Become Like Children

Recently here on the front porch of the Catholic Worker House once again I spoke with a certain homeless woman.  I've talked with her countless times.  Here I'll call her "Marianne."  

Marianne is one of the happiest people I have ever met.  She smiles a lot.  Marianne is very cheerful.  It's not unusual to see her break into song and dance.  

Marianne is very thin.  You could certainly say that she is lean.  

If she suffers from hunger, she doesn't show it.  She is happy like a little child.  She is playful and seems joyful.  

In addition to being happy, she is also respectful.  Recently she politely asked a Catholic Worker here for food.   She meekly requested the food.  She was happy to be given some food.  

Pleased to be receiving whatever she was given, she was grateful for what she was given.  She was thankful for what she got since she relies on the love of others.  

Depending on the love of others, we depend on the love of God.  We rely on God to love us through our neighbor.  

A child of God relies on what God gives her, like a child looking to his or her parents to supply all his or her needs.  In completely depending on God, one becomes great in His sight.  Jesus tells us so when we hear that 

The disciples approached Jesus and said, 
"Who is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven?"  
He called a child over, placed it in their midst, 
and said, "Amen, I say to you, 
unless you turn and become like children, 
you will not enter the Kingdom of Heaven.  
Whoever humbles himself like this child 
is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven."*  

When we humble ourselves, we become great.  We find greatness in simplicity.  We find greatness in having nothing.  When we have nothing, we must turn to God to supply our needs.  

Who is modeling this exemplary behavior for me?  I see this total trust in God in the discarded, forgotten, spurned homeless woman on my front stoop.  We find our exemplar of utter trust in God through Jesus, who completely trusted in His Heavenly Father.  And Jesus is in those who are least among us,** those among us who fully depend on God to meet all their needs.  

Jesus, in the homeless woman who shows up at my front door, demonstrates to me how to follow His teachings.  Who am I, that my Lord and my God should come unto me?  
  
Jesus shows up in our lives.  He stands right in front of us.  He comes to continue instructing us about the Word of God, how to love God by totally relying on God.  By being present to us in our neighbor, he helps us to love each other.  

Jesus is always with us.***  Jesus is greeting us as we meet Him in the impoverished individual in front of us.  Jesus is with us, teaching us through our neighbor, gently guiding us on our spiritual journeys.  In the poor person before us, Jesus is asking us to open our hearts to Him.  

Jesus is bidding us to open our hearts to Him.  He is calling us to listen to Him.  Jesus is telling us to rely on Him.  We are to let go of our delusions that we can do anything good without God.  

Jesus is calling us to deconstruct our misconceptions of ourselves.  We are to see that we are nothing without God.  We are called to realize that we must depend totally on God if we wish to become great.  We can insist on being prideful, but then we would forfeit greatness in the Kingdom of Heaven.  

Jesus invites us to become more than we have been.  Paradoxically, to become more than we have been, we must become less than we have been.  To become great, we must become little.  So that we may become great in the Kingdom of Heaven, Jesus is beckoning us to become like little children.  

* Matthew 18:1-4 
** Matthew 25:40 
*** Matthew 28:20 

Humility Brings Strength

Yesterday I crossed paths with a particular homeless woman who I mentioned in a previous blog post.  Again I'll call her "Catherine."  

When I spoke with Catherine yesterday, she told me that months ago she had had cancer.  One day she was being seen by a doctor, who was discussing with her how she had cancer.  The next time she saw a doctor, she was informed that she had been cured of the cancer.  No trace of the cancer remained.  

Catherine attributes her miraculous healing to God.  There was no other explanation.  The doctors could not supply a medical reason for her inexplicable recovery.  Accordingly, Catherine testifies that God cured her.  

After Catherine had related to me how she had been miraculously cured, I recalled a man I knew who did not make a similar proclamation after narrowly missing death at a relatively young age.  He worked as a professional and earned a salary well into the six figure range.  At one point, he entered the hospital for an operation.  Due to complications during the surgery, he nearly died when he was still in the hospital.  As I later listened to him speak about how he had almost passed away, I heard him say nothing about God saving him from death.  

I heard about the saving power of God from a homeless woman who someone else once described to me as a drug addict.  From a high-earning professional, I heard nothing about how God delivers us from near destruction.  

