Do the Works

Memorial of Saint Elizabeth of Hungary, Religious

Realize how far you have fallen. Repent, and do the works you did at first. Otherwise, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent.  Revelation 2:5

The people walking in front rebuked him, telling him to be silent, but he kept calling out all the more, “Son of David, have pity on me!”  Luke 18:39

Piety

Prayer to Serve God Well

Father of Mercy, forgive my failings, keep me in Your Grace, and lead me in the way of salvation. Give me strength in serving You as a follower of Christ.  May the Eucharist bring me Your Forgiveness and give me freedom to serve You all my life.  May it help me to remain faithful and give me the grace I need in Your service.  May it teach me the way to eternal life.Top of Form Amen.

Study

The blind man can see what the sighted cannot.  He "sees" and recognizes that Jesus is the Messiah by alluding to a title we first heard in the Canticle of Zechariah at the beginning of Luke’s Gospel.  (“He has raised up a horn for our salvation within the house of David his servant.”  Luke 1:69)  Not only does the blind man exhibit his faith, but also he admits to his sins and asks for Jesus to have pity on him for his frailties.

The sighted crowd does not get it.  Crowds do not fare too well in sacred history.  This one is no different.  Maybe that is because Jesus comes into the world to establish relationships one-on-one.  He comes to relate to Mary and Joseph.  His cousin John the Baptist.  The disciples whom he calls one-by-one.  The Roman centurion.  The woman at the well.  The blind beggar.  The leper.  The woman whose daughter is hemorrhaging.  The list goes on and on – but it is mostly individuals who have a personal account with Jesus and are changed. 

That does not ignore the crowds who are there listening to the Sermon on the Mount or the Sermon on the Plain.  However, there are not individual conversion stories that arise from those episodes.  Mostly we see Jesus working to get the personal relationship right while the crowds try to turn away the blind beggar, the children and those who would try to save Jesus from the executioner’s hammer and nails and sword.

Action

Repent and do the works you did at first. 

Good works reminds me of some news stories and columns that advocate for national service.  Recently, there has been significant coverage of a movement for compulsory national service – either in the military or in civilian programs like AmeriCorps.  The arguments of those in favor of national service are compelling.  After college, I spent time in a service year helping to relocate Indo-Chinese boat people who came to America after the Vietnam War.  However, although I support the concept and the reality of a year of service, I stop short of making voluntarism compulsory. 

People should do the works that they can do.  However, with the free will with which we have all been graced, let's do it from our hearts, not from some compulsory law.

We all know the first line of the Declaration of Independence.  Here is the last sentence -- an idea we often forget: “And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our Sacred Honor.”

Rather than using this line to require national service, let's use it to inspire all to mutually pledge to do voluntary national and personal service.  Do the works. 

The Franklin Project

http://www.aspeninstitute.org/policy-work/franklin-project

Stan McChrystal

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/mcchrystal-americans-face-a-gap-of-shared-experience-and-common-purpose/2014/11/14/a51ad4fa-6b6a-11e4-a31c-77759fc1eacc_story.html?hpid=z8

Entrusted

Thirty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time 2014 A

By Rev. Joe McCloskey, SJ

Charm is deceptive and beauty fleeting; the woman who fears the LORD is to be praised.  Acclaim her for the work of her hands, and let her deeds praise her at the city gates.  Proverbs 31:30-31

For to everyone who has, more will be given and he will grow rich; but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.  Matthew 25:29

Piety

How we use our talents for the sake of the Lord is a good measure of our piety.  In our gospel, if you did not know better, the talent appears a small sum of money.  In reality it was a great deal of money.  What is rewarded is not how much money was made but rather how well we use our talents.  Our talents in the gospel story are a responsibility.  The one who buried his talent because it seemed so little in comparison to the ones who had gotten more captures in a powerful way what happens in life.  Piety teaches us that there is no need to be jealous because we are judged not on how many talents we have, but rather on how well we use our talents.  Our piety shows itself in how we live our lives in imitation of what attracts us to Christ.  Christ emptied himself out of his use of his Godness so that he could be just like us.  How we try to be like him is our piety.

Study

How we come to love and appreciate the talents God has given us is how we discover our identity before God.  How we study the possibilities around us as to what we can do is how we claim an identity before God.  Our study of the past reveals to us what we did not think ourselves capable of doing.  We learn by our study the need of trusting God.  We know that we will not be tempted beyond our talents.  We learn to let go and let God work in our lives.

