Sunday, October 12, 2008
Mother Maria
"The bodies of fellow human beings must be treated with greater care than our own. Christian love teaches us to give our brethren not only spiritual gifts, but material gifts as well. Even our last shirt, our last piece of bread must be given to them. Personal almsgiving and the most wide-ranging social work are equally justifiable and necessary. The way to God lies through love of other people and there is no other way. At the Last Judgment I shall not be asked if I was successful in my ascetic exercises or how many prostrations I made in the course of my prayers. I shall be asked, did I feed the hungry, clothe the naked, visit the sick and the prisoners: that is all I shall be asked." – Saint Maria Skobtsova of Paris
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chelsea, I am thinking about this very thing nonstop this week.
ReplyDeleteindeed, this comes to my mind often, accompanied by the even more pressing thought that I need to act upon it! We are too isolated from our fellow men/women, both those around us and those we choose not to be around for a variety of reasons. I noticed your post on your facebook a bit ago contemplating this very thing. What are your most immediate thoughts about this?
ReplyDeleteI've found that I get stuck in a comfort zone even with this sort of thing, but also struggle to know what God calls me to--i.e. I truly enjoy providing meals for families facing illnesses and new babies, offering free babysitting, and Eric and I have tried to be faithful with our tithe so I give freely of these things, but things like volunteering in our church's women's shelter, or visiting prisoners scare me a lot and I avoid them!
ReplyDeleteEmily, I completely understand this struggle. In the past I more willingly put myself in situations with the sick, struggling and hungry, sometimes to my own detriment because of my own naiivete.
ReplyDeleteOver time I think I developed somewhat of a numbness to the poor because I became overwhelmed by people's needs. (I could get close to the "down and out" but was never able to actually effectively change someone's situation for the long-term or share my reality with the poor in a real way. I have always gone home to comfort and luxury)
As I have matured and grown I have learned more about people, which is good in that with a loss of a kind of naiivete there is more possibility to actually be of help to someone in need by having a better sense of reality, but more than anything this has distanced me from the poor. This is because I tend to be more guarded, judgmental, and protective of my own life, possessions, and self-image, and also simply because I fill my time with other things. I believe that God works regardless of my efforts or lack thereof and even regardless of the state of my heart when I do make efforts to reach out through acts of service, but more and more my question and desire is how to be near to the poor in a way that we actually grow nearer to God through the experience? Not just engage from time to time and then retreat into our own selves again.
I think I will always be striving to "figure this out". Really, I just need to pray. Lord have mercy.