"There she attended the most wretched and contemptible at her own table." (Office of Readings)
Married at fourteen, she had three children by the time she was twenty when her husband died tragically. By twenty four she was dead herself. If this sounds like a thousand other stories you have read about a girl from almost any inner city in the United States, it isn't. It is a synopsis of the life of St Elizabeth of Hungary, the patroness of the Secular Franciscan Order, who in less than a quarter of a century of living, fired the imaginations of her contemporaries with her love of the poor and her willingness to serve them with her own hands and food. In fact, her witness was so powerful, she was canonized only four years after her death.
Elizabeth was born into and married royalty. She had access to money and power, but when her husband died on his way to fight the sixth crusade, she decided to leave the palace and follow Conrad, her Franciscan spiritual director, to Marburg where she continued her life of compassion for those most in need. Conrad wrote that Elizabeth "built a hospice where she gathered together the weak and the feeble. There she attended the most wretched and contemptible at her own table."(1)
Heroines and heroes are always important. They not only encourage us to stretch beyond what feels comfortable in our faith practices and to live simple lives, they also remind us that our lives as Christians are public lives and ought to be impact the lives and lifestyles of our communities and nations.
People of faith, especially the married and families, are the ground upon which the church builds communities of compassion for the poor and justice for all. After all, it was the faith and courage of our parents and grandparents, so many of whom were immigrants, who came to this country and built, hospitals, schools, orphanages, soup kitches and shelters because they knew that faith demanded they respond to the struggles they saw all around them. Though the structures might change, the demand of the gospel to feed the hungry and give drink to the thirsty will never change. St. Elizabeth of Hungary, who is the patroness of Catholic Charities, remains an icon who challenges our generation not only to pray for justice in our churches, but to live the gospel in our streets.
Today, recall someone who has been a heroine of hero to you and pray to live like them.
Showing posts with label Justice. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Justice. Show all posts
Thursday, November 17, 2011
Sunday, October 16, 2011
Give to God what belongs to God
“Is it lawful to pay the census tax to Caesar or not?" Mt 22:17
Taxes are a problem in every society. Two summers ago I was in Tanzania and while visiting with a young fellow who was about to finish his university studies, I learned that because so many Tanzanians are self employed it can be very difficult for the government to collect taxes. No doubt this is an issue in most of the developing world. Studies in Tanzania suggest that because people don’t trust that their taxes are helping improve public services, they are unwilling to pay their fair share. Perhaps the movement to “Occupy Wall Street,” is manifestation of this same distrust in our country.
A similar situation existed in the Palestine of Jesus’ day. Because Israel was occupied by the Romans, their tax rate was high. There was a poll tax, equivalent to a day’s wage, an income tax of one percent and a ground tax that demanded Jews give 10% of all grain to Rome and 20% of all wine and fruit. Some scholars suggest that by the time the poor paid all their taxes it amounted to almost 40% of their income. It was no surprise that the Pharisees and Herodians, enemies in most things, used the issue of taxes to try to entrap Jesus. If Jesus agreed that the taxes should be paid he would be accepting the legitimacy of the Roman occupation and offending the leaders of the Jews. If he suggested Jews should not pay taxes, he might please the poor who were so heavily taxed, but would be vulnerable to the Romans who ruled Israel.
Jesus escapes the trap by asking for a coin. That the leaders of the Jews had a Roman coin was an offense in itself since it bore the image of Caesar and the inscription, “Tiberius Caesar, Augustus, son of the divine Augustus, high priest.” The Romans demanded that taxes be paid in Roman currency and for a Jew to have any currency bearing the image of someone who claimed divinity made him or her unclean. In a sense the argument is over. Jesus has turned the tables on the Pharisees and Herodians, but he takes his argument a step further. To both of his adversaries he suggests that they are more concerned with winning silly arguments than pleasing God and that is our lesson for today as well.
When we enter into serious discussion with others are we merely trying to win the argument and prove our superiority or are we seeking insight and wisdom in order to live more justly in the world and with God?
Today, ask for the grace to listen to others with reverence. Perhaps you will also be granted the gift of wisdom.
Taxes are a problem in every society. Two summers ago I was in Tanzania and while visiting with a young fellow who was about to finish his university studies, I learned that because so many Tanzanians are self employed it can be very difficult for the government to collect taxes. No doubt this is an issue in most of the developing world. Studies in Tanzania suggest that because people don’t trust that their taxes are helping improve public services, they are unwilling to pay their fair share. Perhaps the movement to “Occupy Wall Street,” is manifestation of this same distrust in our country.