Action

Our talents are uncovered by our attempting to do what needs doing around us.  We put our talents to work in meeting the needs of our world.  We live up to our job responsibility and discover we have so much more to give.  Gradually we discover it is not what we are doing that matters so much as the love with which we do what we can.  There is a God meaning in all we do out of love because God is where there is love.  We offer our work as extensions of the ministry of Christ.  Our life gradually becomes the statement of how much God loves our world, as we are a part of God’s love.  The more we try to do in his name, the more he gives us to work with and to grow.  We enter into the joy of our God by growing in his work and sharing the Good News of Salvation.  

Co-Workers in the Truth

Saturday of the Thirty-second Week in Ordinary Time

Beloved, you are faithful in all you do for the brothers and sisters, especially for strangers; they have testified to your love before the Church…For they have set out for the sake of the Name and are accepting nothing from the pagans.  Therefore, we ought to support such persons, so that we may be co-workers in the truth.  3 John 5-6, 8

The Lord said, “Pay attention to what the dishonest judge says.  Will not God then secure the rights of his chosen ones who call out to him day and night?  Will he be slow to answer them?  I tell you, he will see to it that justice is done for them speedily.  But when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”  Luke 18:6-8

Piety

Blessed the man who fears the LORD, who greatly delights in his commands.  His descendants shall be mighty in the land, a generation of the upright will be blessed.  Wealth and riches shall be in his house; his righteousness shall endure forever.  Light shines through the darkness for the upright; gracious, compassionate, and righteous.  It is good for the man gracious in lending, who conducts his affairs with justice.  For he shall never be shaken; the righteous shall be remembered forever.  (Psalm 112:1-6)

Study

If the dishonest judge will grant the wish of the persistent widow, Jesus suggests that God will not only do so as well to all who call on him consistently, but God will go ultra et supra -- above and beyond that example.  Putting these readings side by side with each other and with the headlines of the week are like a wake-up call on our duties to each other as humans.  

Last summer, our media were filled with the tragic stories about unaccompanied children crossing our borders.  These children are like the strangers referred to in the third letter of John.  While a debate is raging among politicians about what action the President will take or what action Congress will take, an article on Religion News Service explains that the nation’s Catholic bishops are jumping into the increasingly contentious battle over immigration reform by backing President Obama’s pledge to act on his own to fix what one bishop called “this broken and immoral system.”

Last Tuesday at the annual meeting, Seattle Auxiliary Bishop Eusebio Elizondo, chairman of the migration committee of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said the USCCB would continue to work with both parties to pass comprehensive immigration reform.  However, Bishop Elizondo said, given the urgency of the immigration crisis, “it would be derelict not to support administrative actions … which would provide immigrants and their families’ legal protection.”

“We are not guided by the latest headlines but by the human tragedies that we see every day in our parishes and programs, where families are torn apart by enforcement actions especially,” he said.

How are our political and religious leaders like the judge in today’s story?  How are the poorest and voice-less like the poor widow?

Action

We have all heard about charities that help to grant children with serious illnesses their wish.  Did you know that one third of those wishes are to visit specific resorts in central Florida?   Think mouse ears.  Such wishes are as persistent and numerous as the petition of the poor widow.  With thousands of such trips planned each year, where do all these families stay?

Enter the Give Kids the World Village.  Give Kids The World is a non-profit organization that exists only to fulfill the wishes of all children with life-threatening illnesses and their families from around the world to experience a memorable, joyful, cost-free visit to the Central Florida attractions, and to enjoy the magic of Give Kids The World Village for as long as there is a need.

Over 132,000 children have had their dream come true at Give Kids The World. No child in need has ever been turned away – and no child ever will. Give Kids The World is a place where families find joy, laughter, serenity, and a lifetime of memories. Through the tireless support of our volunteers, employees and generous partners, we dedicate each and every day to these special families.

As the holidays approach, we are often asking children what they want for Christmas.  Consider supporting the organization that supports all the organizations that grant wishes for children. Even better, when you take a vacation to see any of those central Florida attractions, spend half a day volunteering at Give Kids the World.  They always need a little maintenance, gardening and sprucing up to get ready for the next guest.  

