Open the Door for Us September 1

The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing,but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 1 Corinthians 1: 17

'Lord, Lord, open the door for us!' But he said in reply, 'Amen, I say to you, I do not know you.' Therefore, stay awake, for you know neither the day nor the hour. Matthew 25: 11-13

Piety

Let us pray: Lord God, source of all our being, you hold the holy wisdom. When we come seeking that wisdom, please open wide the doors of your mansion and show us the way to your eternal library. Teach us what we need to know so we are prepared for whatever mission you call us to undertake. Amen.

Study

http://www.usccb.org/nab/090106.shtml

It is late in the day. The sun is setting wind your way through the narrow streets of Nazareth in your quest for wisdom. You approach a group of fishermen drinking coffee after selling their daily catch to the shop keepers. You ask this group of men in Nazareth where you can find the place where Jesus, son of Joseph and Mary, lives.

With their directions in hand, you follow the path until you find what you think is the house of the Lord. Imagine walking up to the place where the Lord dwells and getting to the door. Your pulse is quickening. You knock on the door three times and pray that the Lord is home.

From within, a man’s voice calls out, “Who is there?”

You answer. “Lord it is I. Anthony. Anthony of Fairfax. Son of Salvatore and Ruth. I am here to learn how to gain the wisdom needed for eternal life. Lord, will you open the door for me and teach me this?”

The voice answers, “Anthony? Do I know you? Do you know me? Why should I open this door?”

Have we lived our lives wisely so the Lord will know us when we call upon him? How will Jesus react when we do? Will the Lord look through the little window and see if he recognizes us? Will Jesus cautiously open the door a little to see us? Will Jesus know us when and if he opens the door?

If Jesus opens that door, he will teach us that true wisdom and power are to be found paradoxically where one would least expect them, in the place of their apparent negation.

To the eyes of people without faith, the crucified Christ symbolizes death and defeat, impotence and absurdity. The Romans had the power of the whip, the hammer, the nails, and the thorns. The Sanhedrin had the power to put men on trial. The king had the power over life and death in the Coliseum, the court room or on the cross.

But where is the power in a homeless baby whose parents didn’t even have enough money to rent a room? Where is the power in an itinerant Jewish carpenter who surrounded himself with fishermen, tax collectors and sinners? Where is the power of the common thief who was hanged from a tree and left to die next to the Lord?

That power lies in our faith. Our faith teaches us that the Lord is the Kingdom, the Power and the Glory now and forever.

We must be careful not to seek organizational power. It doesn’t last.

We must be careful not to get wrapped up in political power. It will pass to someone else when the people turn away at the next election.

We must be careful not to be trapped into trying to exert the power of our personality and leadership over others. The first shall be last.

We must be careful not to think that money and ego give us any more riches than the poorest families.

Jesus reminds us time after time that those without power have the greatest power. So it is our job to be prepared, like the virgins with extra lamp oil, and let the cross lead us to where the Lord wants us to be…

…and Jesus wants us to be on his doorstep, knocking. But when we get to that threshold, there won’t be any need to knock. He will be standing at the gate rushing out to meet us and carry our luggage inside. He will teach us and he will serve us the bread and wine of eternal life.

What is wisdom? Knock and the door will be open to you.

Action

E.J. Dionne, writing in today’s Washington Post, “A Perfect Storm for the Poor,” comments on the release of the Census Bureau data on poverty that was released this week:

He writes (italics mine): The bad news is that the poverty rate, having risen steadily in recent years, is still higher than it was in 2001, when it stood at 11.7 percent. Worse is that the proportion of the poor who are very poor has risen. People are considered in deep poverty if they have half or less of the yearly income of those at the poverty line. In 2005 half the poverty line for a family of three was $7,788; for a family of four it was $9,985. (Try living on that.) According to the new report, 43.1 percent of poor people lived in that sort of deep poverty -- a record since 1975, when the government started assembling such statistics.

In the six economic recoveries since the early 1960s, this is the first time the poverty rate was higher in the recovery's fourth year than it was when the recession was at its worst.

The number of Americans without health insurance rose, too, to 46.6 million in 2005, up from 45.3 million in 2004 and 41.2 million in 2001. The proportion without insurance is up from 14.6 percent in 2001 to 15.9 percent in 2005.

If the poverty statistics were not enough of a call to action, the weather forecast also brings bad news. Today, as we brace for the remnants of Tropical Storm Ernesto to climb northward from the Carolinas and threaten this area with severe flooding, FACETS is bracing for how to save the poor and homeless in Fairfax County from the rising waters.

FACETS is a central county non-profit organization working with area homeless persons. They will open the door to a shelter for central county area homeless individuals tonight Friday, September 1, 2006 during the Ernesto Storm.

They need sleeping bags as well as volunteers to help staff the shelter early Friday evening and overnight and early Saturday morning. Also, they can use volunteers to drive homeless individuals from the hot meal sites on Route 50 and Route 29 to storm shelter site and to drive homeless individuals back to the Route 50 and Route 29 area on Saturday.

Can you help staff shelters that will open to protect against the rising waters? If you can help, contact Jim Brigl, FACETS Executive Director, at 703-352-5090 or e-mail at jbrigl@facetscares.org. Maybe it’s not a sexy way to spend the last weekend of the summer, but someday, when we knock on the door of the House of the Lord, it will be remember by the most powerful people.