Sanctifying Our Work

 

 There is a beautiful story that a cardinal tells about his time in Rome. He was walking down the street toward the Vatican when he saw a man sweeping the street. After greeting him, the man said, “Your Eminence, you are going to the Vatican to do important work. But, if I sweep this street with more love, then my work is even more valuable in the eyes of God than yours.” The cardinal told him that he was absolutely correct, because love is what gives value to human work.

That is something that all of us should remember. As Pope Saint John Paul II put it, “It is the human person who gives dignity to the work, not work that gives dignity to the person.” Whatever our work may be, if we are doing our best and serving others out of love, then we can hold our heads up high and do it proudly. At the same time, we should never look down on others because of how they earn a living.

 Now matter how much love we put into our work, however, it will still be difficult. All work involves some kind of suffering whether it is physical or emotional. As Christians, we have a way of dealing with suffering- by uniting it with the suffering of Jesus on the cross. So, when I am straining every muscle to do my work, I can call to mind how Jesus struggled to carry the cross. If I am not being appreciated for what I do, I can remember how Jesus was looked down on and ridiculed as He hung on the cross. By uniting our suffering with that of Jesus, we find strength to carry on and we are transformed in the process. 

 One thing many people do is offer the suffering of their work for a specific intention. For instance, we could offer the pain involved in a particularly challenging project for those who are not able to find a job. Or, we could offer the anxiety and nervousness we might be feeling for those who are poor and do not know where their next meal will come from. By doing that, we take the focus off ourselves and what we are experiencing and remembering those who have less than we do. Whenever we do that, we grow in appreciation for what we have and in love for others.

Work is meant to be a blessing for us. It is a way that we can develop our talents and serve others out of love. It is also a way that we can share in Jesus’ cross. So we gather here on this day of rest to thank God for the gift of work and also to pray for those who are unemployed or who are being exploited in their work. May our work help build a world marked with God’s justice

Climbing Down

It is called “climbing the ladder.”

In today’s society, we view our lives as climbing a ladder, trying to get ahead. We rise in the ranks by getting better jobs, earning a larger salary and showing off flashier toys than the people below us. Our value lies in how high and how fast we are able to rise. We look down on those below us on the ladder because they are obviously not as smart or as hardworking as we are. If they suffer because they lack the resources we enjoy, we consider it their own fault. As for the people above us, we look on them with envy and spite. We call them names like “fat-cats” or “the one percent”. To get as high as they did, they must have inherited their money or earned it by cheating others. All the while we are trying to get up to where they are.

This idea of climbing the ladder which is so pervasive in our world today may be successful at motivating us to get ahead but it has devastating consequences for society. It teaches us that our worth as individuals can be measured in material possessions. Goodness, integrity and honesty are only valuable if they help us get ahead. It splinters society by creating divisions based on class and income. Finally it gives us an excuse for not reaching down to help those who are less fortunate than ourselves. As we see it, it is their own fault for not getting ahead. Their misfortune is their own problem. We are not responsible for their hardships. We are only responsible for our own successes or failures.

As we see in today’s gospel, even Jesus’ disciples were not immune from jockeying for position in the rank of apostle. Saint Mark tells us that on the way to the town of Capernaum, they were arguing among themselves about which one was the greatest. We are not told exactly what they were saying, but we can imagine that one claimed to have more faith, another probably claimed to know Scripture better and yet another probably claimed to be a closer friend of Jesus. While they would not have been arguing over who made the most money or who had the finest tunic, their mentality was the same as ours. Each was trying to climb the ladder by stepping on the person below.

However, Jesus tells them - and us - that nothing could be further from the message of love He came to teach. In fact, He came to take the climbing the ladder mentality and turn it on its head by saying, “The last shall be first and the first shall be last.” Unlike the corporate world of power and politics, in God’s kingdom we show our status not by trying to get ahead of others but by reaching down to help others get ahead of us. We do not climb the stairway to heaven by asserting our own rights and interests but by promoting the interests of those less fortunate than ourselves. Jesus came to preach a revolutionary message of love that tears down the divisions of class, status and income that society creates and replaces it with unity, solidarity and cooperation.

Saint James picks up on this theme in today’s second reading. The type of jealousy and selfish ambition which drives our idea of climbing the ladder is the cause of endless strife in society and much injustice. But God shows us a better way. It is the way of wisdom which is peaceable and full of mercy. Such wisdom leads to peace. If we want a more just world in which all people have an opportunity to practice their faith and support their families, then it is clear that we have to jump off the ladder, put aside our selfish ambition and begin to serve one another out of love.

Jesus shows us how in the gospel. By taking a child into His arms, He tells us, “If you are going to envy someone, envy this child.” Love comes naturally to children. Everything they have comes from their parents. They look to others to have their needs met. Money, power and prestige mean nothing to them. Jesus makes it clear, that unless we become like children, unless we put aside the drive to get ahead at all costs, we cannot enter His Kingdom.

As followers of Jesus living in a world driven by greed, it can be difficult for us not to get caught up in the mindless pursuit of wealth and possessions. However, we are called to something greater. We are called to store treasure in heaven. So while we participate in the economy by working and investing our money, we must be driven by more than just trying to get ahead. As a witness to our faith, we should be living simpler lives so that we will have more money to give to charities. By volunteering at soup kitchens or at suicide hotlines, we point out to others that we have a responsibility to come to the aid of those who have fallen into misfortune. And if it happens that we lose our job or fall on hard times ourselves, we can rest assured that although we may be looked down upon or ignored by others, we are still valuable members of society and that we will be richly provided for by our Heavenly Father.

As in all things, Jesus shows us the way. Although He was more powerful than any other man who walked the earth, He used His power to help others rather than to gain an advantage for Himself. When He was rejected, He did not resort to vengeance or violence but to forgiveness, offering Himself up to death so that we could live. Our world which is caught up in divisions, strife and violence is so in need of that example, and we must give it by God’s grace by refusing to get ahead at the expense of others and refusing to look down on those who have less than we do. To transform our world, we must become like the child Jesus held in His arms, trusting that our needs will be provided for as we seek to serve others. Then the peace of God’s Kingdom can begin to take hold in our world.

