who they are.  

Since we desire our own freedom, we must let others be free, and not enslave them in our ideas of who we want them to be.  If we wish to be respected, we must respect others.  Knowing that we wish to be loved, we can come to love our neighbor as ourselves, as Jesus taught us to do.*  

* Matthew 22:39; Mark 12:31; Luke 10:27; Leviticus 19:18; Romans 13:9; Galatians 5:14 

Fruits Of Love

If we have faith in God, we will see the goodness of God.  As we trust in God, we come to see that God works wonders, sometimes in others, and at times in us.  

God seeks to change the world by inviting us to trust in Him.  Through the trust we have in God, we can become the change we want to see in the world.  If we are confidently sure that God will transform us and our neighbor, we have already changed the world by allowing ourselves to be altered by welcoming the gift of faith that God has given us.  

If we have faith and if we love our neighbor, we can come to see that God works wonders in such situations.  If we love our neighbor as ourselves,* as Jesus taught us to do, we will be patient with our neighbor.**  Feeling loved, our neighbor will come to love herself.  Our neighbor will then come to make good decisions which affirm his own worth.  

This week I have seen the fruits of such love.  Here at the Catholic Worker House we heard about a particular man who had recently been homeless and then left town.  We heard from his friends who have loved him, about how, since he left town, he has taken steps which show he loves himself.  

Here once again I'll call this recently homeless man "Davey."  While he lived here in Redwood City, Davey was homeless, sleeping in the bushes and in tents and wherever he could find a place to sleep.  Since he left town, he has gotten a job.  We also heard that he has been clean since he left town.  He has stopped using the substances which had been troubling for him.  

Davey's friends have kept showing him love.  In time he has come to love himself, which shows in how he has been making choices reflecting how he loves and respects himself.  

I heard that Davey will be back in town in about a week.  I am looking forward to seeing him and the fruits of the love which his friends have shown to him.  

* Matthew 22:39; Mark 12:31; Luke 10:27; Leviticus 19:18; Romans 13:9; Galatians 5:14 
** 1 Corinthians 13:4 

Returning Transformed Neighbor

If we keep on loving our neighbor, the little seed of love in the heart of our neighbor can bear much fruit.  With patience, kindness and understanding, we can come to witness the transformative power of the love of God.  As Jesus comes to us and abides in us,* the love of God can come to transform our neighbor before our very eyes.  Thus in time, our faith can be strengthened, and we can come to trust in God ever more deeply.  As we trust in God and open our hearts to Him, we consent to Him loving our neighbor through us.  

I have been reminded today of these truths.  Today a particular young man who has been homeless showed up here at the Catholic Worker House.  He asked me to tell my fellow Catholic Worker Susan that he is grateful for all of the help she has given to him over the last several months.  

I've previously mentioned this particular fellow.  Once again I'll call him "Brendon."  

In a prior post I'd written of how Brendon admitted that he needed to stop taking drugs.  In another blog entry, I'd related how Brendon had been trying to enter a drug treatment program.  Today he told me that he has been in a drug rehab program.  I saw the obvious results of how he has been taking care of himself and loving himself: he seemed full of life, vibrant, eager, attentive, considerate, respectful and grateful.  He seemed focused on those around him who were listening to him and offering to help him.  

Brendon explained that in about a week, he will be moving back east.  He quickly added that to reach his destination, he needed a bus ticket which would cost between one hundred and two hundred dollars.  As he was talking about the cost of the bus ticket, someone on the front porch of the Catholic Worker House heard him and offered to help to defray the cost of his trip.  The impoverished young man had appealed for help, and he got it.  

Jesus tells us that whatever we do to the least of those among us, we do to Him.**  Jesus is in the homeless people and the other poor men and women who plead with us for help.  Who am I, that my Lord and my God comes to my doorstep?***  Jesus comes to us in those who are impoverished, who come to our door, then go away, not to be seen for weeks, and then come back.  Jesus goes away, and a short while later, He returns to us.****  Jesus shows me that He is with us always.*****  Jesus shows me that He calls us to take care of each other, especially the poor, for Jesus is in our neighbor, and especially in the impoverished.  

In coming to me in the poor young man who knocks at my door, Jesus nurtures my faith, for He keeps His promise and He comes to me.  Jesus comes to make sure I am practicing the law of love.  Jesus comes up to me to make sure I am loving Him in my neighbor.  