Check out there How to Help page and while making your travel plans, also fill in their volunteer application.  http://www.gktw.org/help/    

What We Worked For

Friday of the Thirty-second Week in Ordinary Time

By Melanie Rigney

Many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh; such is the deceitful one and the antichrist. Look to yourselves that we do not lose what we worked for but receive a full recompense. (2 John 1:7-8)

Blessed are they who follow the law of the Lord! (Psalms 119:1)

(Jesus reminded the disciples of the destruction in the days of Noah and Lot, and said:) “So it will be on the day the Son of Man is revealed. On that day, someone who is on the housetop and whose belongings are in the house must not go down to get them, and likewise one in the field must not return to what was left behind.” (Luke 17:30-31)

Piety

Lord, open my eyes to the temptations, people, and perceived obligations that would lead me away from You.

Study

Ah, the memories.

Who doesn’t like to talk about Snowmageddon, the 2010 series of winter storms during which Washington ground to a halt, or the June 2012 derecho that left millions without power and was responsible for twenty-two deaths?

Or maybe you’ve got a story about where you were when the towers fell or when John or Bobby Kennedy or Martin Luther King was assassinated or when the Berlin Wall fell.

And who could forget your wedding day, birth of your first child, or the death of your parents?

These are some of the memories by which we mark our lives, the big, eventful type of stuff.

Perhaps we’re less likely to remember the smaller events that threaten to eat away at our spiritual life: Just what it was that that new pastor said that was so awful we chose to skip Mass or go elsewhere rather than address it with him. Just what it was that annoyed us so much about that person who ran the ministry at the homeless shelter that we stopped volunteering. Just what pressing to-do on our list got us out of the habit of doing the daily readings or other spiritual study. Do you remember? Probably not. But your behavior changed as a result, and not for the better.

May we all be more vigilant when those events threaten what we have worked for: a nurturing relationship with the Lord and his people.

Action

Make plans to revisit a spiritual practice or volunteer effort that you’ve gradually abandoned for reasons you barely remember.

Welcome Him as You Would Me

Memorial of Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini, Virgin

Perhaps this is why he was away from you for a while, that you might have him back forever, no longer as a slave but more than a slave, a brother, beloved especially to me, but even more so to you, as a man and in the Lord.  So if you regard me as a partner, welcome him as you would me.  Philemon 15-17

Asked by the Pharisees when the Kingdom of God would come, Jesus said in reply, “The coming of the Kingdom of God cannot be observed, and no one will announce, ‘Look, here it is,’ or, ‘There it is.’  For behold, the Kingdom of God is among you.”  Luke 17:20-21

Piety

God our Father, who called Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini from Italy to serve the immigrants of America, by her example, teach us to have concern for the stranger, the sick, and all those in need, and by her prayers help us to see Christ in all the men and women we meet. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.  (Prayer to St. Frances Cabrini)

Study

How do you relate to God?  Is God something or someone who is “out there?”  Is God external to your being – but a part of your world nonetheless?  Or is God a part of you?  Is God internal to your being – inside you?  Or is your answer both choices?

The translator had a choice when bringing this Gospel into English.  The Kingdom of God is within you.  The Kingdom of God is among you.  Within?  Among?  In our case, the translator chose “among.”  There will not be any trumpet sounding come the judgment day.  The Lord will not be riding into the New Jerusalem on a donkey.  The Lord has already arrived and is among us and within us in thought, word and deed.  Jesus is the Lord of the Present Moment, not of some future time still to come. And not of some distant point of time in the past two thousand years. He endures.  He is.  He always will be.

The relationship of Paul to Onesimus and Philemon also is depicted on multiple levels of time and space.  Paul wants Onesimus to remain with him “imprisoned by the Gospel.”  However, he lets go of that possessive attitude and sends him to Philemon.   He was away and now he is back. He is back a changed man.  As Paul has grown in his relationship with the Lord, his relations with those around him also have changed. 

Action

When we were young, God was an external presence.  The man up in the clouds pointing his finger to Adam. The disembodied voice in the sky or the desert.  The picture or icon hanging on the wall at home or at church.  The presence in the Eucharist up there on the altar that other “older” people could consume. 

Then, with Eucharist, that is where it all begins to change.  At some point in our lives, God stopped being ONLY out there and God invited himself inside.  All we had to do was open our mouths and say Amen.  Or say “Amen!” and then open our mouths.  