Why do we hear about the remarkable saving power of God from someone living in the bushes, who society neglects and casts aside?  Jesus spoke of revelation to the unassuming when his disciples first heard His message.  At one point, followers of Jesus returned from a mission to proclaim His message, and they rejoiced that devils submitted to them when they invoked His name.  He told them not to rejoice that the spirits were submitting to them, but rather that their names were written in Heaven.  He then continued, "filled with joy by the Holy Spirit," and said, "I bless you, Father, Lord of Heaven and earth, for hiding these things from the learned and the clever and revealing them to little children.  Yes, Father, for that is what it has pleased you to do."*  

Why would it please God to reveal his glory to those whom society rejects and counts as worthless?  As Saint Paul explains, "God chose the foolish of the world to shame the wise, and God chose the weak of the world to shame the strong, and God chose the lowly and despised of the world, those who count for nothing, to reduce to nothing those who are something, so that no human being might boast before God."**  

To see the glory of God, we need not go and live in the bushes.  However, God calls us all to have humility, however we are serving Him.  If we have no humility, God will correct us.  Those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.***  How will the humble be exalted?  God gives grace to the humble.****  God gives the humble the grace and strength they need to endure what they are undergoing.  God also responds to the prayers of those who are humble.  A contrite, humbled heart, o God, You will not scorn.*****  

When someone who is afflicted is humble, he truly cries out to God.  A humble person sincerely pleads with God to respond to her prayer.  

A humble person admits that only God can help her.  Someone who is humble knows that only God can cure her.  

And so a humble person prays earnestly to God, offering prayers acceptable to God, since they are rooted in the knowledge that only God can save her.  In proper relation to God, admitting that one is nothing without God, one petitions God with due deference.  

Properly acknowledging and glorifying and adoring and praising God, such a person is heard and answered by God.  Having emptied himself of all delusions that he can rely on himself, such a truly humble person is able to be filled with the saving power of God.  Showing genuine humility, such a person is exalted by God, is given the grace to withstand intense trials, is miraculously cured, confounding those who are wise.  

Those who cannot understand such miracles refuse to humble themselves.  Those who grasp the meaning of such miracles realize that God is the only source of such wonders.  In this way no one can brag to God.  To God be all glory, praise and honor, now and forever.  Amen.  

* Luke 10:17, 20, 21 
** 1 Corinthians 1:27-29 
*** Matthew 23:12; Luke 14:11; Luke 18:14 
**** 1 Peter 5:5 
***** Psalm 51:19 

Light In Darkness

This morning I walked out of the house and saw a particular young homeless man straightening up our front porch.  He's the same young man I mentioned in a post a couple of weeks ago.  Here I'll again call him "Brendon."  

As Brendon was organizing all of the free property that no one had yet claimed from the front porch, I greeted him, "Good morning, Brendon.  How are you?"  

He replied frankly, "I'm high."  After pausing briefly, he continued, "I've been trying to stop.   I only got high twice yesterday.  Three weeks ago I was using eighteen times a day."  

I said, "You're making progress.  This is great news."  I was so glad to have heard that he was taking steps toward taking care of himself, so I added, "Thanks for telling me."  

Once we had finished speaking with each other, I crossed the street to go over to the van I use.  As he left the Catholic Worker House, Brendon rode his bicycle over to me and we spoke a bit more.  As we talked, he admitted, "I've got to stop taking drugs.  It's going to kill me."  

Brendon admitted the consequences of his own actions.  He saw what he had been doing to himself through his own choices.  He saw where he was heading if he continued making similar decisions.  

He realizes he's got to change his behavior.  He knows it will take time to change.  He is changing his habits a little more with each passing day.  

On the road to recovery, we take little steps.  Through the little acts of love we perform for others and for ourselves, we follow "The Little Way" of Saint Therese of Lisieux, in the way she described as her way of getting to Heaven.  We can choose to take care of ourselves and others with every little choice we make.  

It truly made my day today when I heard Brendon express how he is trying to care for himself.  I felt so encouraged in hearing about his gradual efforts to reform his life, little by little.  In the last few days, I have felt as if a dark cloud has been pressing upon my soul.  Whether I have felt this encroaching darkness due to unfortunate events taking place in the world, or because my particular soul is threatened by spiritual warfare, I do not know; I only know I have felt more keenly over the last few days a certain darkness.  

With the choices Brendon has been making, he seems like a light shining in the darkness.  A light has been shining in the darkness, and the darkness has not put it out.*  The light has been shining, and the darkness has been receding.  He is progressing toward recovery.  As he emerges out of darkness, he is letting light shine out to others.  