Following The Spirit's Lead

In 1992, when the civil war was raging in the former Yugoslavia between the Serbs and Croatians, two brothers , Magnus and Fergus MacFarlane-Barrow, watched the news reports with horror at the loss of human life. Knowing they couldn’t just sit at home in Scotland and do nothing about it, they began a drive to collect food and blankets to deliver to the victims of that conflict. When they had collected enough to fill up their jeep, they drove it all the way to Bosnia, left the supplies with an aid agency there and drove back to Scotland.

In their minds, they had done all they could and would return home to continue their work as fish farmers. However, they found that, while they were gone, people had continued to donate supplies, enough to fill their jeep again. So they collected it all and drove back to Bosnia with it. This continued to the point that Magnus decided to leave his job and begin a charity, which he called Scottish International Relief, dedicated to providing relief to the people of Bosnia.

Magnus continued in that work up until 2002 when he took a trip to Malawi. While there, he visited a mother of six who was dying of AIDS. As they sat around her on the floor of the hut, Magnus turned to her older child and asked him what he hoped for out of life. The child responded, “To have enough to eat and to go to school one day.”

The child’s answer struck Magnus to the core of his being. Like that day 10 years earlier, he knew he couldn’t sit back and do nothing in the face of the hunger and poverty plaguing the children of Africa. So, he developed a simple, low-cost program to provide daily meals for poor, undernourished children which he named, Mary’s Meals, after the mother of Jesus. It began by feeding 200 children daily in Malawi. In the sixteen years since, it has spread to twelve countries servicing over one million children every day.

Saint Paul tells us in today’s second reading from the Letter to the Romans that “all creation is groaning.” It is groaning with the cries of undernourished children who go to bed hungry. It is groaning with the grieving of boys and girls who lose their parents to war and disease. It is groaning with the tears of migrants who are fleeing corruption and violence to seek a better life for their families. Many times, we choose not to listen to their groaning and look away. Many times we choose the attitude that there’s nothing we can do or that it’s someone else’s problem.

Magnus and his brother heard the groaning of those who were suffering. It would have been easy for them to sit back and decide that there was nothing that could be done. However, they couldn’t turn a deaf ear to the groaning of their sisters and brothers in pain. At the time they might have wondered what difference a jeep-full of supplies could make to a conflict as extensive as the Bosnian war. As it turns out, it made all the difference in the world to that child who would have been cold if not for the blanket they brought or who would have gone hungry if not for the food they delivered. And today, that small act of service has led to a mission that feeds over one million children a day.

What would happen in our lives and in our world if we were to really listen to the groaning of the people around us and respond to their needs? How many people might  we be able to help? And where might it possibly all lead?

Saint Paul goes on to say that “the Spirit helps us in our weakness for we do not know how to pray as we ought.” In the face of so much suffering in our world, we might think that we have too little to give. However, if we turn to God in prayer, great things are possible. When we rely only on ourselves and our meager resources, our efforts are largely ineffective. However, when we rely on God, when we turn to Him with humility and confess that we want to do something but we don’t know how, He provides the opportunity and the means for us to make a difference. If we are willing to take that first step in faith, God will do the rest.

It all begins with prayer. The more in tune we are to God through prayer the more attentive we will be to the needs of the people around us. Our Heavenly Father hears the cry of the poor. That is why He sent His Son, Jesus, to die for us. In turn, Jesus and the Father send us the Holy Spirit, who meets our deepest need for loving unity with God. Now God sends us to relieve the groaning of the people He puts in our path every day.

Today we celebrate the Feast of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit came down upon the apostles to empower them to spread the Good News. We received that same Spirit at our baptism and confirmation. The Spirit dwelling within us opens our ears to the groaning of all creation and empowers us to make a difference. If we but listen and respond, nothing will be impossible because it is the very Spirit of God at work in us who believe.

A Faith Bigger Than Fear

From a young age, Kayla Mueller dedicated her life in service to others. Inspired by her motto, “Let your faith be bigger than your fear,” she traveled to India, Palestine and Israel to give whatever she could to those who suffer. The plight of those living in conditions of poverty, famine and war touched her heart so deeply that she could not just turn away and do nothing. As she once told a reporter, "For as long as I live, I will not let this suffering be normal. [I will not let this be] something we just accept...It's important to stop and realize what we have, why we have it and how privileged we are."

As the conflicts in Syria and Iraq escalated, her heart turned to the plight of the refugees displaced by the violence. At the age of 26, she joined a humanitarian group working on the border of Turkey and Syria. In August 2013, after leaving a hospital in Aleppo, Syria, she was kidnapped by the terror group, ISIS and held captive for eighteen months. She was killed this year while still in captivity. Though the circumstances of her death remain unclear, ISIS claims that she perished in a bomb strike by the Jordanian military.

Her dedication to serving those who suffer wherever they may be has touched many hearts and inspired others to do the same. There is no doubt that her love for others was motivated by a desire to encounter God in the needy. In a letter to her father in 2011, she wrote these remarkable words: "I will always seek God. Some people find God in church. Some people find God in nature. Some people find God in love; I find God in suffering. I've known for some time what my life's work is, using my hands as tools to relieve suffering."

Many times we Catholics are asked why we portray the cross with Jesus’ body hanging on it when He has risen from the dead. The answer is simple. Though Jesus hung on the cross for only three hours, He continues to suffer in all those who struggle in poverty, flee from violence and endure sickness. When we look upon the crucifix, we do not only remember what Jesus did to save us but how He continues to suffer in the weak and disabled. We find comfort in our own suffering and inspiration to alleviate the suffering of our neighbor.

Jesus came to reveal God to us. As we heard in today’s first reading from the prophet Isaiah, He came as one who suffers to make it clear that He has not abandoned us in our misery. He is by our side, suffering alongside us, strengthening us to bear our burden. It is easy to catch glimpses of God’s face in the beauty of nature, in the tenderness of love or in the pageantry of a church service. However, to find God in the suffering of others requires a heart softened by empathy. To find God in our own suffering requires a heart broken by humility.

The cross is the real test of faith. It reveals where our heart lies. It answers the question, “Is it God I am seeking or something else?” If I am seeking something other than God, I will run away when I am persecuted for my faith. When following Jesus becomes too demanding, I will look for another way. If I am seeking my own comfort or the praise of others, the cross will make it clear.