How has your relationship with the Lord changed over time?  Welcome the Lord within. 

How has your relationship with others changed as you welcome them as Christ?  Welcome the Lord among you in the person of the stranger as did St. Frances Xavier Cabrini, patron of immigrants.  

There is Nothing I Shall Want

Memorial of Saint Josaphat, Bishop and Martyr

By Colleen O’Sullivan

But when the kindness and generous love of God our savior appeared, not because of any righteous deeds we had done but because of his mercy, he saved us through the bath of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he richly poured out on us through Jesus Christ our savior, so that we might be justified by his grace and become heirs in hope of eternal life.  (Titus 3:4-7)

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.  (Psalm 23:1b)

(The lepers) stood at a distance from him and raised their voice, saying, “Jesus, Master!  Have pity on us!”  And when he saw them, he said, “Go show yourselves to the priests.”  As they were going they were cleansed.  And one of them, realizing he had been healed, returned, glorifying God in a loud voice; and he fell at the feet of Jesus and thanked him.  He was a Samaritan.  (Luke 17:12b-16)

Piety

Lord, may I ever be thankful for your healing grace and mercy.

Study   

As I was reflecting on today’s Gospel, I thought of all the recent news stories about the Ebola virus.  Anyone infected with the disease, their family members, their friends, and anyone who has come into even the remotest contact with them all become instant lepers.  No one wants to come within a mile of them, so frightening is the disease.  What an isolating experience for those affected.  Even in this country, with all our sophisticated medical expertise, if you’ve got the virus, you’ve got to be wondering if you’re going to die.  Your caregivers, of necessity, come to help you wrapped in layers of protective garb.  No one can come visit you.  It has to be extremely lonely.

That loneliness and isolation are what the lepers of Jesus’ day experienced, too.  No one wanted to be infected, so lepers were banned from towns and villages, from contact with family or friends.  They literally lived on the margins of society.  So, how wonderful it must have been for the ten lepers who cried out to Jesus for healing and had their plea answered.  No longer would they be shunned.  They could return to their homes, their occupations, their families.  They could live again.

So, why did only one of the ten, and a Samaritan at that, turn back to thank Jesus?  Probably the other nine were like most of us.  We don’t generally walk around full of gratitude.  We all have much for which to be thankful.  (Just ponder the words in the first Scripture reading.  Out of love and mercy, our God has redeemed us and offers us the gift of eternal life.)  But we don’t wake up in the morning full of thanksgiving for another day, for the gift of life, for the blessing of redemption.  We take it for granted.  Or we are disgruntled with God because not every item on our prayer wish list has been granted.     

Action

Spend some time today praying through Psalm 23.  Think about how God has led you to green pastures.  What restful waters has God used to refresh your soul?  When has God taken you by the hand and led you in the right direction?   When have you walked through a dark valley without giving in to fear or despair because you felt the presence of the Lord?  When you pray through the entire psalm in this way, you should be able to gratefully echo the psalmist in saying, “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.”

Unprofitable Servants

Memorial of Saint Martin of Tours, Bishop

By Beth DeCristofaro

For the grace of God has appeared, saving all … as we await the blessed hope, the appearance of the glory of the great God and of our savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to deliver us from all lawlessness and to cleanse for himself a people as his own, eager to do what is good. (Titus 2:11, 13-14)

So should it be with you.  When you have done all you have been commanded, say, ‘We are unprofitable servants; we have done what we were obliged to do.’”

Piety

Oh, Saint Martin, who cut your own cloak to clothe Our Lord disguised as a beggar, we humbly ask for you intercession before Our Lord Jesus Christ and help us to be worthy of the grace and mercy of the Holy Ghost that leads us from darkness to light into the eternal kingdom, forever and ever. Amen

Study

This is the week of the Martins.  Last week we celebrated the feast of Martin de Porres, then the martyrs Martin Tho and Tinh, now Martin of Tours.  My Martin was my great-uncle, Fr. Martin Hayes, OSB.   He is always in my thoughts and heart during this week although, admittedly, I do not know which of these courageous saints was his patron.  “Pop” Martin (Uncle Billie to my mother) was a warm, funny man with a generous heart and a deep commitment to his faith, his teaching, his monastery, Belmont Abbey and especially his golf.  He was always ready to treat a homesick student to a meal and he delivered great sermons. Although joining Pop for Vespers meant dinner afterwards in the refectory, I also grew to love the voices of the monks raised in prayer.