As he takes responsibility for himself, he is taking responsibility for making the world a better place.  By caring for himself, he is making the world a better place.  In improving his health, and thus improving the world, he doesn't realize it, but he is encouraging me.  He is giving me more hope.  He is making me feel better about the state of affairs in the world, because I see valuable, concrete, healthy change occurring right in front of me.  I see him loving himself, and I see the love I want to see others displaying in the world.  

When we love ourselves, we love others.  We are reassuring others that we care about ourselves.  We are setting their minds at ease, and thus we are caring for them as we care for ourselves.  

In caring for himself by striving to overcome his addiction, this young homeless drug addict was consoling me, although he did not realize it.  This young man, living on the fringes, is considered a derelict by society.  Yet he was ministering to me.  

By our society's standards, he would be seen as someone to ignore and push aside.  Jesus has told us that whatever we do to the least of those among us, we do to Him.**  And in what the least among us say to us, we find Jesus ministering unto us.  We find the love we need from Jesus coming to us from those who are least among us.  

If we look to those who are least among us, we will find the love we need.  If we go to those who are least among us, we find Jesus.  In the midst of the darkness, we find the light we seek.  

* John 1:5 
** Matthew 25:40 

Trusting In Love

Most mornings at the kitchen table here at the Catholic Worker House we sit, read the newspaper and begin our day with cups of coffee.  Often we all read in silence in this early stage of the day.  Yet sometimes at this time of the day a story will be told.  

Last week at the table I heard a true story which has impressed itself onto my memory.  Someone's grandfather lived in the American Southwest.  He traveled in that region selling various goods.  

Once he and a companion were on a trip together on which they were planning on making some sales.  One night of their journey, they didn't know where they were going to stay.  They crossed paths with a family who invited them to stay with them.  The grandfather and his friend took the family up on their kind offer.  

Early in the morning, the grandfather's friend woke up.  He said he wanted to start on the continuation of their voyage.  He wanted to set out early, since he felt that by leaving early, they would be in a better position to make more sales.  He was worried that if they waited to leave, others would capture the business the two of them could get for themselves.  

The grandfather said he was going to stay and thank the family for their kind hospitality.  So the friend left alone.  The grandfather stayed a substantial amount of time that morning until the family rose from their slumber.  The grandfather thanked them for being so warm and welcoming, then he continued on his way.  Further down his route, by the side of the road, the grandfather soon found his friend, who had been ambushed by bandits.  They had killed him.  

The grandfather remained with the family so he could thank them.  If he had not stayed, he too might have been murdered.  He was saved by his desire to express his gratitude.  We are saved when we decide to love.  

When we thank someone, we love them, since we are showing our appreciation of what they have done for us.  When we thank someone, we are following Jesus' commandment to love our neighbor.*    

Love was shown to the grandfather.  He wanted to show love in return by thanking his hosts.  Not only did he have that desire, but he expressed that sentiment of gratitude by staying to thank them, despite what appeared to be the apparent cost of sales which would be seemingly lost to him.  

He had set out on his journey trusting, traveling without knowing where he was going to rest his head.  As it turned out, he was able to rest easy, receiving the hospitality which was graciously given to him.  

Having trusted, and having been rewarded for his trust, he valued what he had received.  Having realized the worth of what he had been given, in the generous spirit in which it had been given, he wanted to thank those who had hosted him.  

He had also trusted by staying behind to thank the family.  He trusted that all would work out financially with the sales he might not make since he was waiting to set out on the road.  

Again, in trusting, he was rewarded.  By trusting that he was to wait so he could thank his hosts, and that all would be well, he was rewarded with his own life.  

In life we can be convinced that we have great plans through which we will be providing for ourselves all we need.  Only God can supply for us all we require.  Under our own plan, when we think we are going to be secure, in fact we may be heading into ruin.  

When we encounter delays, we may think that we are being held up from accomplishing what we need to get done.  When our lives fail to unfold the way that we had expected, perhaps God is saving us from calamity which would have befallen us had we continued on the path we had planned to take.  

So often we can think that we are losing, when in fact we are being saved.  When we think we are losing, we are immeasurably gaining.  

We think we know what is valuable, but God knows what we need.  God provides it for us, and we will get it from Him, if we will only listen to what He is trying to tell us, and if we will only be where He wants us to be.  

If we truly have faith, we will not worry about what we are losing.  With true faith, we open our hearts to welcome whatever God is trying to give to us.  Thus we become unconcerned about whether we lose what we have.  