However, if it is truly God I am seeking, nothing will deter me. The rejection and ridicule of family and friends will only convince me the more that I can only rely on God. When difficulties arise because of my faith, it will only spur me on to seek God no matter what. If it is God whom I truly seek, then I will look for Him not only in the good but in the bad. When I come face to face with the cross, I will embrace it rather than flee from it.

The suffering of Jesus on the cross teaches us that God alone is all we need and that we can find Him in those who suffer. We find Him in the faces of those who look to us to comfort them. We find Him in ourselves when we unite our suffering to His and experience how it is transformed through love.

If we find our own suffering or the suffering of those around us too much to bear, we have Mary as an example. Out of love for her son, she stood at the foot of the cross. It is a fate no mother should have to experience, but she endured it out of love for Him and for us. She can teach us how to remain faithful and how to transform our suffering through love. She can help us to understand how we can find God even in the most senseless and horrifying of circumstances.

On this Good Friday, we hold up the wood of the cross as the world’s only salvation. It is a bold statement in a world where so many continue to suffer. Yet if we abandon ourselves to God, seek Him alone and serve those in need we will see darkness transformed into light, pain transformed into joy and death transformed into life.

In a word, we will experience the power of the Resurrection only when we embrace the wood of the cross.

Cleansing The Water

On Christmas Day of 1988, Walter had a strong conversion experience. Though he had been a Catholic all his life and gone to church faithfully every Sunday, he realized that it was all a show. The gospel of Jesus Christ had never really reached his heart and changed him. Deep within, he felt a need to welcome Jesus and to put him at the center of his life rather than just going through the motions.

During the weeks that followed, Walter could not read enough of the Bible. He poured over the stories of Jesus’ birth, the appearance of the angels to the shepherds, the journey of the Wise Men, Jesus’ presentation in the temple and His baptism in the Jordan River. He reflected on what it must have been like to actually be there when these mysteries took place. The more he prayed, the more determined he was to one day make a pilgrimage to the Holy Land to see for himself where all these stories took place.

When he did finally have enough money saved and was able to book a trip to Israel, he began to feel excited about going to the Jordan River where Jesus was baptized. Like most Catholics, he was baptized as a baby. He saw this visit as a chance to renew his baptism vows as an adult and to recommit himself to his faith. In his mind, he imagined himself standing in the waters feeling his sins washed away and God’s grace rushing in.

The day he had been waiting for finally came. When the bus pulled up to the parking lot at Qasr el-Yahud, the place where tradition tells us John the Baptist baptized Jesus, Walter ran down to the bank of the river. However, what he saw surprised him. It was not the beautiful place he imagined it to be. The water was brown like coffee with not enough milk in it. Where he expected to see white sand, there were rocks and reeds. His first thought was that there was no way he was going to get into that filthy water. He just wanted to get back on the bus and return to his hotel room.

However, another thought came into his head at that moment. When Jesus came to earth, there was nothing glamorous about it. Our sinful humanity was no more appealing to God than the brown water running through the Jordan River. Yet, out of love for us, Jesus took on our human nature with its weakness and suffering. He experienced rejection, ridicule and death for us. Reflecting on this, Walter also realized what the vows of baptism mean. When he said, “I do”, it meant going with Jesus into the dark places of our world to bring His light. It meant going with Jesus into the sad places of our world to bring His joy. It meant following Jesus even when it meant getting dirty.

So, with tears in his eyes, Walter stepped into the waters of the Jordan River and renewed his baptismal vows with a full sense of what God had done for him and what he would be called to do for God and for his neighbor.

Today, we celebrate the feast of the Baptism of the Lord. Though sinless, Jesus submitted himself to the baptism of John the Baptist. He entered the waters of the Jordan River to purify them so that we could be baptized not just with water but with the Holy Spirit. Just as Walter realized when he stood at the banks of the river, Jesus humbled himself throughout His life on earth to bring us all the gifts of God’s love. The first gift is baptism which opens us up to faith, to the Holy Spirit and to all the other sacraments which follow.

However, as Walter also realized, our baptism is not only an occasion to get dressed up and to celebrate with family. Rather, it is a commitment we make to share Jesus’ concern for the lost and the broken. As Isaiah tells us in today’s first reading, Jesus came “to open the eyes of the blind, to bring prisoners out of confinement, and from the dungeon, those who live in darkness.” If Jesus is willing to stoop down and live a life of service for the poor, we must be willing to do the same or we cannot call ourselves His followers. All we would be is secret admirers.

It was also at Jesus’ baptism that the Holy Trinity revealed itself for the first time. We see Jesus, the Son, descending into the waters. We see the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Blessed Trinity,  descend from heaven like a dove and alight on Jesus. Finally, we hear the voice of the Father, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.” God reveals Himself as Father, Son and Holy Spirit through Jesus’ act of humility.

This mystery reveals to us why it is that we must seek out the needy. In serving them, we discover God. By bringing bread to the hungry, we encounter Jesus who is suffering in them. By teaching the ignorant, we feel the presence of the Holy Spirit burning within us. By embracing the lonely, we experience the embrace of our Heavenly Father who calls us His beloved daughters and sons. When we stoop down in humility to serve others as Jesus did, no matter how dirty it may get, we come face to face with the God who humbled Himself for us.

We are all searching for God. If He has seemed distant and hard to find, it could be that we are looking in the wrong places. Perhaps we are looking on the mountain tops when we should be looking in the ghettoes. Perhaps we are reading books when we should be feeding bellies. Until we are ready to get ourselves dirty, to risk our safety and to give without counting the cost, God will continue to remain elusive to us. However, if we can follow Jesus into the dark places of our world, it could just be that we will be surprised by His marvelous light shining out where we least expected to find it.

A Pencil In God's Hand

During the years that she served the poor, Saint Teresa of Calcutta become an icon of radical Christian discipleship. Though people constantly praised her for her work, she always sought to draw attention away from herself toward Jesus. Once, when a reporter asked her to describe her ministry, she told him that she was merely a pencil in the hand of God.

Later, in a book titled,  The Joy of Loving: A Guide To Daily Living, Saint Teresa expanded her answer: “I am a little pencil in God's hands. He does the thinking. He does the writing. He does everything and sometimes it is really hard because it is a broken pencil and He has to sharpen it a little more.”

In everything she did, she wanted it to be clear that it was God’s work and no one else’s. Ultimately, it was God who deserved all the credit and not her.

