Epiphany: The Work of Christmas Commences

Here is a post on the Epiphany from a few years ago. It was quite popular and I thought I'd re-post it.

Yesterday we celebrated the Feast of the Epiphany at St. Mary's Church in Painesville, Ohio. Traditionally, the feast has been celebrated on January 6th, and our family has always left up the Christmas decorations and the manger scene until the Epiphany.

The word comes from the Greek, meaning "sudden appearance, manifestation." The Irish writer James Joyce and others used the word to mean "sudden insight." The Epiphany was the manifestation of Jesus to the magi and to the world outside the Holy Family.

Fr. Jenkins, in his homily yesterday, finished with a famous poem, that made me think of Tom Liszkay's Christmas card:

The Work of Christmas
Howard Thurman

When the song of the angels is stilled,
When the star in the sky is gone,
When the kings and princes are home,
When the shepherds are back with their flock,
The work of Christmas begins:

To find the lost,
To heal the broken,
To feed the hungry,
To release the prisoner,
To rebuild the nations,
To bring peace among people,
To make music in the heart.

"Just Thoughts"--Do We All Have a Role to Play?

[Originally written for the St. Mary's (Painesville, Ohio) church bulletin]

 Does everyone have a responsibility to build a Just World? What if you are too busy, too young, too old, too sick?

Catholic Christians (and those of many other faiths) believe everyone has a responsibility and a role. For some people, the role is to try to shape policy, by way of participation in politics or agencies that make policy. And of course all adult citizens have the right (and responsibility) to vote! But not every person can shape policy, and some people are not eligible to vote.

If you are too young, say an infant and or a child, your role is to be that very baby or child. Learn to understand the world, learn about love from your parents and family. 

If you are a busy young parent, your role in bringing about the Just Kingdom is to raise healthy, happy, well-adjusted children. You will teach them love, justice, and service. You will teach both by your words and your example.

If you are too old or too sick for active work, pray for the world. Remember that every time we pray the Our Father we are asking for the Lord's Kingdom to be established and we are asking for forgiveness, for ourselves, and for our enemies. That is a huge contribution to building the Beloved Community. 

If you have been blessed with time and energy, you can do what some of your St. Mary parishioners and friends do: chop onions and carrots (or do a dozen other jobs) for St. Mary's Wednesday and Thursday night meal for the homeless and hungry; go to daily mass and pray for the world (and then maybe serve food and beverages at St. Mary's meal); take communion and comfort to the sick and homebound; staff St. Mary’s food pantry for the hungry; visit prisoners in the county jail (several of your fellow parishioners do that); play liturgical music and prepare luncheons for the grieving at funerals--your neighbors do that; help immigrants adjust to life in America--that's a central ministry of St. Mary's. There is so much to do--and so few workers in the vineyard.

You build justice by living out the Spiritual and Corporal Works of Mercy (see Matthew 25:34-40), central elements of Christianity, and a particular focus of Catholicism. These are right there in the Gospels, and part of the mission of our own parish. Everyone has a role; it can be very modest, but that doesn't matter. 

Get out there and do something!

[The above essay was written for a particular church (and its ministries). But I think these ideas can be generalized far beyond St. Mary's! I myself am so honored to be an active participant in some of these ministries.]

Below is part of Wikipedia's entry on "Works of Mercy":

The Seven Corporal Works of Mercy

Corporal Works of Mercy are those that tend to bodily needs of others. In Matthew 25:34-40, in the The Judgment of Nations, six specific Works of Mercy are enumerated, although not this precise list — as the reason for the salvation of the saved, and the omission of them as the reason for damnation. The last work of mercy, burying the dead, comes from the Book of Tobit.

1. To feed the hungry.
2. To give drink to the thirsty.
3. To clothe the naked.
4. To harbour the harbourless. (also loosely interpreted today as To Shelter the Homeless)
5. To visit the sick.
6. To visit the imprisoned (classical term is "To ransom the captive")
7. To bury the dead.

The Seven Spiritual Works of Mercy

Just as the Corporal Works of Mercy are directed towards relieving corporeal suffering, the even more important aim of the Spiritual Works of Mercy is to relieve spiritual suffering. The latter works are traditionally enumerated thus:

1. To instruct the ignorant.
2. To counsel the doubtful.
3. To admonish sinners.
4. To bear wrongs patiently.
5. To forgive offences willingly.
6. To comfort the afflicted.
7. To pray for the living and the dead.