If we have love in our hearts, we will be grateful for how God has given so bounteously to us.  If we love, we will be grateful for what God gives to us through our neighbor.

If we love our neighbor, we will thank our neighbor.  If we love God, we will trust God.  

If we are grateful and trust, we are on the right path.  If we love our neighbor and love God, we will be saved.  

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

Faith Works Wonders

"Are you doing everything you can?"  Someone asked me that question months ago and it has been echoing in my mind since then.  In October last year, I attended the International Gathering of Catholic Workers, which took place in Nevada.  During the gathering, we participated in workshops on different topics related to our ministries as Catholic Workers.  Over the course of the few days we were together, we also walked in a couple of protests.  

In one of the protests, we went to Creech Air Force Base to protest the use of drones.  When drones are used to attack, those who deploy the drones are able to be further removed from the people who are killed and from the property which is damaged.  I took part in that protest because I want people to be conscious, aware, cognizant of what actions they are choosing to take and to recognize and realize the visible consequences of those acts.  

When we had finished the protest, I was speaking with an unusually cordial, polite law enforcement officer.  He appeared so collected in his demeanor that he seemed almost contemplative in how calmly he spoke.  He also struck me in how he seemed to be listening so attentively to me.  I was having with him the kind of calm, considerate, respectful exchange I envision ideally having with people who are in positions opposite me, that is, when I am conversing with someone who has views markedly different from the ones I hold.  In addition to being surprised by his demeanor and by his listening skills, he also took me off guard by asking me, in the context of whether we were accomplishing what we wanted to do through protesting, "Are you doing everything you can?"  

I replied, "It's a very good question.  In fact, it's a question which each and every one of us should always be asking ourselves."  

Now it looked like it was his turn to be taken off guard.  It seemed that he did not expect me to suggest that he should ponder that same question.  However, in keeping with how seemed to contemplate and process what was being said, I was not at all surprised that he appeared to be considering his own question.  

It is a question for everyone to ask themselves.  Are you doing everything you can?  Are you concerned about the state of the world today?  If so, what are you doing about it?  And, if you are doing something about it, could you also be taking additional actions in addition to what you are already doing?  

It is in this vein that I responded to a recent query from a friend.  She asked, that in the midst of current affairs, if I was considering using certain means at my disposal for the greater good.  I replied that yes, I do intend to do so in some form, since I want to be firing on all cylinders.  That is, I am trying to use every last means at my disposal to have a positive impact on the world right now, given the present state of the world.  

And so, as I have previously indicated, I protest.  However, I do not endorse the use of violence, whether in protests or otherwise.  I am greatly saddened and disturbed, and find unfortunate and distressing the resort to violence in protests this week as well as during protests in years past.  I believe that violence towards others is unjustified, even when we find what others say to be offensive.  If we become hateful, we become what we despise.  Then we become hate.  

In contrast, when we peacefully protest, we seek truth since we are objecting to injustice.  When we seek truth, we love.  To fulfill our duty to our neighbor, we protest and we also take other actions.  

If we care, we will act.  If we love our neighbor, we will take action.  We act, rising up out of contemplation to apply those contemplative fruits for the benefit of both ourselves and our neighbor.  

Most certainly we are to pray.  Aware that we are nothing without God, we are to pray with devoted faith, sure of His great love for us.  We are to petition Him to help us love each other here and now in this lifetime.  

As vital as prayer is, we do not fulfill our duty to God solely through prayer.  Faith without works is dead.*  If we have true faith, we will act to show our love for our neighbor.  

And if you truly love someone, you want to do all you can for that person.  You utilize all the means at your disposal to love that person.  

Since I love my neighbor, I seek truth, which I do when I peacefully protest, to object to injustices done.  I protest to cry out against people's rights being violated.  

In addition to peacefully protesting, I write to my representative in Congress and to my Senators.  If we do not voice our opinions on what policies trouble us, how can we complain if and when those policies are later implemented?  

If we do not do what we can when we can, later we will regret it.  If we do not act now, we lose the time to act, which is now.  

Saint Catherine of Siena has related to us that God told her that at the moment of death, our consciences will accuse us.  We will be faced with what we could have done, but did not do.  We must remember at that critical moment of our existence, that God has immense mercy.  At that crucial point in our existence, we must not despair.  We must call out to God and beg earnestly for mercy, for not having loved Him and our neighbor better than we did.  For we will fall short.  None of us can ever possibly do well enough to have no need of God's mercy.  All of us are sinners. 

