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Helping the poor: God calls for their care
When Jesuit Father Rick Thomas picked up the phone in El Paso where I had reached him to ask if I might come out and interview him for a magazine article, I asked how he was.
"Fine as wine," he replied, stretching the words in a countrified way. Dealing with Father Rick was always memorable.
What was to carry me to El Paso and Vado, N.M., to witness and write about the works of charity and evangelism of his Catholic charismatic community, had all resulted from an act of obedience to God's word.
25th Sunday
in Ordinary Time
(Sunday, Sept. 23, 2007)
Amos 8:4-7
Psalm 113:1-2, 4-8
1 Timothy 2:1-8
Luke 16:1-13
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Father Rick and his prayer group went to the Juarez, Mexico, dump on Christmas Day a few years before my visit in response to one of Jesus' commands: When you give a party, be sure you invite the lowly and those who cannot repay you.
Father Rick and his group must have asked themselves when they could carry out that simple request. And so they went to the dump with ham, tortillas, beans, and all the fixings they could gather to set a holiday table before the poor, who made their living scavenging recyclable materials from the leavings of Mexican society.
If you'd like to read about the miracles that followed this act of obedience, they are documented in Fr. Renee Laurentin's book-length treatment, Miracles in El Paso.
In today's Scriptures, the psalm praises the Lord's majesty, goodness, and kindness to the
poor: "He raises up the lowly from the dust, from the dunghill he lifts up the poor to seat them with princes, with princes of his own people."
This contrasts greatly with the scorn the prophet Amos has for the unjust who "trample upon the needy and destroy the poor of the land."
Today the poor are still with us. Many are immigrants seeking a better life. Many are those limited by horrible family situations and generations of poverty existing inside U.S. borders.
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Reflection question
• Is there something simple you might do to benefit the poor?
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God still calls us to their care, if we will only be obedient and seek ways to respond to that call.
This column is offered in cooperation with the North Texas Catholic of Fort Worth, Texas.
This week's readings
Week of September 23 - 29, 2007
Sunday, September 23, 2007
Twenty-fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Reading I: Am 8:4-7
Reading II: 1 Tm 2:1-8
Gospel: Lk 16:1-13 or 16:10-13
Monday, September 24, 2007
Reading I: Ez 1:1-6
Gospel: Lk 8:16-18
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
Reading I: Ez 6:7-8, 12b, 14-20
Gospel: Lk 8:19-21
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
Reading I: Ez 9:5-9
Gospel: Lk 9:1-6
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Thursday, September 27, 2007
Memorial of Saint Vincent DePaul, priest
Reading I: Hg 1:1-8
Gospel: Lk 9:7-9
Friday, September 28, 2007
Reading I: Hg 2:1-9
Gospel: Lk 9:18-22
Saturday, September 29, 2007
Feast of Saints Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael, archangels
Reading I: Dn 7:9-10, 13-14 or Rv 12:7-12ab
Gospel: Jn 1:47-51
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Pope's Prayer Intentions
September General Intention
Romanian Assembly. That the ecumenical assembly in Romania this month may contribute to the growth of unity among all Christians.
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September Mission Intention
Missionaries. That, following Christ joyfully, all missionaries may know how to overcome the difficulties they meet in everyday life.
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A Prayer in Autumn for Country Living
GOOD and generous Lord, You have once more brought the year full circle, through planting and growing and ripening to harvest time, and autumn.
We thank You for the sun and the wind, the rain and the dew, the minerals of the earth and all the plants that grow and all the beasts and birds of farm and field. We marvel at Your wonderful ways of bringing food from the earth for the good of us all.
Dear God, help us to use Your rich gifts as You want us to. Teach us to share them with our neighbors when they are in need. Make us see, in the marvelous succession of seasons and in the growth and ripening of our crops, the merciful, generous hand of Your divine providence.
Help us to realize, too, that if we keep Your commandments and live according to the inspirations of Your grace, we shall also reap a plentiful harvest in the autumn of our lifetime: a harvest that we will be able to enjoy for ever and ever, where no rust can destroy, nor blight spoil any least part of it.
Amen.
Prayer courtesy of the National Catholic Rural Life Conference
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