Saturday, May 01, 2004
FEAST OF ST. JOSEPH THE WORKER
Mt 13:54-58
Jesus came to his native place and taught the people in their synagogue.
They were astonished and said,
"Where did this man get such wisdom and mighty deeds?
Is he not the carpenter's son?
Is not his mother named Mary
and his brothers James, Joseph, Simon, and Judas?
Are not his sisters all with us?
Where did this man get all this?"
And they took offense at him.
But Jesus said to them,
"A prophet is not without honor except in his native place
and in his own house."
And he did not work many mighty deeds there
because of their lack of faith.
Today is the feast of Joseph the Worker, the dad of Jesus. Joseph is always in the shadows, very little is known of him, just that he was a carpentar, and that he married Mary.
From this small amount of information we find a man who is a great role model for us. He is a role model of faith and of the immense value of common labor.
Our nativity scriptures are beautiful, but one wonders if it would be so beautiful if your finance came to u and said she was pregnant by God. I think my first reaction would be to ask her if she needed to see a psychologist, and than anger at being deceived. But Joseph accepted Mary's explanation and trusted in God and continued to trust in raising Jesus. Secondly, in an age when manual labor is looked down upon, Joseph, as a carpentar, and the one who taught his son Jesus, to be a carpentar is a role model of the intrinsic value of manual labor. We live in an age when blue collar work is looked down upon, Joseph symbolizes the intrinic value and meaning of manual labor. Often when I am doing various things like washing dishes or make extra money by working at a theatre people make comments why i do such work with all my degrees. To me all work is of value, and of God.
today matt came into town and we went to the Freedom Day for Medical Marjuana at Civic Center. It was a conglomeration of people of all levels of society, but most were people in low-economic groups and in much pain, advocating for what they believe.
V met Matt and I and we simply hung out. and these moments and hours tonight are moments of incarantion. Deo Gratis! Thanks be to God!
*****************------------------------*****************
Jn 6:52-59
The Jews quarreled among themselves, saying,
"How can this man give us his Flesh to eat?"
Jesus said to them,
"Amen, amen, I say to you,
unless you eat the Flesh of the Son of Man and drink his Blood,
you do not have life within you.
Whoever eats my Flesh and drinks my Blood
has eternal life,
and I will raise him on the last day.
For my Flesh is true food,
and my Blood is true drink.
Whoever eats my Flesh and drinks my Blood
remains in me and I in him.
Just as the living Father sent me
and I have life because of the Father,
so also the one who feeds on me will have life because of me.
This is the bread that came down from heaven.
Unlike your ancestors who ate and still died,
whoever eats this bread will live forever."
These things he said while teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum.
Tonight as i stood on the corner in the fog, it seemed it was just me, the girls, their pimps, and the johns. All in one manner or another are seeking after that which gives meaning to their lives. I hear more often than not when people talk about using that they need something to get through life.
Jesus says we must eat of his flesh and drink of his blood. He invites us to embrace him in all of his wholeness and in so doing we will be filled.
Deo Gratis! Thanks be to God!
*****************------------------------*****************
Friday, April 30, 2004
Daily Reading for Thursday: John 6:44-51. Bread of Life Dialogue. Jesus says that those attractive to him will come to him and he will hold on to them. Within all of us is that desire for something beyond ourselves. We look often in the wrong places. Jesus stands as One who centers us, and provides a framework for our lives.
Today has been a day that has had its normal activity. Had lunch with Kay in the Castro, ran into J and W as I walked home. J is trying to get home to New York and W is out of treatment back on the street. He is struggling to stay clean. Treatment treats them, but then throws them to the dogs.
Served meal in hemlock alley. Several times today i passed JR in the doorway, crashed out from his recent speed binge. When he wakes up he will start again. P was trying to find a date, using speed.
All of us have an emptyness to be filled, and we fill it with something. Jesus is the Bread of Life that sustains. Deo Gratis! Thanks be to God!