I know God is merciful.  As Pope Francis has told us, the name of God is mercy.  God is merciful because God is love.**  God is infinitely merciful, because God is infinitely loving.  Insofar as God is infinitely loving, when we see God, we will be basking in a vast peace and a boundless joy which is infinitely beyond anything we have experienced or ever could experience in this life.  We cannot comprehend how amazing God is.  No one can see the face of God and live.***  When our souls pass out of our bodies, you can call it death, but it is truly eternal life if you are going to Heaven.  I know that what awaits there is remarkable beyond measure.  Therefore, I focus on what is coming.  

I am not saying that you should not worry because everything will be all right.  I am certain that dark times are ahead here on this earth.  You should not worry because you cannot change anything by worrying.  As Jesus asked us, can any of us add a single moment to our lives by worrying?****  So He told us, "Do not worry."*****  On any given day, do what you can.  Then rest.  Rest, and get the proper nourishment and sustenance you need, or else the journey will be too much for you.******  

Rest in a sure and certain peace.  I have a deep peace and an abiding calm in me.  I know what awaits me on the other side of death.  It is infinitely better than anything we can possibly imagine. 

I try to do everything I possibly can to try to help my fellow humans now in this world.  I aim to die as much as possible at peace with what I have done.  Then, at that moment of passing away, I will turn over to God whatever regrets I might have over having offended Him, and I will trust in His mercy.  I rest confident in the gift of this faith God has given to me; I rest secure in the sure hope of the promise of God's great mercy.  

* James 2:17 
** 1 John 4:8; 1 John 4:16  
*** Exodus 19:21, 33:20 
**** Matthew 6:27 
***** Matthew 6:31 
****** 1 Kings 19:7 

With Us Always

For months it has been raining often here in the San Francisco Bay Area.  Recently on a rainy day here in Redwood City, I looked slightly into the sky and I saw part of a rainbow near the horizon which disappeared into a dark cloud.  I thought that was the end of the rainbow.  Then I looked past the cloud, and saw that, after not too long a distance, the rainbow emerged from the cloud and stretched in an arc far above me and all the way across the sky.  

We may think we can see only a glimmer of hope.  Sometimes we might think we cannot see even the slightest ray of hope.  If we persist in our faith, we will realize that Jesus, in His great love for us, is always present with us.*  

He only seems not to be present at times.  Then we are to call out to Him persistently and tenaciously, asking God to help us to do His will.  Then we are to pray to Him faithfully and tirelessly out of great love for Him, conscious of how He limitlessly loves us.

He first loved us,** although we had not first loved Him.  He loved us, giving us so much, yet receiving nothing in return.  Yet we have received abundantly from Him, and so God calls all of us to praise Him.  We are all to praise and glorify God, for He created us.***  We are to adore God out of love for Him, for God infinitely loves us.  Since God boundlessly loves us, God intends all things for our good.  As Saint Paul tells us, God works all things for the good of those who love Him.****

And so in the midst of dark times, we realize that God is always loving us.  God is always calling us back home to Him.  God wishes that we always respond in our lives in such a way that, no matter what happens, we continue to be sanctified, that we keep being drawn closer to Him, choosing to show indefatigable love to Him.  

Then amidst the darkness, we realize that God is indeed with us.  Then we know that God is with us now and always.  

* Matthew 28:20 
** 1 John 4:19 
*** Psalm 148:5 
**** Romans 8:28 

Ray Of Hope

This morning, as the sun was rising, I was helping my fellow Catholic Worker, Susan, clean up our front porch.  We walked out onto the porch this morning and saw that, as usual, there were some items there that no one took from the previous night.  

Here at the Redwood City Catholic Worker House, our front porch is a free zone.  Anyone can come and take anything that's sitting on the porch.  Persons here in Redwood City have come to be familiar with this practice.  People have become so accustomed to coming to the porch that some of them identify this ministry of giving free goods, which happens on the porch, as being synonymous with this particular Catholic Worker House.  Many times I've heard homeless folks refer to this Catholic Worker House simply as "The Porch."   

Since so many people know that they can drop off donations on our porch, people regularly show up to give clothes, toys, and household items and leave them on the porch.  In the morning, Catholic Workers clean up the porch, and remove items no one took away the previous day.  

After Susan and I had finished straightening up the porch this morning, I was walking to the van I use so I could put an empty box in it for usage sometime in the future.  As I was walking down the sidewalk, a young woman came out of the apartment complex next door to us.  