Saint Teresa’s attitude is a perfect reflection of Mary’s attitude in today’s gospel.

When the angel reveals to her that she will be the mother of Jesus, Mary simply replies: “I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word.”

Note that Gabriel does not ask Mary to do anything. God is the one who has chosen her. God will be the one to see to it that she conceives a child. And God will be the one to make her child great. Mary simply needs to say “yes” and to allow God to do His work through her. As Saint Teresa of Calcutta would put it, Mary simply needs to be the pencil with which God writes down His great plan of salvation.

When we talk about religion, we often fall into the trap of describing it as something that we do. We observe rules, go to Church, teach catechism, live an upright life and so on. To some extent, all that activity is important. However, Christianity is not primarily about what we do but what God does in and through us.

It all begins with our very existence. None of us chose to be born. Our life is a free gift from God. And none of us figured out for ourselves that God loved us enough to send Jesus to die for our sins and rise again to give us the promise of everlasting life. Rather, we heard the good news through the preaching of the Church which Jesus established. And even our belief in the gospel is a gift of grace. It is through faith,  which is a free gift of God’s love, that we can believe in Jesus and entrust our lives to Him.

Ultimately, like Mary and like Saint Teresa of Calcutta, we must see ourselves merely as pencils in His hand, allowing Him to write out His saving plan through us.

That does not mean that we sit around and wait for God to move us as if we were puppets. We continue to live our daily lives just as they are. We continue to dream, to strive, to imagine, to yearn. However, all the while we are open to what God wants to do through us.

For some of us, it will mean doing some great work for the Lord as Saint Teresa did in Calcutta. However, God will work through most of us in small and hidden ways. It may be by going out of our way to give someone a ride to the doctor. It may be by volunteering at a soup kitchen once a week. Simply by responding in a kind and loving manner to everyone God puts in our path, we will be showing forth the face of Christ and doing great good.

As Saint Teresa said, we are broken pencils that need to be sharpened every now and then. Often, we are afraid of what God might ask of us. Or we think that our plan is better than God’s plan.

That is where prayer comes in. Through prayer, we learn to see the world as God sees it. By putting ourselves in His presence every day, we begin to recognize the face of God in every person we meet, especially the needy. By getting into the habit of making daily sacrifices,  we train ourselves to put aside our own interests to serve the needs of others. And by receiving the Sacraments of Confession and Communion frequently, we find the strength to give without counting the cost.

God chooses those who are small in the eyes of the world to do His great work. This is certainly true of Mary who was just a young girl from a backwater town. It is also true of many of the saints, including Saint Teresa of Calcutta, who changed the world by simply allowing God to work through them.

None of us, then, is too small or insignificant to have God use us to do great things. If anything, we are probably not small and insignificant enough. If we want to be pencils in His hands, we need to abandon ourselves to Him daily in prayer asking for the strength to forget ourselves so that we can serve others.

Tomorrow, we will celebrate the great feast of Christmas. Through Jesus Christ, born of Mary, God will change human history forever. To this day, it is God who is guiding the course of events leading to the consummation of His great plan of salvation. We want to contribute to that plan - like Mary and Saint Teresa of Calcutta - by allowing Him to use us in whatever way He sees fit. Then we will see Him do great things in and through us for nothing is impossible with God.

The Saintly Queen Of Portugal

We are all familiar with Jesus’ saying, “It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God” (Mt 19:24). However, as always, Jesus leaves us with a word of encouragement and hope, “For man this is impossible but with God all things are possible” (Mt 19:26).

Throughout history, by God’s grace, many rich and powerful people have found their way to heaven and are counted among the saints we honor and venerate.

One of those rich and powerful persons who became a saint was Saint Elizabeth of Portugal.

She was born in 1271 in Spain. Her father was Pedro III who would later be King of Aragon. Though raised with great wealth and privilege, she always sought to live modestly and humbly. Possessed of an intense love for God, she practiced self-denial and frequent penance from a young age.

As was the custom among royalty of the day, she was given in marriage at the age of 12 to King Dinis of Portugal. During those years, she suffered greatly because of his infidelity. Though they had only two children together, he fathered as many as seven children with other women. Nonetheless, Saint Elizabeth was determined to remain faithful to her husband and to lead a model Christian life in hopes of inspiring him to convert to a more moral lifestyle.

The greatest sign of her holiness, however, was her care for the poor. To the outrage of her husband, she would often leave the castle at night to bring them food, clothing and money. Whenever she learned that a beggar had been mistreated by one of the castle guards, she would usher the beggar in, feed him and treat his wounds.

She also had a profound devotion to the Holy Spirit, directing that a church be constructed in honor of the third person of the Blessed Trinity. When the country was suffering from a long drought, Saint Elizabeth promised to donate her crown to that church if God would bring an end to it.

When the drought did end, she established the tradition of feeding all the poor in Lisbon on Pentecost Sunday. At that celebration, she would choose children from the crowd and place the crown on their heads to symbolize that the poor were the true royalty of Portugal, thus committing herself to serving them as she would any other king or queen. 

Though she was a woman of great wealth and power, she chose to use her privilege not to benefit herself but the poorest members of society. In so doing, she is an example to us of the meaning of the feast we celebrate today - The Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe. Though no one more powerful than Jesus has ever walked the earth, He came to serve and not to be served. And He calls upon us who have any wealth or privilege, no matter how meager, to use it in service of others, especially the poorest and weakest.

In today’s gospel, Jesus makes it clear to us that we will be judged at the end of time. It is a fearsome scene which should grab our attention. Furthermore, He lets us know on what terms we will be judged. Did we feed the hungry, clothe the naked, visit the imprisoned or welcome the stranger? If we have provided for the needs of others, then we will share His victory and be welcomed into His Kingdom. If we have not, then we will be cast off to eternal punishment.

We should pay very close attention to what Jesus has to say to us. It is not enough to say that we believe in Jesus if we reject Him in the poor. It is not enough to say that we came every Sunday to be fed by Him if we failed to feed Him in the hungry. It is not enough to say that we read the Bible everyday if we did not put into practice its mandate to welcome the stranger.

Though these words may cause us to tremble, they should not leave us without hope. Certainly, all of us have fallen short in one way or another in serving our needy neighbor. But it is possible to turn things around because all things are possible with God.

