Isaiah 49:3,5-6
1 Corinthians 1:1-3
John 1:29-34
Perhaps lost in the holiday hustle
and bustle was something all Catholics are called to read, reflect on and take
action.
In mid-November, the three Bishops
and Archbishop of Washington released a Pastoral Letter entitled, “Who is my
Neighbor? The Face of Poverty in
Washington State.” (Click on LINK to see Archbishop/Bishop's letter and other materials)
The Bishops are expressing their
concern that poverty is reaching “crisis proportions.” Our Archbishop and his
fellow Bishops are calling on all people (Catholic and non-Catholic) to take direct
action in solidarity with those who are homeless, mentally ill, addicted and
hungry.”
I’m
reminded of something we saw on the streets the other night while serving our
homeless brothers and sisters.
This beautiful act of human
compassion was done by someone right here in our own parish community. Perhaps
you know him?
Or
at least have seen him over the years.
His name is Kevin and he lives on the streets.
I’ve heard young people refer to
Kevin as skinny Santa Claus due to his long white hair and beard.
What he did will touch your heart.
Kevin is a baptized Catholic. He used to be an
altar server back in the day. That’s why
he comes to Mass each week.
His baptism makes him Priest, Prophet and King in
our Christian faith. His Catholic faith is what prompted him to lovingly do
what he did.
Kevin has been sanctified in Christ Jesus, and is
called holy; as St. Paul reminds us we all are in today’s Letter to the
Corinthians.
He is a servant through whom God shows His glory,
to use today’s words of the Prophet Isaiah.
Kevin is a light to the nations, helping show how God’s salvation
reaches to the ends of the earth.
Today, our Church pulls out the Gospel of John showing
John the Baptist baptizing Jesus in the River Jordan. As John is baptizing the “Lamb of God who
takes away the sin of the world,” he sees, “the Spirit come down like a dove
from heaven and remain upon him.” John
is the first to declare Jesus the Son of God.
What did John the Baptist look like? The bible says John was dressed in clothing of camel’s hair and a leather
belt. “John's hair was very long… with a
(long) beard.” John also lived homeless,
feeding on whatever he could find; mostly locusts and wild honey.
This
description sounds like a homeless person in today’s society. This description
sounds a little like our friend and fellow parishioner Kevin.
John’s
sole role was to prepare the way of the Lord, help call people to own up to
their own sinfulness and to wash away their sins in baptism in the River Jordan.
John was
committed to social justice and the plight of the poor and called his Jewish
brothers and sisters to hear their cries and act.
The
tradition of our own two-thousand year old baptism rite comes directly from
what John did to Jesus and others.
Back to
the Bishops letter, we the baptized and especially “those who enjoy material
necessities of life” are called to “stop and look into the face of
poverty” and “recognize that ‘the poor’ are not strangers. They are our sisters
and brothers, members of our human family.”
We are called to learn from the
poor. Enter into relationship with the poor. Advocate for the poor. And serve
the poor.
The Bishops said this, “Some things
are best addressed by individuals, families, churches and charities; but when
problems such as homelessness, hunger, drug addiction and mental illness are common
to every community, it is A just and reasonable expectation that society will
act cooperatively to address these problems.”
The
Bishops added, “It is not our intention to prescribe specific policy options,
but to propose a moral basis for determining whether public policies serve
justice.”
So
what are we Catholics asked to do? Advocate
“on behalf of those who lack the basic rights of food and shelter, access to
health care, a living wage and education and to ask difficult questions and
search for solutions.”
We are called to follow in the
footsteps of Jesus, walking with, loving and healing those on the margins,
those who are outcasts.
In
Evangelii Gaudium, Pope Francis said, “I want a Church which is poor and for the poor. They have much to teach
us. ... We need to let ourselves be evangelized by them.”
This
quote kicks off the three-page Pastoral Letter.
You’ll find the letter in today’s bulletin.
As Pope Francis reminds us, the poor
“have much to teach us… We need to let ourselves be evangelized by them.”
And that’s exactly what Kevin did.
He evangelized our homeless outreach group the other night.
We arrived on an evening when
temperatures were in the mid-20s. Kevin
was under a bridge in his sleeping bag. Next to him was a young man dressed
only in a pair of jeans and a t-shirt; no coat, no blanket, no food. He was freezing.
The man was clearly going through
withdrawals from a drug addiction. Kevin
was talking to him and trying to get the man to stay by him.
Our group arrived with a car loaded
with FEMA emergency blankets, food and water.
We spotted Kevin and grabbed blankets to help keep him warm in the
frigid weather.
The young man refused blankets and
didn’t want much to do with us. He was pretty out of it. But Kevin insisted we give a blanket to his
neighbor, and food and water. We did as Kevin commanded. And watched as he
lovingly took care of the man.
A group of Everett high school
students, including a young parishioner from our community, were out that night
handing out bowls of hot chili to our friends on the streets.
This scene should help remind
us of what the Bishops letter is all about. We are all neighbors.
We are all called by God to love our
neighbors as ourselves. It is not our place to justify ourselves by asking what
the scholar of the Law who tested Jesus asked, “And who is my neighbor?”
As we
recall, Jesus shared with the man the story of the Good Samaritan. While the priest and Levite (or deacon) passed
by the man beaten by robbers and laying on the side of the road, the Samaritan,
(an outcast in the Jewish world) stopped and tended to the man.
When the scholar of the Law is
asked by Jesus, “Which…, in your opinion, was neighbor to the robbers’
victim?” He answered, “The one who treated him
with mercy.” Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.”
“Who is my Neighbor?”
Kevin
knows. The young people from Everett
High School know.
The
question from our Bishops is do you?
And even if you do know, what direct
action are you going to take to help with this crisis?