Before I moved in here at the Catholic Worker House, in that building next door lived low-income individuals.  Then the building was renovated, rents in it were raised, and middle-income persons moved into it.  As Larry, a Catholic Worker who co-founded this house dozens of years ago, has noted, due to rising rents and changing demographics, we have been witnessing changes in who we serve and where they live.  We have seen impoverished people forced to move due to lack of funds.   What part does compassion play in determining whether rents go up?  

As rent prices rise, our neighbors change.  Neighbors move, yet we gain new neighbors.  Interpersonal dynamics shift in the neighborhood.  While we used to have closer interactions with certain neighbors and feel more of a sense of community with some people who have moved on, now we cross paths with neighbors we hadn't met.  Yet they are our neighbors and provide opportunities for exchanges between us.  

And so I was conscious of this young woman this morning when she exited the apartment complex next door and greeted me.  Often I notice that wherever I am, many people do not wish others a good morning.  Frequently I notice that numerous people do not even acknowledge the presence of someone else when crossing paths.  

We have opportunities in each and every interaction to display the qualities we wish were present in our society.  What do we want to see in the world?  As Gandhi has noted, we must be the change we want to see in the world.  Do we wish to witness love being shown in the world, hospitality, warmth, and a welcoming friendliness?  Do you like to see the warmth of such light which emerges when others let that light shine through them?  

We should not underestimate the power of such little acts of love.  Saint Therese of Lisieux wrote of how she followed a little way of getting to Heaven by performing little gestures of kindness for others.  

We define ourselves by how we choose to act not only in grand matters but also in tiny ones.  In how we respond in every instant, we articulate the approach we take to life.  We call attention to the worth of every human choice by realizing the value of every action.  And in every little gesture we make, we send little signals of hope, rays of hope which emanate outward from our souls, to the souls of those with whom we come into contact.  Arising out of a consciousness of the value of every choice we make, we can proclaim with Saint Teresa of Calcutta that it is better to light a candle than to curse the darkness.  

It may seem insignificant, but at many moments in our day we have the opportunity to welcome the stranger.  Do we do so?  We benefit when we examine our own practices.  Are we friendly to others?  Do we acknowledge others?  To recognize the presence of someone else is to recognize the dignity of that person.  

Are you concerned by how other people treat immigrants?  Do you greet others who you hear speaking in broken English?  Do you smile at them?  Do you try to help them to feel welcome?  

At other times, at first it may be less obvious when we are strongly affirming the dignity and self-esteem of someone by such warm and kind greetings.  The woman walking down the street, whose presence you acknowledge, and thus encourage to realize her own self-worth, may have been slapped in the face earlier in the day by her husband who habitually abuses her.  I am not speaking of a hypothetical scenario here.  Here in Redwood City I have met a homeless woman who, I have been told by multiple people, is regularly beaten by her boyfriend.  When others greet her respectfully, they are tending to her with a healing salve of gentle kindness applied lovingly to the emotional wounds which have been inflicted on her.  

We do well to consider the wounds borne in our midst.  When Catholics pray the rosary, Catholics meditate at times on Jesus being scourged, or whipped, at the pillar soon before He was crucified.*  Jesus was beaten not only at the pillar.  Jesus has told us that whatever we do to the least of those among us, we do to Him.**  Jesus, present in our neighbor who has been abused, is in the person walking toward us on the street.  When we acknowledge our neighbor, we value the presence of Jesus among us.  When we tend to the wounds of our neighbor, we follow Jesus.  

Jesus explained that we are to attend to others who are suffering along our path.  In the Gospel of Luke, we hear that 

There was a scholar of the law who stood up to test Jesus and said, “Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”  

Jesus said to him, “What is written in the law? How do you read it?”  

He said in reply, “You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your being, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.”  

He replied to him, “You have answered correctly; do this and you will live.”  

But because he wished to justify himself, he said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”  

Jesus replied, “A man fell victim to robbers as he went down from Jerusalem to Jericho. They stripped and beat him and went off leaving him half-dead.  A priest happened to be going down that road, but when he saw him, he passed by on the opposite side.  Likewise a Levite came to the place, and when he saw him, he passed by on the opposite side.  But a Samaritan traveler who came upon him was moved with compassion at the sight.  He approached the victim, poured oil and wine over his wounds and bandaged them. Then he lifted him up on his own animal, took him to an inn and cared for him.  The next day he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper with the instruction, ‘Take care of him. If you spend more than what I have given you, I shall repay you on my way back.’  Which of these three, in your opinion, was neighbor to the robbers’ victim?”  