The first step is to ask God for the opportunity to help someone in need. However, be prepared! This is certainly a prayer God will answer when we least expect it. It could be that we see someone stopped at the side of the road who needs help changing a tire. It could be a student being picked on in the schoolyard who needs someone to stick up for him. We never know when needy people will cross our path, but we should never fail to help them. Why? Because we will need that good deed to be counted in our favor when we stand before the judgement seat of Christ more than whatever money or time helping them cost us.

The second step is to practice self-denial on a daily basis. We often do not serve the poor because we are too attached to money and to comfort. However, serving others means going out of our comfort zone and even taking the risk of being hurt. Saint Elizabeth of Portugal prepared for her life of service by refusing to indulge in  the many luxuries of palace life. If we are to follow her example and win praise from Christ when we stand before Him at the end of time, then we must learn to rely less and less on modern conveniences. This will give us the courage to go out of our comfort zone and also leave us with more money to give to others.

Saint Elizabeth of Portugal followed the example of Christ who came to serve and not to be served. Despite her great wealth and privilege, she sought to comfort others rather than live comfortably. We must do the same. This mandate of Jesus is even more urgent in our day when the gap between the wealthy and the poor is widening. And, the truth is that our time is short. It will not be long before we will have to stand before the judgment seat of Christ. What good deeds will we have to ensure that we are counted among those who are blessed? 

The Prison Angel

Mary Clarke was born with every advantage in life. Her father was a wealthy businessman who moved his family to Beverly Hills, California. Among her friends were millionaires and movie stars. Though surrounded by luxury and all the trapping of wealth, she always felt that something was missing.

As a young girl, she had a dream that she was about to be executed on Calvary. Jesus appeared to her and offered to be killed in her place. However, she refused promising Him that she would never leave His side. This dream stayed with Mary and later helped convince her that she would only find happiness and fulfillment in Jesus Christ.

When she reached the age of fifty, her second marriage ended in divorce. With her seven children already grown, she decided it was time for her to realize her dream to dedicate herself totally to God’s service by becoming a religious sister. However, because of her age and divorced status, she could not find a religious order that would accept her.

Nonetheless, she remained determined. Selling her house and all her possessions, she decided to dedicate herself full time to serving the needy. One of her cherished ministries was visiting prisoners. Eventually she decided that visiting them was not enough. In 1977, she moved into a cell in the women’s section of La Mesa Prison in Tijuana, Mexico. Though free to leave whenever she wanted, she otherwise lived under all the restrictions of prison life eating with the prisoners, using the same bathroom facilities and lining up at roll call. She became a prisoner for the sake of other prisoners and came to be called “La Mama” or “Mother” by the inmates.

Her work in the prison was not limited to providing spiritual advice and guidance. Often she would bring blankets and medicine for the prisoners. When they were sick, she would nurse them back to health or sit by their bedside when they died. Despite her love for the inmates, she would never allow them to forget why they were there, the suffering they caused to their victims and their need to repent and change their lives.

In 1997, she fulfilled her dream of becoming a religious sister by starting her own order, The Eudist Servants of the Eleventh Hour, and changed her name to Sister Antonia Brenner. Her heroic service came to the attention of the whole world when a book about her life, The Prison Angel, was published and a documentary later produced.

After nearly forty years of ministry in the prison, Sr. Antonia died on October 17, 2013.

Like Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta or Saint Damien of Molokai, Sister Antonia decided it was not enough to merely visit those in need. She wanted to share her life with them. She wanted to live among them, to experience what they experienced and  to suffer alongside them. In doing so she was also following the example of Jesus who, though rich, made Himself poor for our sake. Jesus did not descend from heaven merely to rule over us but to share our life. He made Himself poor and homeless for our sake. Eventually He was tortured and killed, refusing to use His power to protect Himself from the cruelty of the Roman soldiers. In every way He lived a human life, identifying Himself with the naked, the prisoner and the sick to such an extent that He can say to us, “Whatever you did for one of the least brothers of mine, you did for me.”

It is one thing for us to serve the poor. But it is another thing for us to look upon them as brothers and sisters. It is one thing for us to share our surplus money, food and clothing with them. But it is another thing to call them our friends, to know their names, to know their background and to allow them to know us. It is one thing to give of our time to those in need. It is another thing to give of ourselves to them, to inconvenience ourselves or even suffer alongside them.

This is what makes Christian commitment to the poor different from other philanthropic efforts or from the welfare provided by the state. When government agencies step in to help the poor, all they can provide is food, money or housing. Of course, that is good, but it is not enough. There is a deeper ache in each human heart that no amount of material goods can comfort. We need love, friendship and compassion. No government agency can provide that.

That need for love, friendship and compassion is not only felt by the poor but also by the wealthy. It is what unites us as brothers and sisters created in God’s image and likeness. It is what made Sister Antonia restless even though she lived in a Beverly Hills mansion. Jesus Himself felt that need which impelled Him to seek out the poor, the blind and the outcast. Only by going outside our comfort zone to reach out a hand of friendship to those in need will that loneliness within each of us be comforted. Only by living among the poor - by being poor alongside them - can we truly discover Jesus hidden among them.

These are challenging words. They should give all of us - myself included - much to think about. For each of us, the call to not only serve the poor but identify with them will look different. However, it is not an option. Jesus, our King, makes it clear that He will judge us by how we treated them. To receive the blessings of His Kingdom we must become poor ourselves. If we put our lives under the Lordship of Jesus, our King, He will provide us with opportunities to do so. In the process, we will find the unsettled feeling within us subsiding and being replaced with the blessings that only come from God.

Finding Jesus Among The Poor

Many of the Church’s great saints were soldiers. Such a one was Saint Martin of Tours.

Young Martin joined the Roman army at the age of nineteen. Unlike other soldiers his age, he was a sensitive and spiritual man. Though drawn to the teaching of Jesus and inspired by the lives of the Christians he knew, he did not seek to become a Christian himself.

One day while standing guard by a city gate, he noticed a beggar shivering in the cold. Martin took his sword, cut his cloak in half and gave it to the beggar. That night, he had a dream in which Jesus appeared to him wearing the cloak he had given the beggar. In the dream, Jesus was telling his angels, “This is Martin who shared his cloak with me.” When he woke up the next morning, he arranged to be baptized, left the army and dedicated his life to serving the poor and defending the Christian faith.

