The Portiuncula of St Francis of Assisi

“See, you lowly ones, and be glad;

you who seek God, may your hearts revive!

For the LORD hears the poor,

and his own who are in bonds he spurns not.” Ps 64:69

Sometimes the psalms startle and stop us. Because they are prayer songs which we often recite by rote like a litany or the rosary, we can forget that they contain countless images that help us understand God, our faith and ourselves better. When Psalm 64 reminds us that God sees us in our lowliness and hears our confusion and upset, the scripture helps us remember that God draws closer to us when we are suffering. It is not that God will take away our pain. Rather, God will walk, stand or sit with us as we endure and eventually embrace the trials that come to all in life.

A friar friend, Tom Murphy, who died two years ago, was a shining example of this. Tom spent the majority of his ministerial life as a hospital chaplain. Not one to wait to be called to the bed of a sick person, Tom walked the halls of the hospital and nursing home where he served. Like St Francis of Assis, Tom sought out those who were struggling the most. He always had time to sit down, listen and pray with those who felt desperately alone. And because Tom was bilingual, he was also able to attend to the large Latino population of the hospital and nursing home with a special tenderness. 

Tom did all this while enduring his own demons. His mental illness not only did not deter him from walking with the sick, it made him more compassionate. Tom, and so many others like him, remind us that God will not only not abandon us in our confusion, God will will seek us out and assure us we are not alone.

Today, seek out someone who is sick and listen.

Who or what most helps you when you are wrestling with life?

Being the Body of Christ

“This is a deserted place and it is already late; dismiss the crowds so that they can go to the villages
and buy food for themselves.” Mt 14:14

Fear is a powerful and dangerous motivator, so strong at times it can overwhelm our good judgment and cause us to harm ourselves and others. When a mother can't afford to feed a child, she might do almost anything to find food. Anyone who has lived among the very poor knows this. Women everywhere have sold themselves to support their children, and fathers have stolen money and goods for the same purpose.

We don't know how fearful the disciples were when Jesus told them to feed the hungry themselves, but they immediately resist his command to feed those who are following him. Afraid, perhaps, that they would not have enough for themselves, they try to reason with Jesus, but the Lord will have none of it. Jesus insists that there is always enough if we take not what we want to feel comfortable, but what we need to stay alive and healthy. Sharing the goods of the earth is a foundational Gospel principle.

People should not have to live in fear for their next meal, but millions still do and it should offend every Christian to reflect upon this. If Catholics reduce the Eucharist to mass or adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, they do a disservice to Jesus command to "give them some food yourselves." (Lk 9:13)

Today, enjoy the Eucharist and feed someone who is hungry.

How do you understand Jesus' command to be the Body of Christ?

Greed and the Gospel

“Take care to guard against all greed, for though one may be rich, one’s life does not consist of possessions.” Lk 12:15

Greed has been a constant theme in the United States in recent years. CEO's making $29,000,000 a year is a commonplace, and, frankly, a scandal. The discrepancy in income between the super rich and the everyday poor is growing and a cause for deep concern. Newsweek In the past, this kind of disparity in salaries has also been the seed of revolution. The simplistic principle that those who produce a billion dollars of profit for a company ought to be rewarded accordingly doesn't help those on the low end of the economic pyramid or the economy!

Jesus had more than a little to say about this, and it is still valuable advice. Money, property and power accumulation are not in themselves the problem. Greed is. The desperate clinging to what we have suggests there is no other world but the one in which we live, and faith challenges this view over and over.

Jesus did not come to straighten out the world but to set its people free, and while some will deny or ignore this gift, it is ours for the taking. When we live generously and with deep regard for those most in need, relationships blossom and the Good News becomes powerful and transforming. It is virtually impossible to turn away from someone we know who is in real need. It is only when the poor remain faceless that our greed overwhelms our beliefs. Opening our eyes to everyone in front of us not only changes us, it can change the world.

Today, ask yourself how much you need to live.

Has your own or another's greed ever impacted your life?

Rage

"His disciples came and took away John the Baptist's corpse and buried him; and they went and told Jesus." Mt 14:12

The beheading of John the Baptist is always a difficult story to read. While the text does not speak of alcohol directly, it is not difficult for anyone who has been around people who drink too much to imagine Herod's drunkenness leading to a promise he cannot break. When his daughter, at her mother's prompting, asks for John's head on a platter, Herod has no choice but to accept her request. Alcohol got him in trouble and his pride made it worse. Too drunk to think clearly, he gives into his wife's rage and orders John's murder.

Anyone who has lived in an alcoholic family has stories like this, and while most of them do not involve murder, too many know the horrors of alcohol abuse. Wives and children have been beaten and families have disintegrated because of alcoholic drinking. Worse, many families endure abusive drinking in their homes because they think the gospel demands their fidelity to the struggling alcoholic, or they feel trapped in a situation from which they do not see another path, and their decision to stay often sets patterns that the next generation find impossible to break.

One wonders what the disciples of John were thinking after they buried John and told Jesus of their master's death. Did they hope Jesus would retaliate? Were they afraid for their own lives? Did they imagine Jesus raising John from the dead?

Most of us skirt the obvious. Alcoholic drinking will eventually kill the body of the drinker and the spirits of the alcoholic's family.

Today, pray for alcoholic families.

What do you do in the face of addiction?