He answered, “The one who treated him with mercy.” 

Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.”*** 

In hearing the parable of the Good Samaritan, we think of this parable as conveying a duty to care for our neighbor, not necessarily involving someone literally who has been beaten and is lying by the side of the road.  However, in our lives we come into contact with people who have been abused.  We might pass them without acknowledging their presence, without affirming their dignity and worth, and thus unintentionally contribute to the mistreatment they have been suffering.  Or we can greet them respectfully, giving them support which is much more valuable to them than we realize.  

Do we want to turn a blind eye to the suffering of others, especially when such small offers of warmth and kindness are easily within our power to share with others?  Do you think that you love your neighbors by acknowledging their presence and thus showing them respect?  If so, then go, and do likewise.    

* John 19:1 
** Matthew 25:40 
*** Luke 10:25-37 

Fear Not Foreigners

Today we are faced with a fundamental choice: do we fear, or do we love?  Do we close our hearts to those in need, or do we open our hearts and our doors to people desperate for help?  

We face this choice each and every day.  At times this choice is brought into sharp relief by what is happening in our world.  

We have been encountering this tension since before we can remember our history as humans.  Two millenia ago, Jesus and His disciples were subjected to exclusion because people feared them as strangers.  In today's Gospel reading, we hear that 

Jesus and his disciples came to the other side of the sea, 
to the territory of the Gerasenes.  
When he got out of the boat, 
at once a man from the tombs 
who had an unclean spirit met him.  
The man had been dwelling among the tombs,
and no one could restrain him any longer, even with a chain.
In fact, he had frequently been bound with shackles and chains, 
but the chains had been pulled apart by him 
and the shackles smashed, 
and no one was strong enough to subdue him.
Night and day among the tombs and on the hillsides 
he was always crying out and bruising himself with stones.  
Catching sight of Jesus from a distance, 
he ran up and prostrated himself before him, 
crying out in a loud voice, 
"What have you to do with me, 
Jesus, Son of the Most High God?  
I adjure you by God, do not torment me!"  
(He had been saying to him, 
"Unclean spirit, come out of the man!")  
He asked him, "What is your name?"  
He replied, "Legion is my name. There are many of us."  
And he pleaded earnestly with him 
not to drive them away from that territory.  

Now a large herd of swine was feeding there on the hillside.  
And they pleaded with him, 
"Send us into the swine. Let us enter them."  
And he let them, 
and the unclean spirits came out and entered the swine.  
The herd of about two thousand rushed down a steep bank 
into the sea, 
where they were drowned.  
The swineherds ran away and reported the incident in the town 
and throughout the countryside.  
And people came out to see what had happened.  
As they approached Jesus, 
they caught sight of the man 
who had been possessed by Legion, 
sitting there clothed and in his right mind.  
And they were seized with fear.  
Those who witnessed the incident 
explained to them what had happened 
to the possessed man and to the swine.  
Then they began to beg him to leave their district.  
As he was getting into the boat, 
the man who had been possessed pleaded to remain with him.  
But Jesus would not permit him but told him instead, 
"Go home to your family and announce to them 
all that the Lord in his pity has done for you." 
Then the man went off 
and began to proclaim in the Decapolis 
what Jesus had done for him; 
and all were amazed.*  

Today I heard a brief sermon on this Gospel passage which provided new insight about it to me.  This morning here at the Redwood City Catholic Worker House, as we usually do on Monday mornings, we gathered with each other and with other Catholic Workers from around the San Francisco Bay Area.  After updating each other about our lives, we moved into the living room for our liturgy together.  Our dear friend Steve, who is a Jesuit priest, presided at our house Mass here.  In his brief sermon, Steve explained to us that in these verses, Jesus and His disciples had traveled out of Jewish territory.  During this story, they were strangers to the people they met.  

The residents of that area asked them to leave.  We are told that they were afraid when they saw the man who had been possessed by a demon, who used to scream and bruise himself with rocks, now sitting in his right mind.  

Why did they ask Jesus and His disciples to leave?  Jesus and His disciples were strangers to them.  Jesus had just performed a miracle, expelling a demon out of a man who had been hitherto known for his screaming and bruising himself with stones.  The people living in that area could not understand how this man had just been miraculously transformed from being a madman into a mentally stable, sane person.  