Saint Martin experienced the promise that Christ makes in today’s gospel. Whatever we do for the poor, the hungry and the suffering,  we do for Jesus. And, whenever we turn our back on those in need, we are turning our back on Jesus.

Today we celebrate the feast of Christ the King. We know that earthly rulers live in splendid palaces and wear the finest clothes. They move in the circles of the wealthy and powerful. But Jesus is a different kind of King. Though He is almighty and can do whatever He wills, He chooses to associate Himself with the poor, the meek and the humble. Whereas we can expect to find earthly kings in palaces, we can expect to find Christ the King in factories, in slums and in soup kitchens.

If Jesus seems distant, if we have had trouble finding Him and wondered whether He is really present among us, it could be that we have been looking for Him in the wrong place. If we really want to meet Jesus and get to know Him, perhaps we need to find Him among the people He so strongly identifies with. Maybe we need to break out of our circle of friends and acquaintances and take the risk of going out to the homeless shelters, the hospitals, the prisons and the soup kitchens where we will encounter a Savior who makes His home with the poor. If we want to take our spiritual life to another level and deepen our relationship with Jesus, that might be just what God is calling us to do.

Of course, poverty comes in many forms. Often people with plenty of food and enough money can be poor in other ways. They may find themselves isolated and lonely. They may be caught in addictions and harmful habits. Or they may feel lost with no direction and no meaning in their lives. Jesus also identifies with these spiritually poor people. So besides feeding the hungry and clothing the naked, we are also called to pray for those who have died, comfort those who mourn, counsel those who are confused, and teach those who are in error. If we love Jesus and desire to serve Him, we must be ready to provide for the needs of others no matter what they are. We do so with trust that if God puts a needy person in our path He will also provide us with what we need to help him or her.

Jesus’ words in today’s gospel also mean that we have to start looking at people in a different way.  Too many times as a society and as a nation, we talk about the poor, the unemployed and the immigrant as a problem to be solved. Often they become scapegoats for society’s other problems. This is particularly true of immigrants. But people are never problems to be solved. Rather they are individuals whom we must love. Most importantly, they are Jesus in disguise. And we will be judged by how we treat them both as individuals and as a nation.

We are always asking for God’s blessing, and it is a good thing that we do. Could it be, however, that God’s blessing comes to us through the needy people who cross our path everyday? Could we begin to change our outlook to such a degree that we see the homeless person on the corner, the beggar in the middle of the street and our lonely relative as God’s blessing in disguise? Rather than feeling inconvenienced or put out by those who ask for our help, could we see ourselves being blessed by them instead?

Can we also change the way that we look at our possessions? Are they for our use alone, or are they given to us by God to share with others? Could we ever consider doing without so that we could share more of our goods with the poor? Could we ever consider sacrificing one of our most precious commodities -  our time - to visit someone who is lonely and could use a little of our attention? What might not seem like much to us could make a world of difference to someone in need. And we will find ourselves being immeasurably blessed in return. We may come to see and know Christ in a way we never did before.

Jesus is in our midst, but He is hidden among the poor. One day He will come in glory. Then there will be no doubt that He is Lord of Lords and King of Kings. Everyone will have to acknowledge Him and bend the knee before Him. And each of us will be judged not just on how often we went to Church and not just  on what Church we belonged to but on how we served Jesus in the poor and needy in our midst. Jesus has already revealed to us what the questions on the test will be. He has also provided us with His word to guide us and His sacraments to strengthen us. There will be no excuse for us if we fail to live up to His expectations. At the same time, there will be untold blessings for us if we serve Him in every needy person we meet along the way.

Jesus Christ, The King Of The Poor

Saint Francis of Assisi is one of the Church's most popular saints. With good reason he is considered the one saint whose life most resembled that of Christ. Of all the good works he performed, one kind deed especially stands out. Shortly after he decided to dedicate his life to God, he came upon a leper in the street. It was customary at the time for lepers to ring a bell to warn people that they were approaching. When the young Francis saw the leper's twisted body and open sores, he felt disgusted and revolted. But, just as suddenly, another feeling came over him. His heart was filled with compassion for the man's suffering. Overcoming his feelings of disgust, he rushed over to him and embraced him as a brother. Inspired by today's gospel reading, Saint Francis understood that it was Jesus he was holding in his arms.

Jesus tells us in today's gospel that we will be judged by how we treat the poor and needy in our midst. He does not tell us this story to scare us, but to encourage us. For, when we find the courage to reach our hand out to another in need, something incredible happens. We discover Jesus. As he says, "Whenever you did it for the least of these, you did it for me." Jesus still walks the earth in the form of the neediest among us.

In the first reading, the prophet Ezekiel blasts the "shepherds of Israel." They are both the political and spiritual leaders of the people who have used their authority and power to enrich themselves rather than to protect the sheep. God will not leave the sheep of his flock scattered, terrorized by predators and hungry. If the princes and priests of Israel will not lead, then God himself will come down to tend his sheep. God himself will protect them, feed them and heal them.

This prophecy finds its fulfillment in the person of Jesus Christ. Jesus is God himself come down from heaven to guide his sheep to everlasting life. His message was not just that a better life was waiting for us in heaven. Rather, Jesus came to show us how even now we could experience the saving love of God. As he told the disciples of John the Baptist, "The blind see, the lame walk, the deaf hear and the poor have the good news proclaimed to them." With Jesus, the destructive effects of sin and death are being undone and the foundations of a new heaven and a new earth are being laid. It becomes real in the world today by the love which Christians show to those in need.

On this feast day, we proclaim the bold truth that Christ is King! As Saint Paul describes it for us in the second reading, Jesus by his death and resurrection has already won the victory over sin and death. Evil has already been defeated. That victory has been revealed to us through faith. It is hidden to give the world time to repent and to be saved. But the day is coming when Jesus' victory will be revealed once and for all. Then there will be no doubt. All people will have to acknowledge Jesus as Lord and Savior.

Until he comes again in glory, Jesus has left it to us to seek out and find those who are lost. Who in our life needs an encouraging word? Who in our life needs a friendly ear? Who in our life could use a visit? Who in our own home needs to know that they are loved and cared for? Like lost sheep, they will not come to us. If we are to live up to the challenge Jesus is giving us, we must go out to them. 