A similar situation existed in the Palestine of Jesus’ day. Because Israel was occupied by the Romans, their tax rate was high. There was a poll tax, equivalent to a day’s wage, an income tax of one percent and a ground tax that demanded Jews give 10% of all grain to Rome and 20% of all wine and fruit. Some scholars suggest that by the time the poor paid all their taxes it amounted to almost 40% of their income. It was no surprise that the Pharisees and Herodians, enemies in most things, used the issue of taxes to try to entrap Jesus. If Jesus agreed that the taxes should be paid he would be accepting the legitimacy of the Roman occupation and offending the leaders of the Jews. If he suggested Jews should not pay taxes, he might please the poor who were so heavily taxed, but would be vulnerable to the Romans who ruled Israel.
Jesus escapes the trap by asking for a coin. That the leaders of the Jews had a Roman coin was an offense in itself since it bore the image of Caesar and the inscription, “Tiberius Caesar, Augustus, son of the divine Augustus, high priest.” The Romans demanded that taxes be paid in Roman currency and for a Jew to have any currency bearing the image of someone who claimed divinity made him or her unclean. In a sense the argument is over. Jesus has turned the tables on the Pharisees and Herodians, but he takes his argument a step further. To both of his adversaries he suggests that they are more concerned with winning silly arguments than pleasing God and that is our lesson for today as well.
When we enter into serious discussion with others are we merely trying to win the argument and prove our superiority or are we seeking insight and wisdom in order to live more justly in the world and with God?
Today, ask for the grace to listen to others with reverence. Perhaps you will also be granted the gift of wisdom.
Saturday, September 3, 2011
Breaking the Sabbath
Jesus regularly broke the Sabbath, and we wonder why. He was an observant Jew. He wanted to fulfill the law, not destroy it or supplant it. Why then would he allow his disciples to pick grain on the Sabbath? The answer seems almost too simple. The Pharisees were not interested in the observance of the law, but in catching Jesus in opposition to it. If they could demonstrate that Jesus had no respect for the law, they would win the battle for power and honor. Like so many of us, they wanted to win, they wanted to be right.
Jewish law about the Sabbath, although strict, was not rigid then or now. Mati Goldstein, commander of the Jewish rescue-mission to 2010 Haiti
Clearly, Jews today and the Pharisees of Jesus’ time, knew that the law commanded them to help save lives. Jesus also knew this and challenged the Pharisees with an interpretation of the law that they would have known. His disciples were hungry. They did not want to break the law; they wanted to allay their hunger.
Helping those in need, even our enemies, is a constant theme in the New Testament. How many times have we heard the 25th chapter of Matthew’s gospel: “I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me, ill and you cared for me, in prison and you visited me…. whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me.” There is nothing in this passage that suggests a believer should avoid feeding the hungry or clothing the naked on the Sabbath. Justice and charity trump the law. Jesus knew this as an observant Jew, and we know our obligations as Christians. The hungry cannot wait for Sabbath to be over to find food for themselves or their children. We must help them now.
Friday, August 12, 2011
"I gave you a land that you had not tilled and cities that you had not built, to dwell in; you have eaten of vineyards and olive groves which you did not plant." Jos 24:13
How much God does for us each day! How many gifts do we continue to receive! In the United States: clean air, clean water, more than enough food, and so much more. Most of us are also blessed with good friends and family who understand and support us, especially when we are lost or upset.
Now we have only to learn to share God's gifts. As Jesus says very clearly in the 12th chapter of Luke's gospel: "Much will be required of the person entrusted with much, and still more will be demanded of the person entrusted with more." Bread for the World reports that almost 16,000 children die every day from hunger, and this in a world that produces enough food to feed everyone. 20% of the world consumes 70% of its food, while in the United States we spend 40 billion dollars a year on diet products, most of which don't work. (Business Week) These kinds of contradictions not only hurt our head, they send a message to the rest of the world about the United States that suggests we are more concerned about our personal appearance than the health of people around the world.
Today's reading from from Joshua, therefore, not only demands that we be grateful, but that we work together to find ways to distribute God's gifts more equitably.There are any number of agencies and philanthropists trying to do this, (CF), not the least of which is Catholic Relief Services.
Today I suggest we take an extra moment or three to pause in gratitude for all those working for social change, and then, before eating, ask God for the insight and courage to discern a personal path to help feed hungry people. When we take for granted the gifts of creation, especially nourishing food and clean water, we dishonor the God who so graciously provides them for us.
Today I suggest we take an extra moment or three to pause in gratitude for all those working for social change, and then, before eating, ask God for the insight and courage to discern a personal path to help feed hungry people. When we take for granted the gifts of creation, especially nourishing food and clean water, we dishonor the God who so graciously provides them for us.
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