The Parable of The Widow and Her Coins

He looked up and saw rich people putting their gifts into the treasury; he also saw a poor widow put in two small copper coins. He said, ‘Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all of them; for all of them have contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty has put in all she had to live on.’

New Revised Standard Version, Luke 21:1-4

Its so easy to complain about the wealthy people of this world. Mansions with billionaires who all seem to have criminal levels of wealth. How can anyone really justify having so much in light of the suffering in the world? We scoff at the inequity, and certainly look down our noses at more than a few people along the way.

The widow reminds us: What did you do? You judge the millionaires, and she--by her example--judges you. Many of us have convinced ourselves that we "need" so much of what we have. We tell ourselves that its the millionaires and billionaires who could stand to reduce their standard of living, but the rest of us are just "getting by." Tell someone starving to death that you "need" your car or your new clothes or your jewelry more than they need to eat.

These are some of my favorite verses in scripture. To me, its all about judgement. Or at least, a caution against it. Who can really judge the giving of another? If we have such a difficult time managing our possessions and giving what we have in service to the needy, we should be able to understand the difficulty someone else has in parting with their stuff, as well--even the very rich. There is something in the human condition that makes intentional poverty a very difficult thing to do.

Its too easy to say, "Yeah, I have a few extra dollars I could give, but they have millions they could easily give without even batting an eyelash." But did you give your few extra dollars? Did you give another dollar that wasn't extra? Careful who you judge, because while you may shake your head at the millionaires and billionaires, there might be someone in the third world who could shake their head at you.

I'm not trying to lecture anyone here, because I wrestle with this every day myself. The more we have, the more we convince ourselves that we need. While these verses are a reminder to us what 'gospel giving' really looks like, it may also help us to have compassion on the "rich" people of the world who hold onto their wealth. They are not that different from us.

There is nothing comfortable about this parable.

Matthew 25

"For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.”

Matthew Chapter 25 includes some of the most famous lines in scripture. It forms the core of the Corporal Works of Mercy. It has so inspired our own Columbus Catholic Worker community that we have chosen to include it in our mission statement.

Its very clear in what it asks. While I am certainly open to many and myriad interpretations of any text, certainly on a literal level this one is rather upfront about its call for food, clothing, shelter, hospitality, comfort and dignity.

What I find most striking is what it does not say. It never says how much we should do. How do you live out this commandment? Do you give of your spare change and your free time? Do you put aside a set percentage of your resources? Do you work tirelessly?

Any of those answers (even the one about working tirelessly) would be easier than what Matthew offers: Silence. I've shouted this question out to God many times, only to hear the reverberation of my echo in reply.

But it is a reply, nonetheless. That is because the question is not to much to God but really to ourselves. The Bible invites us into a relationship with ourselves. Thomas Merton does a fine job pointing this out in Opening the Bible To think it out, to sweat it out, to wrestle with it, as Daniel Berrigan might say (Ten Commandments for the Long Haul). To sit up late at night. To try it. To immerse ourselves in it.

Its not supposed to be easy. Its not about checking items off a list, even if the tasks or sacrifices are costly to us. The answer is to personally involve ourselves in the question, as well as the answer. Bottom line is: You can't mail this one in (even though you may, after much soul searching, decide that mailing in a check may be the best option at a juncture).

“Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.”

New Revised Standard Version Matthew 25:35-36 (above), 40 (below).

The Karate Kid Explains Liturgy

Religious ritual can be boring. So can reading the Bible. Or attending one of the many deadpan, hurried masses. I'm all for a more deeply connected religious experience, but how to do you explain all the monotony that happens between those more connected moments? Is it just filler? Is it something you endure just to make sure you are present when moments of connection do happen?

Bruce Springsteen has made some extremely eloquent remarks on this. He talks about growing up Catholic, but then becoming distant from it. As he grew older and went through more struggles, he found the symbols and themes from his Catholic past ringing true in ways he never would have expected. It was good he had that experience of chuch at an early age to sow the seeds.

The Karate Kid is one of the most significant religious movies of our time. You wax on, you wax off. Its a drudgery which only seems to benefit somebody else (maybe your parents), or absolutely no one at all. Still, you paint the fence. Then one day it comes together: You have been in training and did not even realize it.

