Listen To Him

When we are indifferent to what we have, we do not cling to it.  If we value our friends more than our property, we can forgive them if they lose it.  As we value our friends, we help them to value themselves.  

We witness this indifference to property in those who society casts aside.  Thus if we listen to those who have nothing, we can learn from them.  As we embrace the least of those among us, so we welcome Jesus into our hearts.  

I have seen these truths lived out by my homeless friends who I'll call "Luke" and "Katie" here.  Luke had loaned his bicycle to Katie.  She made a stop on the bicycle, and at that spot was sitting and talking with another friend.  A little while later, Katie got up to go to the bicycle, but she didn't find it since someone had taken it.  "Oh, no!" Katie exclaimed.  "Luke is going to kill me!"  

Later when I saw Katie again, I asked her how Luke reacted to the news that his bicycle had been stolen.  She related that Luke had shrugged and had off-handedly remarked, "It's just a bicycle."  

Luke was indifferent about the bicycle.  He was able to forgive Katie for losing it because he valued her friendship more than having that bicycle.  

Valuing her more than property, Luke has helped Katie to value herself.  Forgiving her, Luke has freed her from the bonds of guilt and regret which had been enslaving her.  Loosed of the chains of regret over how she had acted in the past, Katie is free to move forward.  Luke has encouraged her to see herself as more than certain choices she has made in the past.  He is detached from, and is indifferent to what he has, and so he is empowered, by letting go of what he has, by not having anything, to help her let go of the destructive conceptions of herself that she has had.  

To look at Luke, one merely sees a quiet, unassuming, unpretentious individual.  He collects and hauls large volumes of recyclable materials, and brings them to the recycling center to earn a little income.  He is an impoverished, homeless man living on the streets.  

From this poor man, one could conclude that one has nothing to learn.  Yet from this man living on the margins of society, one can receive instruction on the need to be indifferent about one's possessions, or about which course of action to take, much like Saint Ignatius of Loyola counseled.  From a social outcast, one can be taught valuable spiritual lessons.  

Jesus, who is present in the least of those among us,* comes again and again to teach us.  Those who are homeless around us can help us see how to move forward.  In how we respond to them, we determine what we learn.  

In how we react to social outcasts, so we respond to Jesus.  Whatsoever we do to the least of those among us, we do to Him.**  

* Matthew 25:40,45 
** Matthew 25:40,45 

Look For Light

Tonight the doorbell rang.  I answered it.  Out of the darkness came the answer I sought.  

Before me stood a homeless man who I'll once again call "Manuel."  Suddenly Manuel reassured me, "God sees everything you do.  Do not doubt that God knows all the things you are doing.  So just keep on doing what you're doing."  

Often we can wonder whether we're making a difference, and if so, how much of a difference we're making.  We can sink into spiritual desolation if we start to think that we're not accomplishing much.  

I find it apropos that it was today that Manuel came and gave me this particular encouragement.  Today we celebrate the feast day of Saint John of the Cross, who wrote about how one can journey through spiritual darkness.  

We can feel that we are not receiving much spiritual consolation in the midst of our toil.  It might seem as if we are laboring without it being clear what we are really doing.  

Yet in the midst of this spiritual darkness, a light shines.  A light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not put it out.*  

After night had fallen tonight, the doorbell here rang.  At the door I found a homeless man who presented me with a spiritual candle, lit in the darkness, and bringing to me light through the hope he was urging me to maintain.  

Jesus comes to us in those who are poor, in those who are outcast, in those who are the least among us.**  Jesus comes to us and encourages us to keep moving forward, even when we are in darkness.  

Jesus is the light of the world.***  He shows us the way since He is The Way.****  

When we find ourselves in darkness, if we look for the light He is giving to us always, since He is with us always,***** we will see The Way.  Even in darkness, we can see Him, and so we can see The Way home to Our Heavenly Father.  

* John 1:5 
** Matthew 25:40,45 
*** John 8:12; 1 John 1:5
**** John 14:6 
***** Matthew 28:20 

Magnify Your Faith

An image suddenly appears.  Many years later, upon microscopic examination, much smaller images are discovered inside the originally visible large image.  All of this happens on a fabric which has not been decomposing even though many years have passed.    

The image is on the tilma, or the cloak, of an impoverished person named Saint Juan Diego, who lived in what is now known as Mexico.  In December 1531, the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to Juan Diego.  He went to the archbishop to relate to him how Our Blessed Mother Mary had told him that a church should be built there in her honor.  The archbishop asked for a sign to prove who she was.  At her instruction, Juan Diego gathered roses up into his cloak.  When he opened his cloak before the archbishop and the roses fell onto the floor, there on his tilma was the image of Our Lady Of Guadalupe, whose feast day we celebrate today.  

In recent years scientists have closely examined the tilma.  Able to magnify portions of it, they have found fourteen persons depicted in the eyes of the image of Our Lady Of Guadalupe.  

Normally a tilma like this would have started coming apart once twenty years had passed.  However, after nearly 500 years, the tilma has stayed together.  