Seeing Jesus come to us, then we can pray confidently to Him.  We can be sure of the hope we have in His promise, for we have seen that He has not left us alone; He has come to us.******  Knowing that we have not been abandoned, seeing the proof of His transformative power that has been demonstrated in our neighbor being healed, we come to trust in God.   

When we truly have faith in God, then we come to see that God is always calling us back home to Him.  If we utterly trust in God, we realize that God is always welcoming us back home to Him with open arms.  Grasping that God is always offering us His warm loving embrace in all that happens to us, we welcome Him into our hearts.  Empowered with the love of God, God transforms us, and we are healed, and we become who God has always intended us to be.  Loving ourselves, loving our neighbor, and loving God, we become the love of God in the world.  Amen.  

* John 15:7, 9 
** Matthew 25:40 
*** Luke 1:43 
**** John 16:16-17, 19 
***** Matthew 28:20 
****** John 14:18 

Plainly Loving Language

When we speak with someone, there is much left unsaid.  And yet we do not want to have regrets.  We want to express what is in our hearts that is longing to be released.  

If we but listen, we can hear the love of God that is knocking at the door of our hearts.  If we have let that love into our hearts,* that love in us is meant to be let out.  God calls us to love our neighbor** through our actions, and to speak plainly the language of love with our neighbor, whether they are rich or poor, whether they are luxuriously living in a mansion, or are huddled and shivering in sleeping bags and tents in the bushes.  
I have been trying to demonstrate to the homeless folks I love here in Redwood City that there is a deeper meaning to interactions they have with people who help them.  Recently I have told certain homeless friends of mine that when they receive food from people who aim to help them, it is not just about food.  Really, I have said to them, I have been trying to tell you that I love you.  

We wish to show you that you are worthy of respect.  You are receiving this love God is giving you through me because God loves you.  

And so when I have spoken so directly to my homeless friends who I so cherish, I feel as if I could say to them, that the time has come when I am no longer communicating with you in figures of speech, much like what Jesus said to His disciples just before His passion and death.***  It seems as if I could tell these dear homeless brothers and sisters of mine that now I am no longer just speaking with you through the metaphors of my actions.  Now I am speaking with you plainly.****  Finally I am talking with you in the plain language of love. 

Throughout much of His public ministry, Jesus spoke in parables and figures of speech.  Then on Maundy Thursday, He sat down with His disciples for the Last Supper, just before He was handed over to be condemned to death.*****  In that meal that night with His disciples, they saw a prefiguring of His sacrifice on the Cross.  While His disciples sat down to a meal of bread and wine, they received much more than food and drink; in the Eucharist, we receive nourishment of love from Jesus.  Having shown us on the night of the Last Supper how we are to celebrate the Eucharist, Jesus was about to die on Cross, and do what He had just said He was about to do.  He was showing them the greatest love one can have for one's friends, as He laid down His life for His friends.******  

When we try to show the greatest love we can have for our neighbor, when we die to ourselves, we live for our neighbor.  When we forget who we are, who society thinks we are supposed to be, when we disregard the message from society that we are to shun our brothers and sisters who are outcasts, then we can die to the disordered desires and hurtful ideas and selfish tendencies we have, so we can embrace our needy neighbor, and thus live for our neighbor.  

Once Jesus had spoken plainly to His disciples, just before He was handed over to be crucified, He told them that He did not have much more to say to them.*******  He had spoken The Truth honestly and openly with them, and thus there was not much else for Him to say.  

In telling these treasured homeless friends of mine that in trying to care for them, I am truly trying to tell them that I deeply love them, I have spoken plainly to them.  I have said what I really have to say to these homeless friends I so love.  And so I don't have much else to say.  

And so in a certain sense, I would be content if this were to be last blog entry I were ever to write.  Since this is the core of the message I feel that God brought me into the world to declare to my brothers and my sisters, I feel I have been embracing the vocation of love to which God has been calling me.    