People fear what they do not understand.  People fear what and who they do not know.  People fear the stranger.  People fear someone else they haven't gotten to know, when they haven't spent time with that person.  

We make judgments about people based on little or no information.  We fear people when we know nothing about them.   

If we're busy fearing someone, we are closing our hearts to them.  If we fear our neighbor, we are closing our hearts also to God, for we are closing ourselves off from the love which God wishes to shower upon us through our neighbor.  If we fear our neighbor, we cannot open our hearts to be able to love our neighbor.  

In love there is no room for fear, for perfect love drives out fear.**  When we purely love, we do not fear the person in front of us.  If we purely love, we do not fear what might happen through our decision to love.  When we perfectly love, we simply extend the love which is needed by the person in front of us.  

Unfortunately people are often motivated by fear to exclude others they do not know, have never or barely met, and who they do not understand.  As the mayor of Philadelphia recently described, at the airport there this weekend, officials detained and then turned away Syrian refugees.  He related that by all accounts they had waited to obtain months to obtain the proper documentation to be able to legally enter the U.S.  He added that they were being sent back to a war-ravaged nation.  They will be endangered for various reasons.  

Jesus was similarly endangered.  When Jesus was a baby, He and Saint Joseph and Our Blessed Mother Mary were refugees.  They fled from their home country to Egypt.***  As if these details of their flight into Egypt were not enough to make us recognize Jesus in refugees among us, Jesus has told us that whatever we do to the least of those among us, we do to Him.****  Jesus has explained to us that when we fail to welcome the stranger, we reject Him.*****  When we turn away refugees, we refuse to welcome Jesus.  

When we fear what might happen to us from loving someone else, we cannot love that other person.  When we fear, we wall ourselves off from love.  In fearing our neighbor, we close ourselves off from what we might learn from our neighbor.  By fearing our neighbor, we refuse to learn from our neighbor.  

I have learned in my own life that we have much to learn from people of foreign cultures.  When I served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Morocco, I enjoyed the gracious hospitality of  Moroccans who were Muslim.  I had never before been offered such generous hospitality by anyone in the United States.  

Which of us living here in the United States would invite a stranger into our home to share lunch with us?  Many foreigners who visit Morocco receive exactly such a welcome.  After being treated to such a meal by Moroccans they have just met, guests are often told by their Moroccan hosts that if they would like to lay down, and even nap, they may do so.  Which of us here in the states would extend such hospitality to someone we had just met?  

While I was a Peace Corps Volunteer, another Peace Corps Volunteer asked me how my life would be different once I returned to the states.  I replied that I was looking forward to extending hospitality to others.  And so I was influenced in my decision to enter a reformed Benedictine monastic community, since Benedictine monks offer hospitality to visitors.  I was influenced in my decision to enter monastic life at the hermitage in Big Sur because Moroccans had implicitly encouraged me to extend hospitality to others through their own shining examples.  

Similarly, I was influenced in my decision to become a Catholic Worker, practicing hospitality, and reaching out to those who are homeless, because Moroccans had shown me the importance of providing hospitality.  They had provided me outstanding examples of how to extend hospitality to others.  

I learned how to extend hospitality from Moroccans, who are Muslim.  To exclude all people of certain religions, or of particular nations, as is current practice, is to wall ourselves off from what they have to teach us.  If we refuse to welcome entire groups of people, we refuse many opportunities to love, to learn and to grow.  If we reject whole groups of people, we reject Jesus many times.  If we refuse to welcome refugees, we reject Jesus in our actions, regardless of whether we claim to be compassionate toward refugees.  

We choose everyday whether or not we will welcome the stranger.  We decide each day if we will open our hearts to love our neighbor or if out of fear we will close ourselves off to our neighbor.  We must always be deciding whether we will choose to learn from our neighbor and grow as loving human beings, or if we will choose to exclude our neighbor and refuse to be taught by him or her.  

If we have humility, we will want to learn from our neighbor.  We will realize that even though someone is different from us, we can learn from that person.  

If we have humility, we will embrace opportunities to learn, and thus grow, and thus love better.  If we are not humble, we will reject chances to learn from our neighbor, walling ourselves off from how God seeks to teach us through our neighbor.  

Always we are presented with these choices on our spiritual path.  Everyday we must choose between love and fear.  

* Mark 5:1-20 
** 1 John 4:18 
*** Matthew 2:13-15 
**** Matthew 25:40 
***** Matthew 25:43