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Written by Fr. Michael Fones, O.P.
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Wednesday, 03 October 2007 05:17 |
Monday after morning Mass I was invited to the birthday celebration of a young woman (I'll call her Vicky) who was baptized as a Catholic, but raised as a Protestant when her parents left the Catholic Church in her youth. She is cautiously returning to full communion; asking questions, attending daily Mass, participating in Eucharistic adoration. It was her twenty-fifth birthday, and some friends of hers were going to meet at a local park at 5:30 p.m.
When I arrived with another friend who was invited, I was welcomed by Kelly, a thirty- to forty- year old black woman dressed in military fatigues who took me over to Vicky. Other folks, mostly in their twenties, but some a bit younger were playing Frisbee, setting up a volleyball net, and milling about a table covered with pizzas, vegetable trays, and a couple of cakes. The only people I recognized were Vicky and three fellows from the gym where Vicky and I exercise each morning.
Before long I was introduced to Kelly's fiancé, Terry, who has such severe arthritis in his right shoulder that he needs surgery, and was concerned that the surgeon might remove the arm entirely. "Would you pray with me, pastor?" he asked. So we prayed over his arm for a bit. We got to talking afterward, and Terry told me how he'd been released from the penitentiary a few years ago, and how he and Kelly were sleeping in a tent in a park downtown.
Then the volleyball game began, and Kelly and Terry participated on opposing teams. Cries of "good hit, Kelly" or "nice try, Terry" punctuated the hour-long game.
At the end of the evening, after having met Vicky's mom and dad and seven of her eight siblings, the friend who had driven with me pointed out that Kelly and Terry had met Vicky at the local soup kitchen recently when Vicky was there volunteering. She was taking Jesus at his word, at least in a small way,
"When you hold a lunch or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or your wealthy neighbors, in case they may invite you back and you have repayment. Rather, when you hold a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind; blessed indeed will you be because of their inability to repay you. For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous." Lk 14:12-14
For at least an evening, Kelly and Terry were received, not as homeless people, but party-goers. They had conversations with people who might not have made eye contact with them out on the street. They were hugged when the party ended. They belonged. And perhaps that's the point Jesus was trying to make with his host. "The poor are welcomed to my banquet, so welcome them to yours."
What's more, in another conversation with Terry, I heard of his desire to somehow have an opportunity to speak to youth, especially at-risk youth. He wanted to share with them what he's learned from his mistakes, so they don't make them as well. I was impressed with his generosity.
He also wanted to know where I was pastor. The parish where I help out is on the other side of town from where he camps, and he was disappointed because he has no car. But the cathedral of St. Mary's is quite close, right across from the soup kitchen.
Will he be welcomed there?
It didn't cross my mind to say, "Let me meet you and take you to the church where I worship."
I can learn from Vicky - and Jesus.
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