For were I left to my own devices, I would be hesitant to say both that I am an unprofitable servant, and that I have only done my duty.  If I had not been instructed otherwise, I would lament that I am an unprofitable servant, and that I am not even sure that I can say that I have even done my duty.  However, since Jesus directed us to say in the end, "We are unprofitable servants; we have only done what we were obliged to do,"******** then I do proclaim those words.  Knowing that I have done what God has called me to do, to declare the truth to my homeless brothers and sisters, that they deserve respect and are clothed in dignity, since they are loved by God and by me, I rest secure in the loving promise that God, in His great mercy, will forgive me to the extent I have failed in performing this duty.  

And so, whether it is today, tomorrow, or fifty or more years from now, secure in the knowledge that I am called to lovingly embrace my homeless brothers and sisters, and that God, in His immense mercy will forgive me insofar as I fail in my best efforts to overwhelmingly love them, I joyfully proclaim that I am going home to the Father.*********  When I finally get back home, my dear brothers and sisters, please do not grieve for me, for it will be the most glorious day I have ever seen.  For my tiny, paltry, measly efforts to love will be overwhelmed by the unbelievably warm tender glow of the infinite love of God.  And thanks to His magnificent mercy, I shall bask in the glory of His infinite love for all eternity.  Amen.  

* Romans 5:5 
** Matthew 22:39; Mark 12:31; Luke 10:27; Leviticus 19:18; Romans 13:9; Galatians 5:14 
*** John 16:25 
**** John 16:29 
***** Matthew 26:26-29; Mark 14:22-25; Luke 22:14-20 
****** John 15:13 
******* John 14:30 
******** Luke 17:10 
********* John 16:16-17 

Called To Respect

We are called to respect others the way we would like to be treated.  Otherwise, when we fail to respect others, we are telling them that they are not worthy of respect.  In time, they come to disrespect themselves, as they slip into a downward spiral in which they get used to abusing themselves.  We can think that we have no responsibility for others' actions, but when we fail to build up people, we choose not to lift them up, we keep them down, and we push them even further down.  

Often I think about the people who sift through the garbage and recyclables in the dumpsters in the parking lot outside my window.  They usually sort through it around 5:00 a.m.  I've imagined that they come at that time because they want to get what they can out of it before the garbage truck comes around 5:30 a.m. to empty the dumpsters.  

I've imagined talking with them when they are going through the garbage and the recyclables.  I've envisioned saying something to them like, "I'm not going to try to stop you from going through the garbage.  You can do so.  I'm not disturbed by the sound.  I am deeply saddened that human beings care for each other so little that some people are reduced to rifling through garbage.  I believe you were meant to be treated with more dignity.  We are supposed to treat you with more respect."  
Homeless folks have told me and shown me that they collect recyclables to exchange for money.  Earlier this week, I asked a homeless woman, who I'll call "Kelly" here, what she was going to buy with the money she was going to get from the recyclables she had.  She told me she was going to buy cigarettes.  

In addition to nicotine, homeless folks also fall prey to illicit drugs.  Kelly has confessed to me that she has taken methamphetamines.  Meth is inexpensive, so homeless folks can get it.  

Although meth doesn't cost much money, homeless folks pay a high price for it.  In using it, people become less than they were meant to be.  

When we do not acknowledge the presence of a homeless person, we treat them as less than they actually are.  By acting as if homeless people do not exist, we rip them down just like an illicit drug tears them down.  

In addition to meth tearing people down, people use it in the first place since they are down.  Kelly has identified her low self-esteem as the root of her problems.  She admitted to me that she does things which she thinks will make her feel better, but which don't help.  She has acknowledged too that she tries to numb herself to prevent herself from feeling what she doesn't want to feel.  Kelly does not want to feel the disrespect that has been shown to her.  She would rather turn aside from the pain inflicted on her.  

We cannot justify ignoring and casting aside those who are homeless or otherwise poor.  We cannot in good conscience tell them that they must accept their lot, for in doing so we reject our duty to love them.  

In loving homeless persons and showing them respect, we build them up.  We help them become more than they have been.  By treating homeless persons with dignity, we help them to rise above the suffering they have endured.  If any of us refuse to help our neighbor, whether homeless or not, we are ignoring the lessons of love presented to us.  

If any of us, whether we are homeless or rich, only try to escape from pain, and never embrace suffering, we are refusing to learn from what life presents to us.  Through life's hardships, God seeks to mold us, just as He does by way of life's blessings.  

God asks that we agree to become who He created us to be.  We are called to become who God made us to be.  