The karate studio across the street sure looks exciting. Its flashy, its popular, and participants are learning skills they can directly use right away. Ralph Maggio is in training waxing cars and painting fences.

My Uncle John warns against a Christianity that becomes nothing but self-help in Jesus clothing. Is that the flashy karate studio across the street? Maybe religion isn't as much about getting something as it is about cultivating something. I'm all for self-help and modern psychology, but its not the end-all, be-all and let's not make a false idol out of it.

You paint the fence, you repeat words. You wax the cars and go through rituals, smell incense and sit on wooden pews like the wood of the cross and you come forward to take the bread and slip away down the sides and sand the floor. Much of it seems to float on by, but you stick with it and do the good work that needs doing. Then one day it all starts coming back to you, and in a roundabout way, in a way you never would have expected, maybe--as Peter Maurin would say and which Ralph Maggio found out--you've become better off by simply trying to become better.

Good Religion

Its very common to hear someone say the following: "I don't need religion. All I need is to be a good person, and that is my religion."

Is that really what religion is about?

I certainly hold that most of the world's religious traditions have come to the understanding that being good is an important, if not an essential manifestation of being "religious." But I think it comes as a result of a long meditation on who we are, where we come from, and how we are all related. "Being good" is therefore the natural consequence of religion.

It may go something like this: You somehow, someway come to an understanding that there is something beyond us, beyond the 3 dimensions, and you end up calling that something God, and you come to understand that we are somehow in relationship to this God, and are actually related to God in that we are God's creation, sculpted right from the Divine hand, in fact, and that therefore all humans are really brother and sister to each other, or maybe appendages of the same body, so that another person's happiness is related to our own happiness, and I'm not fulfilled unless they are fulfilled, and nobody wins unless everybody wins, and their life is precious and so is mine, so doing all we can to support, protect and encourage life just flows naturally from all that. Capice?

However, if you believe that "God is love" (as I do), then simply being good is a sure access point to the Divine, so in the end it may not matter if you belong to a church and practice a formal spirituality (i.e. religion) since all roads lead back to Rome, in a manner of speaking.

People often eschew religion because they see a gap between an ideal of goodliness and what is done in the name of religion. All I hear in that statement is that religion is actually good, its just not living up to its own ideals--but thank God for high ideals. Its ironic because the word "goodliness" is a derivative of "Godliness", so that which is good is that which is of God. These notions are embedded within our own vocabulary and worldview. And the notion that "religion = being good" is in fact a very Christian idea itself! (Not that it is absent from other religions, either, but the flavoring is very Christian influenced.)

So then does it matter to "do" religion at all? I hold that it does. Its about meditating and pondering who we are and how we are related to each other. Where do we come from and where do we go. Science is approaching this from the deductive side, but we need to engage from other angles, as well. We are not purely deductive creatures. Its part of the natural romance of being human, that quest to explore and to see what is up-river, and that thirst to know and one day ultimately return to the source of our life and being.

If you don't feel a need to do religion, then who am I to say you should? I do know that many of us need to go to the well to drink. We have a thirst and to know what is out there and to be in relationship with what is out there.

Invoking Nazism

I look at the absolute treasure trove of Catholic tradition, but see empty pews and disinterested participants at mass. Despite a tremendous history of diverse prayer styles, profound theology, the witness of the saints, monastic traditions, wonderful music & art and social justice activism--just to name a few things that come to mind--Good things are happening, but I do wonder where the energy and enthusiasm is for the average church goer.

Theologically speaking, I am incompatible with Protestant fundamentalism. Even on an emotional level, I have almost always had a nagging hesitation about it and have had real trouble relaxing into their spirituality. Yet, it is apparent that the fundamental/evangelical/pentecostal churches are active, their assemblies motivated. Their members keep their services new and fresh. Bible study groups abound. I've been influenced by them in many ways, as well.

I started to wonder if maybe the lack of enthusiasm in the mainline churches is really an indication that they are missing something important that these other churches have found. I was talking about these concerns with a college professor several years ago. My prof's words hit me like a boulder: "The Nazi party had plenty of energy and enthusiasm."

These words sound inflammatory, but they do not have to be. The point is a very valid one: Energy and enthusiasm are not by themselves an indication that Truth is present. Many energetic and enthusiastic people have done horrible things. This is difficult for Christians to wrestle with, because we often see "joy" as being evidence of true discipleship (it is worth noting that joy does not necessarily manifest itself as energy and enthusiasm, either, as joy is often something more quiet).

[I'll keep my professor's name anonymous to spare any flames that always seem to find you when you invoke a Nazi analogy. I'll leave it to your imagination whether my prof was making any sort of comparison between Nazi's and those churches, but the comment does not have to be taken that way.]

This raises an even larger issue. So often, we prize qualities such as "hard work", "ambition", "determination", "sticking up for one's beliefs". However, those qualities are morally neutral. In fact, manifested in the wrong person, having those qualities is actually worse than not having them. It is not commendable when a Nazi is hard-working or stands up for his beliefs! As George Carlin says (paraphrase)--'show me someone who's just sitting around playing video games, and I'll show you someone who is not hurting anybody.'

There is nothing inherently good about being an "ambitious" person. What are you working for? Who are you working for? Bob Dylan says, "you gotta serve somebody," and in light of this, I think he may be right.

My professor did add that Catholics have a healthy spirituality. I think there is a lot of truth to that. Its a faith that's quieter but possibly more long-term. The spirituality is gentle, but authentic. No one is going to rush up to you with a big handshake and a fake grin and say "Welcome to our church! Sign our guestbook and receive our mailings!" when you walk through the door. In fact, they may not acknowledge you at all, for better or for worse.

Each church has blessings in its approach but also dangers. A gentler spirituality among Catholics is as real as the earth, but when it gets off course it can just dissipate away, leaving you feeling abandoned (but with strong roots, I wonder if it comes back later). On the other side, the active spirituality of evangelicals is more focused, but can be bombastic and pushy when not properly rooted. In the end, energy and enthusiasm are not enough by themselves to indicate the presence of Truth.

Bulk Logic

The bulk section of the the grocery store contains its greatest treasure. However, it is often the section that is the least-traveled. Just doesn't have the romance you may find in the exotic fruit section. Its plain and simple--by definition. Its solidly within the jurisdiction of the smart shopper, but not much for impulse purchases.

If you need romance in your shopping, just pretend you're waltzing into a general store in the Wild West, scooping out your ration of flour and beans from large barrels, dodging gunfire from the shootout across the street. Cue the player piano. Does that help?

Breakfast costs me 7 cents when you consider that the local co-op sells organic oatmeal for $0.69/lb. Its locally raised, to boot. Bob's Red Mill oatmeal is about 5 times the price. Its still a good deal with breakfast at 35 cents, but why buy that when you can buy it in bulk? Its not like Bob is doing any extra processing for the price--oats is oats is oats, its just more packaging and advertising.

I estimate that dry beans are also about 5 times cheaper than canned beans, as well. Granted, even canned beans--like Bob's oats--are a good deal considering other items at the grocery store, but it goes to show you the enormous deals when it comes to buying bulk, dry foods.

You can find some exotic and gourmet foods in the bulk section, as well. Wonderful turbinado sugar--you know, coffee house sugar--its just $1.59/lb. The local co-op has red lentils, yellow split peas, and as many forms of rice as you could ever want.

The only downside of the bulk section is that its hard to tell how long something's been sitting there, and old beans become difficult to cook--won't soften even after several hours.

I'm learning how to incorporate more bulk items into my diet. Its easy to stock up on beans and rice. Great for soups. Preparing dry beans takes some time, but much of that is passive--soak the beans for 8 hours, put them in a crock pot for 8 hours, for example. I like to cook up a big batch of beans for a week's worth of food and then freeze the remainder--all that cooking can keep you in beans for a few weeks if you prepare and freeze enough.

Beans don't have to be plain, either. Cuban beans over rice are wonderful. You make them with peppers, hot peppers, onions and garlic--maybe a slice of bacon/bacon grease for flavor. Pour a batch of that over some hot rice!

Challenge

When someone challenges you,
whether the challenge is an emotional one, or a physical one, or even spiritual
you have two options:

1. Rise to the challenge, open yourself and breathe into it
2. Tighten up and back away

But you can never remain the same as you were before.