All of these men would have known just what Jesus’ message meant for their lives and how it deepened their relationship with God.  “Pop” was firmly grounded in his place as a Benedictine, dedicated to the Divine Office, full of hospitality and purposefully living “ora et labora” (prayer and work).  In his late 80’s he was hospitalized and he called me from North Carolina to tell me good-bye.  He knew that he was dying and he knew that he would be met by the God he had served for sixty-plus years.  There was no touch of fear or regret, in fact he cracked a few jokes in that last call.  He would strongly agree that he had merely done what he was obliged to do, eager to do what is good for the Lord.

Action

For whom am I being “Martin” today?  Who will see God’s glory though my commitment to the poor or in my work for the Lord?  

Be Uprooted

Memorial of Saint Leo the Great, Pope and Doctor of the Church

For a bishop as God’s steward must be blameless, not arrogant, not irritable, not a drunkard, not aggressive, not greedy for sordid gain, but hospitable, a lover of goodness, temperate, just, holy, and self-controlled, holding fast to the true message as taught so that he will be able both to exhort with sound doctrine and to refute opponents.  Titus 1:7-9

And the Apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith.”  The Lord replied, “If you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you would say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you.”  Luke 17:5-6

Piety

May God bless you with a restless discomfort about easy answers, half-truths and superficial relationships - so that you may seek truth boldly and love deep within your heart.

May God bless you with holy anger at injustice, oppression, and exploitation of people - so that you may tirelessly work for justice, freedom and peace among all people.

May God bless you with the gift of tears to shed with those who suffer from pain, rejection, starvation, or the loss of all that they cherish - so that you may reach out your hand to comfort them and transform that pain to joy.

May God bless you with enough foolishness to believe that you really CAN make a difference in this world - so that you are able, with God's grace, to do what others claim cannot be done.

And the blessing of God be with you and remain with you, this day and forevermore. (The Benedictines)

Study

Increase our faith.  At times in the past month, some people in the news have certainly been uprooted and tested like never before.

Imagine if you were Hannah Graham or her parents.  What started as a typical Saturday night frolicking with friends in Charlottesville, ended up in tragedy.  We do not yet know how her body ended up in a remote farmyard in Albemarle County, Virginia.  In the coming weeks, we will learn through the police investigation what happened in what must have been her fearful final hours followed by weeks of anxiety for her parents.

Maybe your thoughts about increasing faith could flow to the family of Lauren Hill.  She is the 18-year old college freshman with brain cancer.  According to CBS News, “The Division III basketball game between Mount St. Joseph's and Hiriam College [on November 2] was far from ordinary, and it wasn't just because of the packed arena and the basketball luminary in attendance and the NCAA's decision to move the game forward ahead of schedule.  The game was special because of one freshman forward, number 22, Lauren Hill, who made her college basketball debut while battling an inoperable brain tumor that has given her just months left to live.”

Maybe your thoughts about increasing faith could flow to Brittany Maynard and her family.  According to the International Herald Tribune, “When Ms. Maynard was diagnosed with a fatal brain tumor earlier this year, she decided to end her life on her terms. The 29-year-old moved to Oregon -- where physician-assisted suicide is legal -- and took a lethal mixture of water, sedatives and respiratory-system depressants on Saturday.  In her last days, Maynard’s decision to end her life brought right-to-die laws to the fore.”

If events like these became a part of our personal story, the tragic tales of these three young women would challenge the faith of any one of us and those we love.  We would certainly be uprooted from our comfort zone.  None of the journeys these young women were on were easy.  And maybe that is exactly the point Jesus makes.  If we had faith the size of a mustard seed, coping with tragedy like these might be easier.  Jesus himself prayed in the Garden for the cup of death to pass him by if there was any other way to redeem the world.  It did not. 

   

Action

What has uprooted you and your faith?  Don’t let fear, discomfort, anger, tears or foolishness win.  Plant your roots in faith and you will cope with whatever comes your way – even if you do not understand why God send it to you. 