*****************------------------------*****************
Thursday, April 29, 2004
Daily Gospel: John 6:44-51. Jesus continues his dialogue on him being the bread of life, and how those who eat this bread will never hunger or thirst and have eternal life.
For the author of this Gospel eternal life is not at some distance future time, but is now. When one enters into relationship with Jesus, one enters the eternal now. Each day I experience suffering and see people who have been judged harshly and find no purpose in life, but the bread that Jesus offers is that of forgiveness, grace, and of a continuing presence in the midst of the diffiiculties in life.
'
Volunteers, interns, and friends have come and gone over the years, but Jesus has been the constant in my life these years, and I know that in him is my center, and that I am never alone. I know he is always there to forgive and to give me a second chance, he only asks that i stay the course. Eternal life is now. Jesus is now.
Today i spent with my old friend Marilyn hanging out and then we had dinner at mutual friends on the Pennusalar. When I returned home I found 20 year old C shaking from being dope sick and we talked, i fed him, and he left, but I knew that in those moments he felt loved. That is what it means to have the bread of life--to always know we are loved, and to share that love with others. Deo Gratis! Thanks be to God!
*****************------------------------*****************
Tuesday, April 27, 2004
John 6:30-35: "I am the bread of life." In todays reading Jesus says he is the Bread of life, and if you eat of this bread u will never hunger. Bread, is a staple at meals. When we go to restaruants, we are served bread. It is filling, it is warming, it is nourishing. So what does Jesus mean. People ask me why people use drugs, be it consumerism or just drugs, and for me that answer is there is a hunger to be filled, and they temporary fill that hunger. All my life as long as I have kept my identity in Jesus, my life has been fulfilled, he is the bread that never lets me hunger in any circumstance, he centers, stays me. that is the Bread I seek to share with others--that bread that sustains us in the trials of life. Life is difficult with or without money, life is difficult, and on that journey Jesus is the Bread that is sustaining and brings some sanity to who we are. When I am asked "What keeps u going?" i get rather irritate, it should be obvious--it is eating the Bread of life., As long as I eat this Bread, as long as I am connected to Jesus, nothing is to hard for me, for i know I am about his business and doing what I am supposed to be doing.
Deo Gratis! Thanks be to God!
*****************------------------------*****************
Monday, April 26, 2004
it has been hot these past days, and i love it, i miss the southern summers when the nights are warm, i love being out all night in shirtsleeves in the hot humid air. the past couple of days has found me rather exhausted. D had a mis carriage, still wants a baby, and is back with the guy who beat her up, same old cycle, and listening to her one feels for the pain and the loneliness. D, 19 has speed psychosis, is obscessing about a former girlfriend. M 20 i shomeless and needy, these have been my days, and exhaustion for me comes from listening and giving of myself, it is always a good exhaustion, very rewarding.
Today the daily Gospel is John 6:1-15 the beginning of the discourses on the Bread of Life. People search Jesus out, and he points out to them they come to him for physical bread and do not see the signs beyond their physical needs. so often people look at what we do on the street as just meeting peoples "physical needs", that what we do is social work. The food, the harm reduction ed, all of this does seek to minister to their physical needs, but like Jesus in the feeding of people we are pointing to something far more lasting, and that gives life--a way of grace and love through our actions. One reason people burn out is because they see no change in people's physical lives, but what gives me strength is knowing that in moments of the darkest of the darkest our presence is that of love, a love that goes beyond all expectations. one of the reasons i have difficulty in keeping people working with me on a regular basis is they come in all bright eyed about doing outreach on the street, the excitement, and "helping people", but when they find themselves having to listen, to enter into the pain of people's lives, and to give of their inner most selves, it becomes another story. Our work here is about being a presence of Jesus in the lives of people, of walking with them, arguing with them, listening to them, entering their suffering, suffering with them, suffering ourselves in that they might experience the true Bread of Life. For me no amount of money can give me this reward. I am thankful to God each day for giving me this privilege in my own fucked up journey to be a presence in my own crazy dysfunctional way. I am thankful for this priesthood. Deo Gratis! Thanks be to God!
*****************------------------------*****************
|
HOME
