Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time - Catholic Charities February 7, 2010

Isaiah 6: 1-2a, 3-6 1 Cor 15: 3-8, 11 Luke 5: 1-11

Reading a book frequently allows a type of relationship to develop. In the case of a novel, the relationship is between the reader and the central character of the novel. In a biography, it is between the reader and the subject of the biography. In an autobiography, it is between the reader and the subject of the autobiography who is also the author.

I recently completed reading a book entitled, In Due Season by a person named Paul Wilkes. The book is autobiographical in nature. My initial in the book , when I read about it and about him in a review, was strong. He had grown up in Cleveland, on the east side of the city, in St. Benedict’s parish. I shared with him a Slovak heritage to which he often referred. I had actually had the opportunity to speak to him a number of years ago, on the telephone, about a different matter. What he wrote, what he told about his life started with the fact that he was a 1950's Catholic, raised in strong, traditional Catholic practices. He became an author, a writer. His life had many twists and turns, many ventures. But his Catholic faith was always in the background. His first marriage, during he which he abandoned his Catholic practices, failed. He opened a storefront outreach for the poor in New York, strongly influenced by the Catholic Worker movement. He was inspired by Thomas Merton, who was very popular during the era, and explored monastic, Trappist life. At one stage he turned to a dissolute, hedonistic, promiscuous lifestyle. He eventually married a second time, raised a family, returned to the practice of his Catholic Faith. His writing then took on a strong religious theme.

A persistent theme through the book was how was he to understand and live the influence of his Catholic Faith. He had started life in a traditional, sacramental Catholic practice. He was eventually led to an understanding of “Catholic” in a much broader sense, a much wider expression. He maintained the sacramental element of his faith, what we would call being a “practicing Catholic.” But he also concluded that being Catholic meant much more. He recognized the broad scope of what “Catholic” meant, that it was a common union of many peoples of different sorts, different types, different cultures, backgrounds and histories. All, in different ways, were working, struggling, trusting, hoping, succeeding, failing. All were bound together as, and were fed by, the Body of Christ. All, in some way, were living life with the “quiet assurance that God’s care for us will prevail.”

Along with these thoughts, and in another context, I recently heard a description of what difference being Catholic made in a social, political sphere or setting. Catholicism, in this context, instilled an attitude or outlook that was called “commutarian.” It basically involved a larger, outward-directed view, a going beyond one’s self and having an important conc ern for the common welfare, the common good. What fascinated me was that this thought was not being presented by a theologian or Church leader, but by a historical, political writer who was discussing politics and not religion.

The timing of the coincidence of these ideas made me wander whether it was the Spirit prompting me in this way as I considered the responsibility given to me today to speak of Catholic Charities? What might it mean today, to carry on the work of Jesus in catching “men”? How might we, like Isaiah, if we are purged of sin, rid of what distances us from God, say, “Here I am,” here we are, called to speak and to act on Godliness in our world? And how, like Paul and the other leaders of the early Church, might we speak the words of the Gospel today, in our world, so that others might believe? Is this an understanding which we can have of Catholic Charities? It is a real, concrete, tangible way in which we, different as we are in so many ways, are directed outward, toward others, to a much larger, “commutarian” goal. It is a way that we are brought together as this Body of Christ in today’s time, in today’s world to make evident the “quiet assurance that God’s care for us would prevail.

For the next two weeks we will be taking time when we are gathered here to worship to make a pledge of some of our tangible resources, our financial means, in order to help and support the effort that is Catholic Charities. In the mail and in the parish bulletin we are reminded of the ways in which work of Catholic Charities affects the lives of many. It can be found in assisting today’s immigrants who share a reality similar to our own histories. It can be found assisting various elements of Catholic health care and the needs of the aging. It can be found in supporting athletic programs in which the Catholic influence is evident.

Support of Catholic Charities provides all of us with an opportunity to reveal the Good News of Christ, to speak the Gospel message so that others might believe, to catch the hearts and minds of others with the quiet assurance that what can prevail in our world is the care of our good and gracious God.