We find out who we are as we endure life's challenges.  If we reject what we have to learn in what unfolds in our lives, we refuse to accept what God is trying to give to us.  If we decide not to seize the chance to love our neighbor, we throw away the gift God is giving us.  

Yet God made us to learn and grow through endurance, which is a reflection of love.  To become more than we have been, by obediently submitting ourselves to the will of God, we show who we are.  By loving our neighbor, we demonstrate who we are.  

In the film "Restless Heart," Saint Monica says to her son, Saint Augustine, "Don't forget who you are."  As he continued to ignore the call from God to become who he really was, she admonished him to embrace his true identity, where he would find deep joy and happiness.  

God made us to be happy and joyous.  We find deep joy and happiness when we turn towards God, and submit ourselves to Him, and praise and glorify and adore Him, and love our neighbor.  We do not realize this is why God made us.  We must not forget who God made us to be.  

We are to use what God has given to us to bear much fruit to His glory.  We are to use the gifts God has given to us.  

Kelly told me that at one point she had been in college.  She has told me that she would like to go back to school and get her Bachelor's Degree.  

Kelly realizes that she is meant to be more than she has been.  She knows that she must respect herself.  In loving herself, she can become who God has always meant her to be.  In loving each other, we become who God created us to be.  

God calls us to respect each other.  When we respect others, we invite them to respect themselves too.  

We respect and love ourselves.  We wish to be respected and loved.  Thus we should respect and love others, since we wish to be respected and loved.  Seeing that we too would like to be respected and loved, we come to be able to love our neighbor as ourselves,* just as Jesus taught us.  

* Matthew 22:39; Mark 12:31; Luke 10:27; Leviticus 19:18; Romans 13:9; Galatians 5:14 

Humility Welcomes Learning

When we keep an open mind about others, we remain open to what they have to teach us.  If we are humble, we welcome what we can learn from others.  

Today I was reminded of these truths upon looking back on last weekend.  As I mentioned in the blog entry I wrote yesterday, there was a festival this past weekend here in Redwood City.  Men and women and children dressed in traditional garb were dancing in the town square.  

This morning, my fellow Catholic Worker Susan showed me a photo of our friend, who here I'll call "Bill," who was in a dance performance in the festival.  In the picture, Bill is exquisitely dressed in a certain type of ethnic clothing, elegantly dancing with a woman on the town square, for people to admire.  Bill is also homeless.  Early this morning I saw him sleeping outside.  

When I saw the photo, I remarked something like, "You see, that's a good example of how people can have a certain idea of what homeless people are like, and they're not like that.  People's ideas about homeless people can be so inaccurate."  

Susan added that while Bill has been homeless, he has had a job for two years.  He is nice, kind and polite.  He was a member of a monastic community for years.  

Upon Susan noting some of these points about Bill, our fellow Catholic Worker Larry said that Bill breaks stereotypes.  Bill contradicts what people expect homeless persons to be.  

We've got our own ideas about people.  People have so much more to give us than we expect. If we respect others enough to learn who they are, we can receive much from them.  If we love them enough to get to know them, we will be educated about those individuals we do not know.  

If we have the humility to realize that we do not know people, we will learn about them.  We must be humble to welcome others into our hearts.  We must be humble in order to love our neighbor* as Jesus instructs us.  

If we are humble, we will open our minds and hearts towards others.  If we let ourselves be humbled, we can receive what others can give us.  If we allow ourselves to be humbled, we can receive love.  

* Matthew 22:39; Mark 12:31; Luke 10:27; Leviticus 19:18; Romans 13:9; Galatians 5:14 

Belonging To Others

When we see how alike we are, we love each other.  We love each other when we remember that we belong to each other.  

As we see that we need others to forgive us, we forgive others.  We forgive others because we want to be forgiven.  As Jesus instructed us, if we forgive others their failings, God our Heavenly Father will forgive us.  Yet, as Jesus added, if you do not forgive others, your Heavenly Father will not forgive you.*  We are forgiven to the extent we forgive.  We determine our destinies in how forgiving we are of others, and so our fates and the fates of others are tied up in each others' hearts.  

We forgive each other because we realize we belong to each other.  We forgive one another because we do not want to try to separate ourselves from each other.  We forgive each other because we do not want to live under the illusion that we are apart from each other.  The reality is that we are a part of each other.  

