TAKE THE FIRST STEP

Today we celebrate the feast of St. Vincent de Paul. On April 23, 1833, the Society of St. Vincent de Paul was founded by Frédéric Ozanam and six companions.   Most American Catholics have heard of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul.   For over 170 years, it has been present to the needy among us. 

In a very real sense, the ultimate mission of St. Vincent de Paul, as well as the society that bears his name, began in 1617.   St. Vincent heard about a local family where everyone was sick and without any means of help. Although his parish responded with abundant kindness for this unfortunate family, the family needed help beyond immediate care.   So Vincent established the first of many societies that bear his name. 

According to Butler’s Lives of the Saints, “Into [this first society], he wove the fundamental principles of his own spirituality: to see Christ in the poor and to thus become holy and to establish a personal charity that takes a person spiritually and materially into the very hovels of the poor.” Giving money and food is good and a necessary form of charity to meet a person’s material needs, yet there most often is a deeper need that is not so easily met.  It is a need that requires a personal engagement to hear the person’s story, to develop some level of a trusting relationship that will lift them up to move beyond the need for charity.   Their situation may have been caused by a one-time event that they could not recover from, or a situation beyond their control that contributes to their need for charity.   All too often there is a systematic societal barrier that makes climbing back to self-sufficiency all the more difficult.

Our local branches of the St. Vincent de Paul Society continues this same mission.  Much like the apostles whom Jesus sent on their new journey, empowered with the authority to cast out demons and cure diseases.   Can you image the look on their faces?  With the response you want us to do what? You want us to go and "Take nothing for the journey, neither walking stick, nor sack, nor food, nor money, nor let no one take a second tunic.” (Lk 9:3)  As ill prepared or uncomfortable they may have been to be completely dependent on the hospitality of those to whom they minister, they only needed the power and authority given by Jesus.  All they had to do is take the first step, and go.

Just like the apostles and the St. Vincent de Paul Society members, we are being sent out.  Nourished by this meal of the body and body of the real presence of Jesus, no matter how ill-equipped we may feel, we are being empowered by the Holy Spirit to reach out to personally engage those most in need.  Pope Francis, in a radio address at the conclusion of the Year of Mercy underscores that, “the poor are not a problem: they are a resource from which to draw as we strive to accept and practice in our lives the essence of the Gospel.”  Will you take the first step?

STEP UP YOUR GAME

[1]Success means different things to different people, but whatever your personal definition, I am willing to guess you want to regularly feel the thrill of achieving your goals, making measurable progress and being respected as a leader in your industry or ministry.   The good news is that, barring an uninhibited crisis, we are in control of how we will schedule and navigate through our days and consistent action dictates where our businesses, brands, and relationships go[2] or do we have control?

Our whole culture is based on the “American Dream”; believing that with hard work and the sweat of our brow, we can pull ourselves up by our bootstraps and become a millionaire!  I used to buy into this concept until I met the clients of the Daily Bread in Melbourne, FL, a local soup kitchen and social services agency.  The Daily Bread clients on the domestic economy ladder as day laborers are among the poorest persons in the community, much like the day laborers in the gospel parable.

I use to think, the only way for me to step up my game was to surround myself with players and leaders better than myself, players and leaders that would challenge me and help develop me to be a better player and professional. “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord.” (Is 55:8) 

Hurricane Irma reconnected me to the lessons learned at Daily Bread, when she took away the comforts I worked so hard for and believed I’d earned.  I was plunged into darkness each evening for six days and nights, no AC, no TV, no computer, no hot shower, and an empty refrigerator, feeling completely disconnected.   This disconnectedness reopened my heart and awareness, not only to the Daily Bread clients, but to the local people in desperate need that go beyond temporary hurricane power disruptions.