You Are the Temple

The Dedication of the Lateran Basilica 2014 A

By Rev. Joe McCloskey, SJ

Do you not know that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?  If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy that person; for the temple of God, which you are, is holy.  1 Corinthians 3:16-17

Jesus answered and said to them, “Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up.”  The Jews said, “This temple has been under construction for forty-six years, and you will raise it up in three days?”  But he was speaking about the temple of his Body.  John 2:19-21

Piety

We are all Temples of the Holy Spirit.  Christ is the capstone of our piety.  Christ is the reason we make of our bodies a holy place.  We dedicate our lives to the Lord.  Our Piety is expressed first in our lives; secondly in where we live our lives.  Piety is seen in the respect we show for the Temples of the Lord.  Our bodies are meant to be temples of the Holy Spirit.  We are called by the feast of the dedication of the Lateran Basilica to dedicate our lives to the Lord such wise that we make holy every place we visit.  The temples of the Lord call forth from our hearts a special respect.  Our piety is seen in the respect we have for the Holy Places of the Lord.  The Lateran Basilica is a Special Temple of the Church in Rome. 

Study

The Lateran is a place that was intended to honor John the Baptist.  It is not a celebration of a person.  It is the celebration of the mother church of Christianity.  We study the history of Christianity to discover our roots.  Churches are where people gather to honor God.  We honor the dedication one of the first homes of Christianity.  Our gospel speaks of the cleansing of the temple by Christ.  We study how to keep our hearts focused on the temples Christ.  Our study makes special all the temples of our life. 

Action

Piety, reverence and devotion is what we bring to our visits to church.  We welcome our brothers and sisters who belong with us to our Church.  We need to try to come a little earlier to church that we might have time to visit with the Lord.  We need to show reverence to the dweller in the tabernacle that makes holy our church by his presence.  We need to make the homes of Christ special in our lives.  There is always the chance to stay a few minutes after the services so that we are not always rushing away from the home of our Lord.  It is important to be generous to our church with service to make the temple of the Lord even a better home for Christ in the Eucharist.  When we have a chance to visit the Lord we should make the most of it.  Christianity shows its best face when we visit our churches dressed for the occasion.  The celebration of the dedication of the Basilica of John Lateran is a good reminder of how special Rome is as the center of the world’s Christianity.  We can never do enough for the home of the Church’s beginnings as a world-wide religion.  It is always wonderful to go back to where we lived as children.  This is even more so with our beginnings in Christianity.  When we are honoring the dedication of the Basilica of John Lateran, we are honoring all our beginnings.  All our homes should be special.  And this is especially true with the homes of God. 

In Every Circumstance

Saturday of the Thirty-first Week in Ordinary Time

I know indeed how to live in humble circumstances; I know also how to live with abundance.  In every circumstance and in all things I have learned the secret of being well fed and of going hungry, of living in abundance and of being in need.  I have the strength for everything through him who empowers me.  Still, it was kind of you to share in my distress.  Philippians 4:12-14

No servant can serve two masters.  He will either hate one and love the other, or be devoted to one and despise the other.  You cannot serve God and mammon.”  Luke 16:13

Piety

Prayer for the Canonization of Servant of God Dorothy Day

Merciful God, you called your servant
Dorothy Day to show us the face of
Jesus in the poor and forsaken.
By constant practice
of the works of mercy,
she embraced poverty and witnessed
steadfastly to justice and peace.
Count her among your saints
and lead us all to become friends of
the poor ones of the earth,
and to recognize you in them.
We ask this through your Son
Jesus Christ, bringer of good news
to the poor. Amen

Study

November 8, 1897.  Brooklyn, New York.  It may come to be known as the day a saint was born.   Dorothy Day knew how to live in humble circumstance after living in abundance.  That she is now on the cloud of witnesses can be not denied although the formal process of canonization has yet to be completed. 

Her cause for sainthood was first advanced by the late John Cardinal O’Connor of her home diocese in New York City.  “Why does the Church canonize saints?” Cardinal O’Connor asked.  “In part so that their person, their works and their lives will become that much better known, and that they will encourage others to follow in their footsteps — and so the Church may say, ‘This is sanctity, this is the road to eternal life.’ ”

Dorothy’s person, works, and life epitomized the rejection of the cult of money.  She lived her last 50 plus years in a virtual vow of poverty.  She raised money for the Catholic Worker community and the people in poverty that it served, not for her personal comfort.  She did not want to be “dismissed” by being called a saint.  Instead, she has been called many other things:  an activist, a journalist, a radical, a bohemian, a mother, a convert, a mystic, a prophet, a faithful daughter of the Church.  She turned her back on the riches she might have earned in Hollywood writing movies and screenplays or as an author.  Dorothy Day accomplished what the rich young man in the Gospel could not do.  She gave up everything to serve the poor and follow Jesus.