Being part of one another, we see we must love one another.  Seeing we are intertwined with each other, we know we must forgive each other not only to love others, but also to love ourselves.  

Realizing we need to be forgiven too, we are realizing we need to be loved.  Forgiving each other, and thus loving each other, we love ourselves.  

I have seen these truths lived out amongst the homeless people here in Redwood City.  Although they have their disagreements, they forgive one another because they love one another.  

Recently I was in a parking lot with a couple of homeless people I know, who here I'll call "Kimberly" and "Benny."  Kimberly and Benny were arguing.  Although they were not yelling at each other, they clearly were not pleased with each other.  Even though I had already started driving away, I stopped.  I pleaded with them, "One thing."  They both stopped what they were doing and were totally intent on what I was about to say.  I implored them, "Please love one another."  

Kimberly immediately replied, "Anywhere other than Redwood City, it wouldn't be this hard."  

Having made my plea, I resumed driving away.  Often it's after the moment has passed that I think of what I would have said at the time.  

Had I thought of it at the time, I would have said to Kimberly, "Sister, stop making excuses.  You and I have the same bad habit: we need to stop making excuses."  

By coming up with excuses, we seek to absolve ourselves of responsibility.  As the French priest Jean-Pierre de Caussade noted, our duty to God rests in the present moment.  To embrace the present moment, we need to be accountable for our actions in the present moment.  We must admit where we have gone wrong and how we can improve.  I struggle with this call to accept what I have done and how I can better behave.  Typically I start to explain.  I begin supplying the context for my actions.  Often people need not know what else was going on when I did what I did. Rather, we can be silent and simply focus on what we are called to do in that moment, namely, examine our own actions and how we can conduct ourselves better next time.  

To help me better prepare for another opportunity to take responsibility for my own actions, I am encouraged by my sister Kimberly.  She reminds me that I am not the only one challenged by the need to acknowledge the shortcomings in our own behavior.  

I see this and other similarities between Kimberly and myself, since I know we are more alike than many people think.  I look past the differences between her and me, so she can help me to grow.  Someone once told me, "Kimberly does meth."  Were I to dismiss Kimberly because supposedly she is addicted to methamphetamines, I would lose the insights I gain about myself through her.  Welcoming her into my heart, I allow her to teach me about myself.  Seeing the commonalities between her and me, I realize that she and I are alike in important ways.  
The Dutch priest Henri Nouwen noted this truth, that we share more similarities than we initially think, during his time living with mentally disabled persons at one of the homes in the L'Arche movement founded by Jean Vanier.  Nouwen realized that living with mentally disabled persons brought him closer to his own vulnerabilities.  He explained that 

While at first it seemed quite obvious who was handicapped and who was not, living together day in and out made the boundaries less clear. . . . And when I had the courage to look deeper, to face my emotional neediness, my inability to pray, my impatience and restlessness, my many anxieties and fears, the word 'handicap' started to have a whole new meaning.  The fact that my handicaps were less visible . . . didn't make them less real.  

At first it may seem very clear who is the one with the problems.  We can easily conclude, "That drug addict is not like me."  We can quickly misapprehend ourselves and others, and mistakenly declare, "That person is messed up; I am fine."  Sooner or later we realize we share some of the same frailties that societally despised persons exhibit.  I have been told that Kimberly suffers from depression, and that she takes meth to cope with the depression she feels.  I suffer from depression if my blood sugar level drops too low, and so I cope with depression by consuming sugar.  Kimberly is addicted to meth, and I am addicted to sugar.  I deliberately use that word: if I do not get enough sugar, my mood not only plummets, but my perceptions become severely distorted.  Since the only chemical recourse I have to alleviate my depression is sugar, I am literally addicted to sugar.  While Kimberly has chosen a less healthy, less socially acceptable, and more disruptive way to cope with her depression, nevertheless the fact remains that she and I suffer from the same problem, that of depression.  

When we glance at someone, we may dismiss that person.  If we only get a glimpse of someone, we may think we have nothing in common with that person.  At first it may seem quite obvious who is disabled and who is not.  Initially it might seem apparent who is the one with problems and who is the one without problems.  Once we get to know people, and once we see how others are like us, it might become less clear who is who.  