For Christians, salvation is not just a future event awaiting us after death or at the end of the world. Salvation and eternal life are here, today and now. What we as Christians seek to do is bring heaven and its promises down to earth. Jesus taught us to pray, "Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven," and so we seek in everything we do to bring the love of Christ to those we meet.

Christ now reigns in heaven above. He has come to earth to bring hope and comfort to those who suffer. That same Christ is still among us hidden in the weak, the poor, the outcast and the sick. Saint John of the Cross said, "At the end of our lives, we will be judged on love." If we serve the suffering Christ in those we meet, we can be assured of reigning with Christ the King in his heavenly glory.  

Wash Me And I Will Be Whiter Than Snow

Every year, we keep the beautiful tradition of re-enacting the washing of the feet on Holy Thursday.

Most people, when they are invited to take part in this ceremony by having their feet washed, feel honored. However, there can also be a feeling of embarrassment for some people. First of all, most people feel nervous getting up in front of a crowd even if they will not be saying or doing anything. Secondly, it can be awkward to take our shoe off and expose our foot. For many of us, our feet are not our most attractive feature. That’s why we cover them up with stockings and shoes. Many people also feel vulnerable when their shoes are off. What if there’s a fire or other emergency and I have to run out of church with only one shoe on? Finally, as if showing our foot was not embarrassing enough, the priest is going to take it in his hand, pour water over it and dry it off with a towel.

So while it is natural to feel honored when invited to take part in the foot washing ceremony, it is also natural to feel nervous and uncomfortable about it.

Now, let’s imagine how uncomfortable it must have felt for the apostles when Jesus stooped down to wash their feet. They did not come from wealthy backgrounds. They would not have been used to going to lavish dinners at rich people’s homes. So it is very likely that, although it was a custom of the day, they would not have been used to having their feet washed. Also, since foot washing was done only by servants, it would have been a shock for them to see Jesus doing it. In fact, we know it was uncomfortable for them because Peter jumps up and, at first, refuses to have Jesus do it for him.

Jesus did not wash the apostles’ feet because He couldn’t stand the smell anymore or because He didn’t want them to track dirt into the dining room. Rather, He did it to give them - and us - an example. If Jesus, the Lord and Savior of the World, was humble enough to wash the feet of His followers, we should do the same for one another. Jesus came to earth to serve and not to be served. As His followers, we must do the same.

Foot washing is an apt symbol because keeping Jesus’ commandment to love one another can get us into some awkward and tense situations. We might have to serve people who smell bad or are obnoxious. We might have to deal with people who don’t speak our language or whose culture is foreign to us. We may have to go to places we are not familiar with or be put in situations in which we do not feel comfortable. Often, we can be left feeling awkward, nervous or out of place. Nonetheless, if we are to follow Jesus’ example, we have to tolerate and even embrace that discomfort with patience, understanding and love toward those whom God places in our lives.

As if washing the disciples’ feet was not humiliating enough, Jesus goes a step further. After cleansing them, He feeds them His own Body and Blood. He empties Himself, holding nothing back, to unite Himself to the them - and to us - in the most intimate way possible.

Just as with the foot washing, Jesus gives Himself to us in the Eucharist not only to nourish us but to give us an example. We must empty ourselves - giving until it hurts - to bring Jesus to others. Just as He gives Himself to us though it cost Him His life, we must give ourselves to others.

Every condemned person gets a last meal. When He was facing an unjust and torturous death, Jesus chose to spend His last meal not indulging Himself but indulging those He loved by washing their feet and nourishing them with His own Body and Blood. In the same way, Jesus calls us not to spend our lives indulging ourselves but caring for the needs of others. But first we must allow Him to wash us and feed us. Then we will have strength to bear the embarrassment, vulnerability and outright fear that comes with going out to the fringes of society.

Jesus has done it all for us. Now we must go and do the same for one another.

People Who Pray Get More Done!

This is the most enduring truth of the spiritual life - whatever we give to God we get back one hundred times. God cannot be outdone in generosity. No matter what we may offer Him, no matter what sacrifices we may make to do His will, He will bless us many times over.

Martha and Mary learned this in today’s gospel. By sitting at Jesus’ feet and listening to Him, Mary was not shirking her responsibility to help her sister Martha or wasting her time. Rather, as Jesus tells us, she had chosen the “better part”. Time spent with Jesus is never wasted time.

We see this truth exemplified also in Saint Isidore. He was born in Madrid, Spain in the year 1070 AD. Because his parents were poor, he was sent to work on the farm of a wealthy landowner at a young age. Farming is grueling work, demanding long hours of labor. However, young Isidore insisted on going to Mass every day. Many mornings he would show up to the fields late because he had gone to church. His employer would yell at him and his fellow farm hands often made fun of him. But, as it turned out, the land Isidore tended was three times more productive than that of the other workers. On several days, in fact, while Isidore was at Mass, the workers witnessed angels tending his crops and animals. He became an example to the other farmers - and to us as well - that if we tend to our spiritual lives, every other aspect of our lives - our work, our families, even our physical health - will be taken care of as well.

All the great saints of our Church were able to accomplish great things. They built hospitals and schools, evangelized entire countries, wrote great spiritual classics, fed the hungry tirelessly and served the poor despite the cost. If they were to stand before us here today, they would all tell us that the only way they were able to perform so many good works was through the strength they received in their daily prayer. The hours they spent in God’s presence gave them the love, the courage and the endurance they needed to then spend long hours in service of His people. Prayer was not a waste of time for them but was absolutely necessary to make their lives meaningful and productive.

No person has worked harder at serving the poorest of the poor than has Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta. Perhaps no other woman was able to do more good or inspire more people in the twentieth century than she did. Every day, before going into the streets of Calcutta, she would spend an hour in prayer followed by Mass. This is what she said about prayer: “Every moment of prayer, especially before our Lord in the tabernacle is a positive gain. The time we spend in having our daily audience with God is the most precious part of the whole day.”

When we feel under stress - when our work or studies or the demands of family life overwhelm us - prayer is often the first thing we stop doing. Our anxiety has such a hold on us that we believe we do not have time left over to give to God. Prayer can seem like a waste of our time in such instances. However, the opposite is true. It is when we are feeling pulled in a hundred different directions that we most need prayer to give us focus. It is when the demands of life have us tied up in knots that we need prayer to unwind us. It is when we feel depleted, weak and used up that time in God’s presence can fill us back up again with His gifts of peace and strength.