The Works of Mercy--Our Opportunity and Responsibility

Just Thoughts: The Works of Mercy

If you had religion classes as a child, you might have learned to recite by heart the Corporal and Spiritual Works of Mercy. These were celebrated most prominently in the Gospel of Matthew (Chapter 25, verses 34-46), and trace their lineage back to Jewish tradition and scripture. The Works of Mercy are among the most precious elements of our religious heritage, and they are honored and taught by many traditions such as the Methodist, Lutheran, Episcopalian, and Orthodox churches. One can also see these guiding principles in the social justice work of Unitarian-Universalist, United Church of Christ, and Mennonite churches. St. Mary's is my parish in Painesville, Ohio, and our ministries live out these exhortations of Jesus, the Corporal Works of Mercy:

1. To feed the hungry. 2. To give drink to the thirsty. 3. To clothe the naked. 4. To shelter the homeless. 5. To visit the sick. 6. To visit the imprisoned. 7. To bury the dead.

If you are not finding the opportunities for doing the Works of Mercy, contact the people in charge of the various ministries of your church. At our parish, we do all of these, every day of the year. Most of this work is done by volunteers, who don’t see it as a burden, but a blessing, a great opportunity.

The Spiritual Works of Mercy are these:

1. To instruct the ignorant. 2. To counsel the doubtful. 3. To admonish sinners. 4. To bear wrongs patiently. 5. To forgive offenses willingly. 6. To comfort the afflicted. 7. To pray for the living and the dead.

The first three Spiritual Works of Mercy probably demand a level of expertise, education, and training that not everyone possesses. But we can all bear wrongs patiently and forgive offenses willingly. And it is so important to comfort the afflicted (and maybe occasionally, like Jesus in the Cleansing of the Temple, to afflict the too comfortable!). And can there be any excuse not to constantly pray for the living and the dead? That is everyone’s vocation and opportunity, even the sick and the homebound.

The Works of Mercy help us honor the Great Commandment given to us by the Lord in Matthew 22:36-40: “You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments.”

Living out the Works of Mercy obeys this Great Commandment and helps usher in the Just Kingdom, the Beloved Community that Martin Luther King Jr. and Maurice McCrackin spoke of.

Postscript: When I showed someone a draft of this blog posting, she reminded me that the ideas behind the Works of Mercy can be found in many other religious traditions, not just the Jewish and Christian traditions. 

Bridge Building in a Time of Great Divisions

Bridge Building

There’s a little German poem, “Die Menschen bauen /  zu viele Mauern / und zu wenig Bruecken.” Translated it means, “People build too many walls, and too few bridges.” These days people are bitterly divided by so many things: politics, race, religion, social class, place of residence, and so on. The divisions are heartbreaking and seem impossible to overcome. But you probably know a few people or institutions that bridge these walls. We need to follow their examples and look for every opportunity to find common ground with those who are different from us. Jesus himself demonstrated that approach many times in his life, once with the Samaritan woman at the well, and at the end of his life when he blessed the so-called “Good Thief.” A first step is to look for the goodness in all people and find programs and people that are bridging these walls.

One place many St. Mary’s [Painesville, Ohio] parishioners have found common ground is in our Karpos Ministry to the homeless and hungry. This ministry is now in its 5^th year and feeds more than 100 people every Wednesday and Thursday evening. The volunteers are not all St. Mary parishioners. Some of the key volunteers are not Catholics. The entire political spectrum is represented, and there is ethnic and racial diversity among volunteers. Ages range from school children supervised by their parents to a man in his mid 70s, who comes from a neighboring parish. The Karpos volunteers have a common mission and their commonalities are much more compelling than their differences. In the end, the Karpos volunteers love one another and show the Love of the Lord to the homeless and hungry that they serve. Living out the Works of Mercy has helped Karpos build bridges, to each other, and to the poor among us. Examples like Karpos are all around and show us a way toward bridging the terrible and dangerous walls found in our world.

[From time to time I'll try to write about people and institutions bridging the great divides in our world.]