Kimberly lives in a tent pitched behind some bushes.  I live in a Catholic Worker House.  Kimberly suffers from depression, and so do I.  Just because I cope with my mental disability in a more socially acceptable way, in a less unhealthy manner, and less disruptively than Kimberly deals with hers doesn't mean she and I don't share a mental disability.  Just because my mental disability is less evident than Kimberly's doesn't negate the fact that she and I suffer from the same condition.  

Kimberly and I share a common hardship.  Having seen that we both have the same deficiency, we are empowered to love one another.  In the past, it could have seemed only like a curse; now through the light of love, it is a blessing since it enables us to understand each other better and thus to love one another.  When we see why our neighbor acts the way she acts, we come to have compassion on her.  Realizing that we share much which is important, we come not only to respect our neighbor, but truly to love our neighbor.  We see that in loving our neighbor, we are loving ourselves.  We see that God calls us to love our neighbor as ourselves** since we belong to each other.  We see that to have peace, we must remember that we belong to each other, as Saint Teresa of Calcutta implicitly urged.  

It seems that those who are homeless here in Redwood City have realized these truths.  Weeks after Kimberly and Benny exchanged sharp words in that parking lot, I crossed paths with Benny.  As we were talking, I mentioned Kimberly.  He asked me, if I were to see her, to tell her that he had her bicycle.  I told him I would convey that message to her if I saw her.  

Then my tear ducts opened.  I added, "That's why I love you all so much, all of you who are homeless here in Redwood City.  Even if you're angry with each other, you still help each other."  
Benny, who already had been speaking in a low tone of voice, lowered his voice even further.  He replied softly, "Yeah... we look out for each other."  

We look past our differences because we know are similar.  We forgive when we realize how similar we are.  When we see our faults in others, we are led to forgive them, for both their sakes as well as ours.  We forgive because our hearts are tied up with each other.  

We forgive because we love.  We love because we belong to each other.  We love because we belong to God.  We are a part of each other because God made us to love Him and one another.  In forgiving, and thus in loving, we embrace not only each other, but also the truth that we belong to each other and to God, and thus become who God has always intended us to be.  

* Matthew 6:14-15; Mark 11:25-26 
** Matthew 22:39; Mark 12:31; Luke 10:27; Leviticus 19:18; Romans 13:9; Galatians 5:14 

Divesting From Oppression

Yesterday someone I know closed his bank account with Wells Fargo.  He told me that he was taking all of his money out of Wells Fargo because that bank was one of the funders of the Dakota Access Pipeline, often abbreviated as DAPL.  DAPL threatens Native Americans' water supply.  Further, tribal leaders contend that they were not properly consulted regarding the construction of this oil pipeline and about how they would be affected by it; hence, tribal leaders say, this pipeline violates federal law as well as treaties between Native Americans and the U.S. government.  

This man who stopped doing business with Wells Fargo explained to me that he has long felt grieved over how the U.S. government slaughtered Native Americans for decades.  He has felt pained that this native people were made refugees on the land where they had been living for countless generations.  

This man related how, for decades he maintained that he never would have participated in the exploitation and degradation of Native Americans had he lived in the 1600s, 1700s or 1800s.  He described how he would have respected their human rights.  
Then this particular person painted the picture of how he had known for months that DAPL endangered Native Americans' water supply.  He shared too how he knew that tribal leaders had felt that they had not been properly consulted about the construction of the oil pipeline.  Although he protested against DAPL, for months he failed to withdraw his funds from the bank funding this oil pipeline.  

Then he remembered the words of Jesus, when Jesus berated the scribes and the Pharisees, telling them 

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites.  
You are like whitewashed tombs, 
which appear beautiful on the outside, 
but inside are full of dead men’s bones 
and every kind of filth.  
Even so, on the outside you appear righteous, 
but inside you are filled with hypocrisy and evildoing.  
Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites.  
You build the tombs of the prophets 
and adorn the memorials of the righteous, 
and you say, 'If we had lived in the days of our ancestors, 
we would not have joined them 
in shedding the prophets' blood.'  
Thus you bear witness against yourselves 
that you are the children of those who murdered the prophets; 
now fill up what your ancestors measured out!"*  

This person who yesterday closed his bank account with a bank funding the pipeline, felt rightly accused by Jesus' words.  He realized that he was one of the hypocrites who Jesus had described.  He had insisted that he would not have oppressed Native Americans centuries ago.  However, he had continued to do business with a bank that was funding a pipeline that was being installed without proper consultation with Native American tribes: he had stood by while his money supported an institution which had supported disrespect of Native Americans.  He had supported repression of the people he had claimed he supported.  