It is easy to see how some would look upon this gospel parable as a form of “divine welfare”—that you can hardly work at all and get the same reward as those who worked their tails off and “who bore the day’s burden and the heat.” (Mt 20:12).  Jesus seems to be saying that you and I can come to Mass every Sunday, even daily Mass, say our daily prayers; that we can be kind and generous to our neighbor; that we can even love our enemies—and that we’ll get the same reward as someone who has a deathbed conversion!  This just seems to fly in the face of our sense of justice![3]

“God’s ways are not our ways.  His thoughts are not our thoughts.”   Therefore, God’s generosity will stick in our craw for the rest of our lives until we give in.  Until we surrender, until we admit that we are not in control, that we can’t work our way to heaven, nor can we pray our way into heaven.   Until we come to the realization we don’t have a say in who gets to heaven and especially who doesn’t get there.   We can be blinded by God’s generosity to those we think are undeserving.  Envy blinds us to God’s nearness at all times and keeps us from gratitude for his generous mercy.

Now let’s keep our heads about us here.  Some might start thinking they can loosen up on our spiritual disciplines and good works, if all we have to do is a deathbed confession and we’re in!   This week in our daily scripture readings St. Paul in a letter to Timothy, was reminding him that if he “should be delayed, you should know how to behave in the household of God, which is the Church of the living God.” (1 Tm 3:15) St. Paul also writes to the Romans saying, “Do not conform yourselves to this age but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and pleasing and perfect.” (Rom 12:2) Still more, St Luke says, “the servant who was ignorant of his master’s will but acted in a way deserving of a severe beating shall be beaten only lightly. Much will be required of the person entrusted with much, and still more will be demanded of the person entrusted with more.” (Lk 12:48) Therefore, I’d pretty sure none of us, who are here at Mass with the courage to approach these mysteries and profess our “Amen”, can use the deathbed confession strategy to obtain heaven.  We know too much.  We know how we ought to act as the Church of the living God.

Our gracious and merciful God does promise eternal life to all who enter into relationship with Him, whenever we do so and even after we fall.  This is a pure gift.  We are not entitled to it.[4]  God gives so much more than anyone can earn by a lifetime of good works and acts of devotion.  In his great compassion, he freely offers salvation to those who appear to be last and least in the eyes of the world, as well as to those who welcome God’s generosity at the last moment of their lives.  God’s justice can look more like human mercy.  We can grumble and cry, “unfair” or we can step up our game and be the mentors that helps others to raise their game.

Therefore, it is wise for us to have consistent spiritual routines, like daily prayer and regular participation in Mass, and to have hardworking, successful mentors to help us step up our game.  Yet in the end, it is our willingness to step up and be the mentor, because it’s when we serve those who feel they have nothing left to give, it’s when we walk with those who are at their lowest moments of life, and it’s when we open our hearts to be in relationship with the poorest in our community that our hearts are opened and we become aware that complete abandonment to God’s ways is the purest gift that will lift us all up on the last day.

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[1] New American Bible, Saint Joseph Edition. © 1986.  Scriptures: Isaiah 55:6-9; Philippians 1:20-24, 27; Matthew 20:1-16.

[2] Internet:  https://www.inc.com/brenda-della-casa/5-ways-to-step-up-your-game-and-boost-your-career-instantly.html

[3] Naked, and You Clothed Me, Edited by Deacon Jim Knipper © 2013. “So the last will be first, and the first will be last” by Fr. Paul Holmes

[4] Living the Word, Scripture Reflections and Commentaries for Sundays & Holy Days.  © 2016 by Laurie Brink, O.P. and Paul Colloton, OSFS,  World Library Publications.

LET IT GO!

[1]The Lake Washington Square Disciples was an interdenominational partnership consisting of members from a Catholic, Presbyterian, Lutheran, and non-denominational churches who had been working for several Saturdays on the construction of a Habitat for Humanity house in Melbourne, FL.  On July 31, 1999, the volunteers arrived on site to find a rock had been thrown through the front bedroom window, the frame holding the remaining pieces of the pane together.   It was the first vandalism the project had experienced.

At first the senseless act was frustrating and disappointing. Workers wondered why anyone would not be supportive of an effort to build affordable housing in a neighborhood that had been sadly neglected for decades.   Some volunteers even muttered that maybe their efforts were being wasted.