Action

Two stories of faith in action have struck me this week – or at least two I will relate to Dorothy Day and today’s readings.  First is the news from Broward County, Florida of a 90-year-old man who has been cited twice this week for publicly feeding the poor on the streets and beaches of Fort Lauderdale.  What knuckleheads in this Judeo-Christian culture would outlaw feeding the poor and taking care of the least among us?

Certainly Catholic Workers like Dorothy Day and those who have followed in her footsteps have often found themselves on the inside of a locked cell for their protests of this dirty rotten system, but not for their corporal works of mercy.  Yet Arnold Abbot, in his ninth decade of life, has been told to “Drop that plate!”  Has a serving of rice and beans now become a weapon of mass nutrition?   He says, "I don't do things to purposefully aggravate the situation.  I'm trying to work with the city. Any human has the right to help his fellow man."  Mr. Abbot and his charity have certainly eschewed serving mammon instead opting for serving breakfast, lunch and dinner.

The other story which bears reading is a column in the New York Times:  Jesus and the Modern Man by James Carroll.  Mr. Carroll tries to scale the intellectual and moral barriers erected that obscure having a closer walk with Jesus – an act familiar more to our Protestant cousins than to many Catholics (the humble readership of Your Daily Tripod excused, of course).  Carroll writes:

[R]etrieval of the centrality of Jesus can restore a long-lost simplicity of faith, which makes Catholic identity — or the faith of any other church — only a means to a larger communion not just with fellow Jesus people, but with humans everywhere. All dogmas, ordinances and accretions of tradition must be measured against the example of the man who, acting wholly as a son of Israel, eschewed power, exuded kindness, pointed to one whom he called Father, and invited those bent over in the shadowy back to come forward to his table.

Come forward to the table and find out that you belong huddled with your neighbor, Jesus, Arnold Abbot, Dorothy Day and the former Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Argentina among others.

For Acting Prudently

By Melanie Rigney

Friday of the Thirty-first Week in Ordinary Time

Our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we also await a savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. He will change our lowly body to conform with his glorified Body by the power that enables him also to bring all things into subjection to himself. (Philippians 3:20-21)

Let us go rejoicing to the house of the Lord. (Psalms 122:1)

(Jesus told the disciples the parable of the dishonest steward and how he reduced the amount owed himself to gain favor with the master’s debtors, then said:) “The master commended that dishonest steward for acting prudently. For the children of this world are more prudent in dealing with their own generation than the children of light.” (Luke 16:8)

Piety

Lord, I prostrate myself in gratitude for Your eternal mercy.

Study

For some of us, it’s the parable of the prodigal son. We’re the older brother, and we can’t stand that the father killed the fatted calf for that profligate, who wasted his share of the estate and how he’s back and welcomed with open arms.

For some of us, it’s the parable of the vineyard workers. We don’t see why the people who worked a half day or less should get the same wages as those who toiled from early in the morning.

But for many of us, it’s the parable of the dishonest steward that seems at odds with everything that should be right and good and holy. Why on earth does Jesus commend the steward, who’s being dismissed, for marking down the debts owed the master, even if the part the steward is forgiving is his own commission? What’s so prudent about that?

Maybe all three of these parables, while difficult, are about gradualism, the concept that people whose conduct is less than pleasing to God—and that’s all of us, friends—don’t change overnight. It’s not clear that the prodigal son’s focus was on the error of his ways or his hunger. It’s not clear that the vineyard workers who received a day’s pay for showing up as the workday ended were there bright and early the next morning. It’s not clear the steward had any other motivation than to curry favor with those he had taken advantage of now that he was going to be out of work. But maybe they were a foot or an inch closer to God as a result of what they learned in those encounters.