During his languishing and dragging his feet, as he continued to do business with the bank funding the pipeline, during Lent he considered Scripture passages on fasting.  He felt led to withdraw his money out of Wells Fargo given the words of the prophet Isaiah, who recorded how God told him 

Is this not . . . the fast that I choose: 
releasing those bound unjustly,  
untying the thongs of the yoke; 
Setting free the oppressed, 
breaking off every yoke?  
Is it not sharing your bread with the hungry, 
bringing the afflicted and the homeless into your house; 
Clothing the naked when you see them, 
and not turning your back on your own flesh?**  

He felt that the time had long since arrived for him to withdraw his money from Wells Fargo.  He felt driven to stop participating in the oppression of Native Americans.  

He felt that the time had come a long time ago to start following the Word of God.  I must say I agree with him.  You see, this man I have been describing is me.  

* Matthew 23:27-32
** Isaiah 58:6-7 

Gift Of Life

None of us would be here if God hadn't created us.  Our lives are gifts from God.  Owing all of our being to God, we are thus called to value and love our lives, and the life of every other person.  

If we realize that we have everything we have because they are all gifts from God, we treasure all that God gives us.  If we truly cherish what God gives, then we value all life, for all life is a gift from God.  

If we truly view all life as precious, then we seek to protect life which will come into being.  When we honestly consider all life valuable, then we seek to protect a fertilized egg which is called to be born as a human being.  

For a while now I have thought about how, once a woman is pregnant, if she takes no steps to intervene in what has already started, then she will give birth to a child.  A process has begun which will result in a human being in the world.  

And so, insofar as I hold dear and respect the sanctity of all human lives, whether they have already been born or will soon be born, for some time I have been wanting to protest against abortion.  Thus when I saw pro-life protesters outside an abortion clinic as I was driving home from Mass today, I pulled over and joined them.  

I walked up to some of the protesters and greeted them.  I picked up one of the spare signs they had resting in a box.  I held the sign as I alternately stood and sat on the sidewalk.  

We were gathered on a busy street.  In each direction three lanes of traffic were flowing.  The speed limit there is 35 miles per hour.  

It's a busier street than the one where I go with other Catholic Workers to protest at least once a month outside the facilities of a manufacturer of armaments.  Thus I suppose it's understandable that today in this pro-life protest, I witnessed more feedback, both positive and negative, than all the reactions I've seen in the dozen or so times I've protested outside the arms manufacturer's location.  

I am not the only Catholic Worker who protests both war-making and abortion.  I see a common thread in protesting both war and abortion, namely the sanctity of life.  I protest nuclear weapons because I value life so much that I do not want human beings to be vaporized by nuclear warheads.  I protest abortion because I value life so much that I do not want fetuses to be robbed of the life they will experience as human beings outside of the womb, which they are already on the path to experiencing.  

In short, I value life.  I oppose abortion.  I aim to stop the arms trade.  I am not in support of people executing anyone through the death penalty.  I do not favor physicians helping patients to commit suicide.  I respect and honor all life; I oppose all attempts to prevent and extinguish life.  

I want to encourage others to value life.  I am glad I was born; I am grateful to God for the life He has given me.  

Life comes into being when a man and a woman choose to share in the reproductive act and thus participate in the miracle of life.  If this process has started, it should be allowed to run its natural course.  What God has allowed to come together, let no person put asunder.  

God holds each life in the palm of His hand.  Let us trust in God to let each life unfold according to His divine plan.  

Let us value the life we have, in our bodies, and in the bodies of others.  Let us appreciate the gifts God has given us and others.  Let us value the lives others can live; let us give them the chances we have had.  Let us value others' lives as we value our own lives.  Let us love others as we love ourselves,* as Jesus has instructed us to do.    

* Matthew 22:39; Mark 12:31; Luke 10:27; Leviticus 19:18; Romans 13:9; Galatians 5:14