July 7, 2013: 14th Sunday in Ordinary Time C
Do you remember when you were 20 years old? Were you attending college, in a fraternity or sorority perhaps? Or were you already working, perhaps married with children. I’m sure you can fondly remember how much youthful energy you had. I’m going to tell you a true story of a 20 yr. old young man who lived in an era which was recently portrayed in the movie Les Miserable. A young student arrived in University of Paris in early 1800’s. He surrounded himself with young Catholics like himself and they met together to discuss various topics. At one gathering, a student challenged him and other practicing Catholics. The student admitted that the Catholic Church had done much good work in the past, but "what do you do now?" This question prompted this 20 year old, a sensitive young man of modest middle class background, to take a good look at the misery of the working poor of Paris. He said to his Catholic friends, “If we are too young to intervene in the social struggle, are we then to remain passive in the middle of a world which is suffering and groaning? No, a preparatory path is open to us. Before doing public good, we can try to do good to a few. Before regenerating France, we can give relief to a few of her poor.“ The 20 yr. old Frederic Ozanam and his friends formed “Conference of Charity” from which was born the Society of St. Vincent de Paul.
Although there were social programs run by the government at the time, the St. Vincent de Paul Society took a very different approach, an approach they learned from the gospel we heard today. Members were sent out two-by-two, into the homes of the poor of the city of Paris. They weren’t there to give a handout. The Society’s rule explained how and why they went personally into the homes. The rule said, “The vocation of the Society's members, who are called Vincentians, is to follow Christ through service to those in need and so bear witness to His compassionate and liberating love. Members show their commitment through person-to-person contact. Vincentians serve the poor cheerfully, listening to them and respecting their wishes, helping them to feel and recover their own dignity, for we are all created in God's image. In the poor, they see the suffering Christ. Vincentians endeavor to establish relationships based on trust and friendship. Conscious of their own frailty and weakness, their hearts beat with the heartbeat of the poor. They do not judge those they serve. Rather, they seek to understand them as they would a brother or sister.”
Who is called to do such charity? Specialists? Jesus sent his disciples out to help him reap the harvest. Are we not disciples? We tend to leave it to the specialists--to priests, nuns, missionaries. The people Jesus sent out weren’t specialists. Yet they became his instruments. The seventy-two began by being Jesus’ disciples. Then he steered to goals beyond themselves by making them his apostles. The Lord asks us to share with others what we have received from him.
Pope Francis spoke so beautifully a few days ago about what it is to be a disciple of Jesus. He said, “To meet the living God we must tenderly kiss the wounds of Jesus in our hungry, poor, sick, imprisoned brothers and sisters. Study, meditation and mortification are not enough to bring us to encounter the living Christ. Our life will only be changed when we touch Christ’s wounds present in the poor, sick and needy.” Our Lord spoke of harvest in today’s gospel. The harvest is indeed great for those who have eyes to see it and a heart to respond to it. It is in our hospitals, homes, schools, prisons, workplaces, neighborhoods. Everyday is a harvest day.