Some of the most moving writing I’ve read this year has come from Sister Theresa Aletheia Noble, FSP, in her Patheos blog posts about her own return to faith. She openly acknowledges that while she was away from faith, an atheist in fact living with her boyfriend, she felt drawn to Mass and received the Eucharist on more than one occasion. The story of course has a God ending; she’s now a sister of the Daughters of St. Paul. Sister Theresa writes in part:

Gradualism does not dismiss the law. Gradualism has great respect for the law, but an even greater respect for the people for whom the law was made. For that reason, gradualism believes that in order for a person to fully accept the law, we must give the Holy Spirit time to work in that person’s soul. … This is not playing fast and loose with God’s law, this is mercy … and common sense.

And perhaps it’s that mercy… and common sense… that Jesus is attempting to share with us in that difficult parable of the dishonest steward. The steward’s self-interest drove him to do the right thing in reducing his commission. Perhaps the next time he faced a difficult situation, he came closer to making the right decision for the right reason. May we do the same.

Action

Consider whether there is a place or person in your life where you could show some mercy and give the Holy Spirit a bit more time to work a miracle.

Whatever Gains

Thursday of the Thirty-first Week in Ordinary Time

But whatever gains I had, these I have come to consider a loss because of Christ.  More than that, I even consider everything as a loss because of the supreme good of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.  Philippians 3:7-8A

I tell you, in just the same way there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous people who have no need of repentance.  Luke 15:7

Piety

It helps, now and then, to step back and take a long view.
The kingdom is not only beyond our efforts, it is even beyond our vision.
We accomplish in our lifetime only a tiny fraction of the magnificent enterprise that is God's work. Nothing we do is complete, which is a way of saying that the Kingdom always lies beyond us.
No statement says all that could be said.
No prayer fully expresses our faith.
No confession brings perfection.
No pastoral visit brings wholeness.
No program accomplishes the Church's mission.
No set of goals and objectives includes everything.
This is what we are about.
We plant the seeds that one day will grow.
We water seeds already planted, knowing that they hold future promise.
We lay foundations that will need further development.
We provide yeast that produces far beyond our capabilities.
We cannot do everything, and there is a sense of liberation in realizing that.
This enables us to do something, and to do it very well.
It may be incomplete, but it is a beginning, a step along the way, an opportunity for the Lord's grace to enter and do the rest.
We may never see the end results, but that is the difference between the master builder and the worker.
We are workers, not master builders; ministers, not messiahs.
We are prophets of a future not our own.  By Bishop Ken Untener of Saginaw

Study

Paul’s knowledge of Christ led him to reassess the ways of truly pleasing and serving God. His reevaluation indicates the profound and lasting effect of his experience of the meaning of Christ on the way to Damascus some twenty years before.

Paul had a chance to reflect upon his awakening experience, his enlightenment.  He had to fall into darkness to emerge into the light. However, the martyred Jesuits from 25 years ago in El Salvador had very little time to reassess the way they served God. 

According to an article by William Bole, we are reminded that “in the predawn hours of November 16, 1989, an elite battalion of El Salvador’s military forced its way into the Jesuit residence at the University of Central America, or UCA.” 

UCA, led by its president, Father Ignacio Ellacuría, SJ, had become a stronghold of opposition to human rights abuses committed by the military.  Bole recalls, “On that night, soldiers dragged five priests out of their beds and into a courtyard, made them lay face down on the grass, and fired bullets into their heads. They went back inside and killed another Jesuit. Then, searching the residence further, they found a housekeeper and her teenage daughter crouching in the corner of a bedroom, holding each other. The gunmen shot them too.”  One night.  Eight martyrs.  Now, 25 years later, many are still waiting for justice in the case of the murdered Jesuits and women.

Our loss remains loss without justice.  Our loss remains loss without reconciliation.

Action

We study St. Peter and St. Paul because their lives give us a window into our OWN lives.  In the case of the Jesuit Martyrs from El Salvador, the witness of their lives is what matters.   

“The case is important. But the focus shouldn’t be primarily on the people who pulled the trigger, or the ones who gave the orders. It should be on the martyrs and their commitment to the Gospel, the kind that leads us to defend the lives of the poor today, going forward.”  Their witness helps us to reevaluate the profound and lasting effect of how we experience of the meaning of Christ on the way to our daily Damascus be it in the District, Fairfax, Alexandria, Hagerstown or points beyond.

How have we been lost like Saul?  How have we become found like Paul?