Sunday, July 29, 2018

How to Care

Lanfranco's Image of Miracle of Bread and Fish
The theme of hunger weaves in and out of the Old and New Testament. The most concrete teaching of Jesus about how to treat people can be found in his depiction of the Last Judgment in the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 25. Jesus proclaims that we will be judged by our positive response to the hungry, the thirsty, the stranger, the naked, the prisoner. Yes, we love God to the extent that we care for our fellow humans.

There’s a blueprint about care in the corporal works of mercy:

Feed the hungry. In this, we feed Jesus himself. According to the latest United Nations report, 815 million people go hungry each day. We might contribute to Catholic Relief Services, Catholic Charities and St. Vincent de Paul. The war in Syria has uprooted more than 11 million people, with hundreds killed just last week. The need for humanitarian aid is overwhelming. Closer to home, we may feed intellectually and spiritually hungry children by mentoring them in reading or writing, or volunteer in religious education.

Give drink to the thirsty. Energy and water conservation, re-cycling can demonstrate that we care about God’s creation. Pope Francis in his “Laudato Si” urges us to care for our common home, this earth.

Clothe the naked. What about a closet-cleaning? Do we really need all those clothes? Why not donate to St. Vincent de Paul Thrift Store?

Shelter the homeless. Human beings deserve the dignity which come from having a place to come home to. Yes, government should provide systemic solutions, e. g., meaningful work. We also can support, e. g., Habitat for Humanity and Catholic Charities and St. Vincent de Paul.

Visit the sick. The ill, especially terminally ill, need our presence, allowing them to talk about their lives, and to transcend feelings of loneliness.

Ransom the captive. Connected is the fight for human rights, political and religious freedom, the right of the unborn to life, the right of the elderly to dignity. Another dimension is concern for people in prisons, separated from and sometimes alienated from their families. We can visit to show someone cares, to share faith.

Finally, there is the work of mercy to bury the dead. We might reach out to mourners, not just at the funeral, but through their grieving process.

With lively imagination, we can think of a hundred and one ways to practice the so-called corporal works of mercy in our daily lives as Jesus calls us to do. On judgment day, our prayer is to hear God say to us: Come, inherit the kingdom. For I was hungry and you gave me food….

Yes, how we live today has profound-indeed eternal-consequences for us.  Don't live a life of regrets. To the extent that our lives are in our hands, do good today, not tomorrow.