Here I have related only three miraculous properties of the tilma bearing the image of Our Lady Of Guadalupe.  I find these scientifically inexplicable phenomena encouraging my faith in God, in Jesus, born of Our Blessed Mother Mary.  

Lovingly Find Fulfillment

I have been encouraged recently by a particular homeless woman who I'll call "Julie."  In her tenacity and commitment to her goals, she has been reassuring me that she loves herself and will keep caring for herself.  

Julie had been aiming to get some certain personal business squared away.  She had been working on it in increments, at times enlisting the help of some of her friends.  

In the last week, Julie finally finished the daunting task.  After she had completed it, she and I exchanged high fives.  

Although Julie has suffered from depression, she is rising up out of her despair.  She has found that antidote to depression which productivity provides.  

More significantly, she has started to value her own self, and so she has been making decisions which reflect her realization of her own self-worth.  Appreciating herself, she acts accordingly, loving herself.  

Loving herself, she can love her neighbor as herself,* just as Jesus taught us to do.  Love is the fulfillment of ourselves and of others.  

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

Remember His Love

Today we celebrate the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception.  Some might ask what difference it makes to them in their everyday lives that Our Blessed Mother Mary was immaculately conceived without sin in her.  

In our lives everyday, we face challenges.  When these obstacles in our lives seem so daunting that they feel overwhelming, we can be considerably heartened and strengthened if we ponder the Immaculate Conception.  

In the midst of formidable trials, we can be fortified, and can remain on solid rock, if we consider the Immaculate Conception, for it is a sign of God's great love for us.  Our Blessed Mother Mary had not yet come into being, and so she had not done anything to merit being conceived without sin in her.  She was so conceived purely from the love of God.  

God so loved the world that He sent His only Son to us.*  God sent His Holy Spirit upon Our Blessed Mother Mary; she conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit.**  God sent the breath of His love into Mary, she conceived by the power of that love, and Jesus, love incarnate, came forth into the world.  God brought love into the world through Jesus, for God is love.***  

We can remember this immense love God has for us when we feel we are being overcome by misfortune.  If we keep in mind this tremendous love God feels for us, we can remain in peace despite intense tribulation.  God gives peace to those who remember His love for them.  Amen.  

* John 3:16 
** Matthew 1:20; Luke 1:35 
*** 1 John 4:8,16 

Do Not Doubt

If I say that I am right with God, all I do is prove that I am not right with God.  We are all sinners.  We are all in need of God's mercy.  

Do not doubt; sin we will.  This is not to say that we should abandon our best efforts not to sin; certainly not.  Since God calls us back to Him, God calls us not to sin, for to sin is to choose to turn away from God.  

Despite our best efforts, we will sin.  When we sin, God calls us to repent.  

Do not doubt; God's mercy is greater than our sin.  God is infinite, and so God's mercy is infinite.  The name of God is mercy, as our Holy Father Pope Francis reminds us.  Jesus is love and mercy itself, as He told Saint Faustina.  

Do not doubt; God is love,* and so God is merciful.  If you think that God will not forgive your sin, you forget that God is infinite, and thus that God's love is infinite.  

God's love is greater than anything we think, say or do.  So often what we think, say and do is sinful.  As we come to see how much we sin, we can allow ourselves to be humbled.  If we come to see ourselves as the grains of dust that we are in this vast universe, then we can welcome the humility that can lead us to beg God to forgive our sins.  

God gives grace to the humble.**  By the grace of God, we can come to be who God made us to be, acknowledging that His love and mercy are infinite.  Through the grace of God, we do His will, and take our rightful places in this life, and in the next.  Amen.  

* 1 John 4:8,16 
** 1 Peter 5:5; James 4:6 

Gratefully Become Ourselves

This morning I saw a particular homeless woman I'll once again call "Kimberly" here.  She announced that she has been sober for three days.  

She shared with me that when she went to be interviewed for the outpatient rehabilitation program she will soon enter, they didn't proceed with the interview because their computer system was down.  They said they'll interview her in two days.  

Immediately Kimberly expressed her contentment with the situation as she noted, "Well, then it'll be even better, since I'll have five days sobriety by then."  Rather than become disgruntled and discouraged, she chose to recognize and value the benefit of the delay.  

I am encouraged by how my dear friend Kimberly is appreciating what God is handing to her in her circumstances.  She is showing interest in being grateful to God for what He is giving to her.  

When we are grateful to God, then we thank God.  If we thank God, we are recognizing His love.  

As we realize that God is love,* we can come to adore God.  Coming to see that God is, we can praise God since He is.  

As we thank God, as we adore Him, as we praise Him, as we glorify Him, we become who God created us to be.  When we thank and adore and glorify and praise God, we become our true selves.  

* 1 John 4:8,16 

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.  

Decide To Love

I know a particular homeless woman who once again I'll call "Sally."  Sally has been subjected to domestic violence on countless occasions by multiple men.  

Recently I overheard Sally declare that she will not have any more abusive relationships.  She has decided that she will no longer stand for being abused.  She will not tolerate abuse, since she loves herself.  

Sally has decided to love herself.  When we love ourselves, then we can love our neighbor as ourselves,* just as Jesus taught us to do.  

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