Time spent with God whether it is in prayer or in volunteering our time to serve others is never wasted time. In fact, it is really the only time that matters. Whatever work we may be involved in today has only a temporary effect. If we cut the grass or trim the hedges, they eventually grow back and we have to cut them again. If we make dinner, we will soon be hungry again and have to make breakfast. If I spend the week preparing my sermon for Sunday, come Monday I will have to start the process all over again for the following Sunday. However, when we pray, the relationship we forge with our Heavenly Father lasts for all eternity.

We may be tempted to think that work is important and prayer is optional. But it is really the other way around. Without prayer to support us, the rest of our lives would be meaningless. We might be able to get a lot of work done, but it will be tedious and joyless. With prayer, however, our efforts take on new meaning, become more productive and we find ourselves living with more focus and less anxiety.

We can learn this for ourselves in our own lives by following Mary’s example and beginning each day by sitting at Jesus’ feet and listening to Him. All it takes is spending fifteen to twenty minutes every morning in quiet time reading the Bible or quieting our minds to focus on the presence of God. No matter how chaotic the activity around us is, if we spend time with Jesus every day without fail, we will see our hearts begin to change. We will gain a new perspective on life and experience more peace. It is the easiest thing to do and yet the most rewarding. Furthermore, it does not cost us anything except a little time and what we receive in return ensures it will be the best investment we could ever make.

Here in this place, we have taken time out of our busy schedules to sit in the presence of the Lord and to hear His word. As Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta tells us, this is the most precious part of our week. Nothing we will receive this week, nothing we will accomplish, can be more precious than the Body and Blood of Christ we will share in Holy Communion. God in His great generosity is blessing the time we spend with Him today. If we give Him even more time every day in prayer, we will experience more blessings

Feeding A Hungry Child

We are living in a world wherein the gap between the rich and the poor is widening. Very often, alongside luxury and opulence, there are those who live dangerously close to poverty and destitution. Alongside those who wake up wondering which restaurant they’ll go to for dinner later in the day, there are those who wake up wondering how they will feed their children.

Nowhere is this more true than in California’s Orange County. While we may think of it as the land of the rich and the famous, there are many laborers who are struggling to provide for their families’ most basic needs. In the city of Anaheim where monthly rents far exceed the income of many workers, families are often forced to live in motels to avoid homelessness. It is estimated that as many as one thousand families in Anaheim find themselves in this situation. Because these motel rooms do not often have kitchens and because families often do not have money left over for food, many children go hungry at night.

Bruno Serrato wanted to make a difference.  He was the son of Italian immigrants who struggled to make his way in America. Starting off as a dishwasher, he eventually started a very successful restaurant in Anaheim. To give back to his community, he donated time and money to the local Boys and Girls Club which served the so-called “motel kids”.

When his mother had come to visit him from Italy, he took her to the Boys and Girls Club where he had been volunteering. She talked to a boy who was eating a bag of potato chips and was shocked to learn that that would be his supper for the evening. She turned to her son and said, “Bruno, you have to do something!” He replied, “I am doing something, Mama. I’m giving money to this Boys and Girls Club and volunteering my time.” She said, “No, you have to feed these children.”

Inspired by the concern of his mother, Bruno started “Catarina’s club” in 2005 to provide hot meals for the motel kids of Anaheim. Every evening he personally prepared as many as seventy meals. However, with the economic downturn, he struggled to keep up. His restaurant business was down, he was receiving fewer donations to the Club and the number of children who needed meals was growing. He could have given up on Catarina’s club but he came to love the people he was feeding. So he decided to refinance his house to keep this good work afloat.

Today, he is feeding as many as two hundred children a night in two different locations. The cable news network, CNN, named him one of their heroes for 2011. Bruno does not see himself that way. Rather, he sees himself simply as someone who sees starving children and tries to feed them. If every restaurant followed his example, there would be no more children going to bed hungry every night.

When we use the word “Good Samaritan”, people like Bruno Serrato come to mind. They are those who refuse to look the other way when faced with human suffering. They open their homes and their wallets to those who are suffering, sometimes at a high personal cost. In doing so, they make a difference in the world and inspire others to do the same.

As followers of Jesus Christ, we are called to be such people. We are to recognize Jesus not only in His word, not only in the Eucharist but in every person we meet. We are to love each person as we love ourselves. Everyone is our neighbor.

In the parable we are reflecting on today, the Good Samaritan leaves the beaten man in the care of the innkeeper giving him two silver coins. In the same way, our Heavenly Father has left the poor and suffering peoples of the world in our care. As the Good Samaritan left the innkeeper enough to take care of the beaten man, so God has given us enough resources to take care of our neighbors. We have plenty of food, water, clothing and shelter for everyone on the planet. The only reason there is still poverty today is that many of us fail to share what we have with others. It is really that simple. If all of us were to give even just our excess money, food or clothing to those in need, there would be no more poverty.

Our most precious commodity in today’s world, however, is not material possessions but our time. The number one reason we do not help others is because we are too busy. Like the priest and the Levite in the gospel, we are in such a rush and so focused on what we need to get done that we do not even notice the suffering of our brothers and sisters around us. Perhaps it is the case that we keep ourselves so busy because we do not want to see all that suffering. All the activity in our lives is a convenient excuse to ignore the hands reached out to us asking for help.

God is calling us to slow down, to stop and to stoop down to help others. We can be afraid to help because the need is so great and our resources so few. We can feel as though we will get swallowed up. But when we heed God’s call to care for our neighbor, we also become filled with a sense of satisfaction and fulfillment. God created us to give of ourselves for others so when we, like Bruno Serrato or like the Good Samaritan, treat our neighbor with love and mercy we are fulfilling the deepest desire of our hearts. We sense the loneliness, depression and anxiety that marks our busy world start to fade away. We feel whole again because we are reconnecting with others.

This is the challenge that God offers us today - to live like human beings, to stop living like robots who rush from one assignment to another without noticing our brothers and sisters in need. This is the power of the gospel to change the world one heart at a time. It has to begin with you and I deciding to look open the homeless person with compassion, to see the needy as our brothers and sisters and to not deny anyone who needs our help.