The Homeless and Hungry in America: A Meditation for Lent; Remembering Chuck Matthei

As part of the Karpos Ministry at St. Mary's Church in Painesville, Ohio, we try to feed the hungry and homeless. This winter we have offered many homeless people emergency shelter when the temperatures were bitterly cold. And if someone needs a coat, hat, gloves, or socks, we provide for them. We do not have huge funding; no paid employees; no big organization. What we do have is faithful and dedicated volunteers and the support of our church and our pastor. Some of our volunteers are Catholics, members of St. Mary's parish; many are of different faiths. All passionately believe in living and fostering the corporal and spiritual Works of Mercy.

Today in the mail I received The Catholic Worker newspaper--the one published by the Catholic Workers on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. The March-April 2014 issue has a beautiful woodcut with the words of the Moroccan poet, Abdellatif Laabi:

"In these days of abstinence, it was a source of pride to me to be hungry and to disturb a little the shameful peace of those who starve our people."

A thought-provoking remark in the season of Lent. Who is it that allows, even fosters, the great hunger and homelessness we see in Painesville and throughout our country?

Abdellatif Laabi's remark makes me think of Chuck Matthei (1948-2002), the great Peacemaker, who once told me that he fasted every Friday in solidarity with the hungry of the world. Chuck was a kind of saint. He felt he was called to such extraordinary action. We are probably not called to that. But we all are called to the task of feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, and sheltering the homeless--and trying to cure our society of these problems.

Here is a site with a short bio of Chuck and some photos: Remembering Chuck Matthei.

My old friend Wendy Rawlins Tuck is currently researching and writing a biography of Chuck.

Chuck Matthei

Instruction and Exhortation from Isaiah--What We Do at St. Mary's Painesville

Reading 1IS 58:7-10

Look at this exhortation and instruction from the prophet Isaiah. This is a central tenet of my Catholic Christianity:

Thus says the LORD:
Share your bread with the hungry,
shelter the oppressed and the homeless;
clothe the naked when you see them,
and do not turn your back on your own.
Then your light shall break forth like the dawn,
and your wound shall quickly be healed;
your vindication shall go before you,
and the glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard.
Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer,
you shall cry for help, and he will say: Here I am!
If you remove from your midst
oppression, false accusation and malicious speech;
if you bestow your bread on the hungry
and satisfy the afflicted;
then light shall rise for you in the darkness,
and the gloom shall become for you like midday.

[We are trying to do this at St. Mary's Church in Painesville, Ohio,
with our Karpos ministry to the homeless, hungry, and ill-clothed.]

Goodbye to 2011 and Greetings to 2012

I was traveling and otherwise busy as the year changed from 2011 to 2012 and didn't get to write any reflections about the passing and new birth.

I guess the words that entered my mind on New Year's Eve were "Deo Gratias." The old Latin phrase, first learned as a kid attending Latin masses at St. William's back in the early 1950s. Thank You, Lord God, for my life, our lives, my family, friends. Thank you that we have health, a good job, so many gifts. And prayers for those sick in body or troubled in spirit (I know many, as do you!). Prayers for those suffering from the Great Recession, those needing money and work, those without health care. Especially for those without hope. Especially for those without hope.

We got an annual Christmas card from a friend, Tom Liszkay, a Clevelander exiled long ago to Columbus, who closed it by reminding us to clothe the naked, feed the hungry, and shelter the homeless. Tom reminded us to live out the corporal and spiritual works of mercy, an injunction at the heart of our Catholic Christianity, and something I learned in my parents' home (where we fed the neighborhood kids, gave them companionship and love even if their parents neglected them, where my Mom and Dad offered a home to three alcoholic uncles and to my Grandmother in her old age); and learned from my teachers, both Ursuline nuns and lay teachers alike, in my Catholic grade school--St. Williams; and from our first pastor at St. William's, Monsignor John Flemming, who paid the family bills when my Dad was layed off from work; and from the wonderful teachers, both lay teachers and Marianist brothers and priests, at St. Joseph High School in Cleveland. All these wonderful teachers and models--who never saw what they wrought, the fruit of their works and their lives.

As Tom Liszkay said--Don't forget to practice the Works of Mercy.

And don't forget to say thank you to family, friends, and colleagues. And to the Lord--Deo Gratias.