When the morning devotion was offered, the group prayed for the protection of the house, “My Spirit remains among you.  Do not fear” (Hg 2:5), for the lifting of the spirits of the volunteers, “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good” (Rom 12:21), and for the vandal, “Harden not your heart” (Ps 95:8). Afterward while some volunteers were sweeping up the rock and glass pieces, from the bedroom floor, the noticed the shape of the hole left by the rock. With very little imagination, they could see the outline of a dove with wings spread. The news of this discovery quickly buzzed through the work group. Frustration gave way to wonderment.  God, through this image of the Holy Spirit, had entered the house in a special way, enriching the lives of the volunteers, the staff, and the family who now lives in the home.

No doubt you’ve heard the statement, “To err is human; to forgive divine.” What we hear in today’s Gospel reading is that to forgive is fully human—and therefore divine.   God is passing on the mystery of His impossible, unconditional love from himself to all of us.    We remind ourselves of this mystery every time we recite the perfect prayer Jesus taught his disciples, “Our Father … forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors” (Mt 6:12).

So, we’ve been treated badly, hurt in some way, we may have good reason to feel resentful and we don’t have to apologize for it.   But for a moment, let’s put aside what the other person did and look at what anger does to us.   If you’ve ever nursed a grudge for a long time, you know how resentment can eat you up, we’re not just talking about feelings here, it can take a physical toll on us.[2]  Don’t ask me how I know this.   What we must try to do is get beyond the offense and reject the temptation to wish ill on the person or seek revenge.

What we hear consistently through scripture is that God loves all of us in an unearned way, and that’s what forgiveness means.   If we refuse to forgive, then we cannot be forgiven.  This is the warning at the end of the Gospel.   Where God, in his anger, will hand over the unforgiving servant “…to the tortures until he should pay back the whole debt” (Mt 18:34).   This is a bit scary and it leaves me somewhat conflicted. Did we not just repeat, several times in our psalm response, “The Lord is kind and merciful, slow to anger, and rich in compassion.”  Would our compassionate and merciful God turn us over to the torturer?

What I believe this parable is teaching is, we will be handed over to the torturer, and the torturer is our own mind, heart, and spirit.   I think Jesus is talking about self-torture and we’re good at it.  It’s not God who tortures us; humans most assuredly torture themselves and one another—and then project that onto God.  If we keep holding on to the wrong-doing, the evil and/or the injustice we’ve experienced, blaming someone else, then we do ourselves and everyone else no good.   Let it go!  For the sake of your own salvation.  Forgiveness is love in an unearned way.

Forgiveness, in my experience, reveals three goodness’s at the same time: First, we have to grant the offending party some degree of dignity and goodness.  We must not demonize them.  We must honor the divine presence in them, even with the mistakes they’ve made.

Second, we have to recognize the capacity for goodness inside ourselves.  We have to draw from a deeper place, bigger than us, that is not so easily offended, in fact, it is un-offend-able.  It’s the soul, the place where God dwells, a holy temple within us.   When we draw from this place, we don’t need to count the cost or measure the offense.  We’re living inside such a bigger love that little hurts really don’t matter and they’re not worth carrying around.

The third goodness, of course, is that we recognize the total and unconditional goodness of God, who has always shown us kindness and mercy.  As the mystics and saints all realize, the center of this universe is kindness and mercy.  This abundant love unlocks everything.  It frees reality so we no longer need to count the cost, hate, blame, or attack anyone!

If God is kind and merciful, then we who are God’s children can only, somehow, become the same.   We become the God we worship, the Christ we encounter in this mystery, who forgave even those who were in the midst of crucifying him, because God is forgiveness and love itself.[3]

While the Habitat family may have moved on, the lesson lives on: “Forgive you neighbors injustice and when you pray, your own sins will be forgiven.” (Ben Sira 28:8)

1. New American Bible, Saint Joseph Edition © 1986.  Scriptures: Sirach 27:30-28:79, Romans 14:7-8, Matthew 18:21-35.

2. Sundays with Jesus, Reflections for the Year of Matthew. by James DiGiacomo, SJ © 2007 Paulist Press, Mahwah, NJ

3. Naked, and You Clothed Me, Edited by Deacon Jim Knipper © 2013. “Forgive your neighbor’s injustice” by Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM