Beyond the Mr. Rogers Mentality
A few of the
recent daily reflections by the late
Henri Nouwen, one of my all-time favorite
writers, about what it means to be someone’s neighbor have gotten me thinking.
In the e-mail reflection I received July 20, 2012,
from the
Henri Nouwen Society is a wonderful definition of what it means to be
someone’s neighbor.
Usually we think of
the people who live around us as our neighbors, and if considering the question
from a Christian standpoint, we often think of every person as our neighbor,
especially those suffering most in mind, body, and/or spirit, but
I like this meaning even more.
Real Life Examples
The slogan for a
popular insurance company actually says a lot: “Like a good neighbor, State Farm
is there.”
My husband Kevin is
definitely a good neighbor.
He always
says hi to the people in our building, usually knows their names, and asks how
they’re doing.
If someone’s in a bind,
and Kevin can offer assistance, he does.
Being aware of and sensitive to the needs of the people around him is
one of the things Kevin can do really well.
Not only does he pick up on what’s needed because he actually listens to
people, but he also is quick to offer help to meet the need.
Bridging the Gap Between People
Are we really in
solidarity with the people whom we keep at arm’s length?
I’d have to say no, we’re not.
(Henri Nouwen suggests the same answer in the meditation here as well as in this reflection.) If I assume from the bumper stickers on your
car, the Likes on your Facebook wall, the posts on your blog...that we
have completely opposite views on politics, religion, economics, morality,
ethics...will I make the effort to get to know you and connect?
I guess that depends.
If I find out someone has been hurt, is sick,
suffering, and/or in need, then my first response tends to be one of concern
and compassion.
Unlike the other
people who walk by the man they see on the side of the road without stopping to
help, the Good Samaritan (and most of the people I know, if not all of them)
would at least stop to see if they could do something.
Generally getting
involved in someone else’s crisis is messy, inconvenient, and in some cases
even traumatizing, but it’s what God calls us to do when we see a person
suffering and it is within our capability to alleviate that pain even a little.
A Connection is Made
I spoke with the
friend on Friday who connected me a while ago with
a young women who was expecting and in need of support.
Interestingly
enough, while I was over at their house this week, our friend’s mother was helping
another woman from Kenya make a popular dish from their region.
Both women had come to
the baby shower we had for the young woman who was expecting and in need of support.
Actually, the two of them were making some of
the same Kenyan food we’d had for that celebration.
They aren’t blood relatives, but they really
treat each other as family.
When I got ready
to leave our friend’s father called to his wife in Swahili that his daughter
was leaving.
(He translated for me after
he said it; I don’t know Swahili.)
She
and the other woman both came out from the kitchen and gave me a hug.
Who you gonna call?
Around the time I
was leaving, a neighbor who lives across the street called my friend because he’d
cut his hand and needed a ride to the ER.
My friend dropped everything and immediately headed out asking us only
which hospital would be the best to take him to for care.
Redifining Neighbor
That’s what it
means to be a neighbor: extending your hospitality, your dwelling place, your
food, your possessions, and more importantly, your time, love, compassion, attention,
and affection to anyone whom God puts in your path.
Being a neighbor means you make room for them
in your life, in your heart, and in your prayers.
Quite honestly, I can only take so many complaints and
criticisms at a time, and, right now, my inbox is full to overflowing. For one thing, I am my own harshest critic,
so I have several slips of paper that are permanently stacked on the inside of
the complaint box taking up a good quarter, maybe even a half, of the space
that’s in there. Chances are pretty good
that many of the judgmental things you want to say to me are already in the box,
so let’s not waste paper and be redundant restating things that have already
been said.
In her second novel In Name Only, author/editor Ellen Gable Hrkach creates a masterfully complex late eighteen hundreds setting ripe for drama, suspense, and intrigue. The characters are richly described and deeply developed. The complete conversion in thought, word, and deed of two of the main characters is very moving. I can easily see why In Name Only won the Gold Medal in Religious Fiction in the 2010 Independent Publisher Book Awards and has been in the top ten of its category on Amazon Kindle since February 2012, usually in the top five. 
A few of the
recent daily reflections by the late Henri Nouwen, one of my all-time favorite
writers, about what it means to be someone’s neighbor have gotten me thinking. In the e-mail reflection I received July 20, 2012,
from the Henri Nouwen Society is a wonderful definition of what it means to be
someone’s neighbor. Usually we think of
the people who live around us as our neighbors, and if considering the question
from a Christian standpoint, we often think of every person as our neighbor,
especially those suffering most in mind, body, and/or spirit, but I like this meaning even more. 
Unlike the other
people who walk by the man they see on the side of the road without stopping to
help, the Good Samaritan (and most of the people I know, if not all of them)
would at least stop to see if they could do something. 
I spoke with the
friend on Friday who connected me a while ago with a young women who was expecting and in need of support. Interestingly
enough, while I was over at their house this week, our friend’s mother was helping
another woman from Kenya make a popular dish from their region. Both women had come to the baby shower we had for the young woman who was expecting and in need of support. Actually, the two of them were making some of
the same Kenyan food we’d had for that celebration. They aren’t blood relatives, but they really
treat each other as family. 
I
don’t like to admit it, but I have been a modern-day Judas. Through God’s grace, I’ve been shown the error
of my ways and repented, asking for help in accepting the Lord’s forgiveness
and mercy which I don’t deserve, can’t earn, or do anything to merit. 
What was the gravest error that Judas Iscariot made? 
Kevin's recovery from the foot surgery he
had last Friday has gone pretty well. It’s
certainly been a whole heck of a lot smoother than it has in the days after
some of the other surgeries he's had over the years. 
I honestly never thought I’d write a review of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, but here I go. I selected this complete and updated edition of the tome because I figured this is one book along with the Bible that every Catholic ought to read from cover to cover at least once. I presumed the commitment to writing a review of it would help motivate me to read through the 846-page paperback even if the academic dryness I suspected it would have bored me at times. 
I’ll never hear
the Gospel account of the Transfiguration Mark 9:2-10 without thinking of two
really funny stories shared with us many years ago when Kevin and I went to
Mass at St. Charles Borromeo Church in Rochester, New York, the parish where my
parents were married. 
It’s very
important that we do engage in discussion with people who have opposing views. I believe it’s best to do so in a way that is
as non-threatening as possible, but it needs to be done. 
A couple weekends ago our priest gave a sermon that included a reflection on the lyrics of the seasonal song he likes the least: “Santa Claus is Coming to Town.” He doesn’t have a problem with the concept of Santa, who of course was inspired by Saint Nicholas, but he does find some verses of the well-known song to be rather misleading. “He’s making a list and checking it twice; He’s gonna find out who’s naughty and nice…
Yesterday’s Gospel reading was about the Lord as a Good Shepherd, who goes after the lost sheep. It’s comforting to know that Our Good Shepherd seeks us out when we stray, get lost, or focus on presumably greener pastures instead of keeping our eyes on Him. 
In many ways, Bishop DiLorenzo’s sermon at
the Red Mass held at St. Benedict
Church Thursday evening, November 10, 2011, was a state of the union address
for the Catholic Diocese of Richmond. As is his
tradition, Bishop DiLorenzo began his homily with a story from history. He talked about how he’d not been satisfied as
a young boy when he’d read about the outcome of Custer’s Last Stand. 
Several months ago the father of the
family my husband and I have been “adopted” into was telling us about a book
that sounded like it would be a great read. He described some of what he’d
heard about Heaven is for Real, and I knew immediately
I wanted to read the book.
Sons of Cain
is an action-packed page-turner with spiritual and political intrigue that hits
eerily close to describing our world’s present culture of death. There is definitely a sense of darkness and evil
versus goodness and light that goes far beyond the usual conflicts addressed in
most of the high stakes adventure novels I’ve read over the years (which, by
the way, are also too numerous to count).