St. Jerome: A Personal Dialogue (9/30/16) from AOP

The Korean Martyrs: The Love and Truth of Christ (Apostleship of Prayer)

These Great Trials (9/16/16) - Apostleship of Prayer

A Video Reflection on Saints Cornelius and Cyprian - September 16

The Seven Sorrows (9/15/16) Apostleship of Prayer

Why Honor the Holy Name of Mary? Apostleship of Prayer (9/12/16)

Without Original Sin (9/8/16) Apostleship of Prayer

Bishop Barron on World Youth Day 2016

The Birth of Mary from AOP (2008)

Matthew Leonard On St. Gregory the Great

"Small Things with Great Love"

Our parish is is trying, in fits and starts, to establish a social outreach program. We have a very basic food pantry that serves people who come to the rectory door, in a piecemeal fashion. This works for people with kitchens and functioning stoves, but what about those who are on the streets or are squatting in abandoned houses? A can of beans and a bag of uncooked rice doesn't do them much good when they don't have a pot, let alone a stove. Plus, there are scammers. They trade the bags of food for Link cards, or even sell it for cash, as hard as it is of me to believe. This is a reality right now in our immediate neighborhood. We don't have the facilities at this point to open a full service soup kitchen, so serving prepared meals isn't possible. So, we carry on, doing the little we can, while dreaming of what is possible.

We did hold an event a couple of weeks ago, in cooperation with a fledgling organization, where we bused homeless people in from the South Side, fed them, gave them the opportunity to clean up, and even get a haircut. The results were mixed. In evaluating the day we were happy we did something, but we realized it was a small gesture in the big picture. We also don't want to work with that organization again, at least not on a regular basis: our organizers thought they were uncommunicative and a bit bossy when they did communicate. We also felt that there is enough need in our own backyard without busing people in from other neighborhoods that have social outreach programs to begin with. 

Personally, I just remember standing in our gym as the people were being served, feeling a sense of pride, but also emptiness. I felt a legitimate pride in our people - many parishioners came out to help. There was also a bit of vanity, I must say. But the emptiness came as I thought, "OK, now what?" Terrific, we fed 46 people, we prayed with them (which they were open to). I do believe we were motivated by love. But then they go, I can boast about how we fed the homeless, and then get back to the normal routine. Were these people really treated like human beings or just as props to make me feel like we're making a difference? My gut feeling was that most of them - maybe all - would have eaten that day, with or without us. Did we really make a difference for these people or was this about how we felt about ourselves? Then the emptiness turned to frustration at how little we were really able to do. 

I had to remind myself, and our team, that this was the first step, that things aren't going to be perfect right off the bat. 

Before the meeting I was speaking to Roberto, one of our parishioners who seems to be involved with everything. He hates meetings. Truth be told so do I, but they are necessary "evils." "All we do is talk about what's wrong. We already know what the problem is. It's like I tell my son, give me a solution, not the problem." I know what he means. My great fault (among many) is that I see what we don't have rather than see what we do have and then figure out how we can make it work. With the help of this makeshift team I'm struggling to overcome my natural pessimism to see the possibilities through the shortcomings.

This brings me to Mother Teresa. She's going to be canonized on Sunday in Rome. She began her work with he poorest of the poor by picking up one dying person on a Calcutta street. As she said, if she hadn't started with that one she, along with her sisters, would never have picked up the hundreds of thousands of more over the years. 

One of her famous quotes, among many, is “Not all of us can do great things. But we can do small things with great love.” Picking up that one dying beggar was a microscopic gesture in the big picture of poverty in Calcutta. But it started a revolution of love that continues to this day. 

As for me, and us a the parish - we do need to purify intentions. We do need better facilities. We do need to reach out to neighboring parishes and institutions. Maybe partnering with this one group wasn't a good fit for us, but that doesn't mean we have to, or should, do it alone. But I can't worry about how small the gesture is, or how imperfect the execution is. I need to make sure it is done in love. Then God will make it grow. In the end, it is God's work. 

It is Jesus who thirsts and hungers in the poor. It is He who thirsts for our love. As we get this new initiative off the ground I pray for Mother Teresa's intercession. I also pray for St. John Bosco's intercession as well, as to how we can make this a truly Salesian project. I ask for your prayers as well, that we may be guided by the Spirit of truth and courage.