Not only food but also showers for the homeless

Pope Francis blesses the sculpture"Jesus the homeless" at the Vatican
in this December 2013 photo. (Photo: CNS/L'Osservatore Romano)

“FOR I was hungry and you gave me food... a stranger and you welcomed me… naked and you clothed me… (Mt. 25:35-36).

For the homeless, a little food to stave off their hunger and a roof over where to lay their head, especially on a cold winter night matters a lot. But having a good shower to keep them clean and smelling nice is a great boost to their dignity as well.

The Vatican thought of installing showers in the tourist washrooms just outside St. Peter's Square so the homeless may be able to wash themselves. The inspiration came upon the papal almoner, Archbishop Konrad Krajewski, who recently encountered a homeless man at St. Peter's Square. The monsignor learned that it was the man's 50th birthday so he invited him for a meal in a nearby restaurant. But the man declined, explaining that the restaurant would probably not allow him because he smelled bad. (But another report said the archbishop prevailed on the man they ate in a Chinese restaurant.)

Archbishop Konrad Krajewski, who is in charge of helping the poor, thought it would be a good idea to install three showers in the public restrooms. So with the approval of the pope, he commissioned that showers be installed in the existing public restrooms in St. Peter’s Square. The archbishop also urged nearby parishes in Rome to do the same so the homeless would have a place where they could go and wash themselves.

In our main convent in Pasay, poor people usually come knocking at the gate to ask for food or other forms of assistance. There is an elderly sister who is in charge of assisting the poor, giving them food or clothes or sometimes referring them to the local government's social welfare program. Once in a while, when she sees the person looks like he or she is in need of a good scrub, she would encourage the person to take a bath at a secluded part in the compound, and afterwards she gives the person a change of clean clothes and food to eat.

There is no denying the fact that having gone under the shower makes one feel good; all of us do. It is the cleansing effects of the water that does wonders. It has a healing and therapeutic effect not only on the physical level but spiritual as well.

Being homeless is an affront to the dignity of a person. It makes the person feel uprooted and insecure. There are a hundred of reasons why a person becomes homeless. I have read so many stories of people who have experienced this deprivation. Some did by choice, but many driven by circumstances they can’t control.

During my first visit in Canada many years ago, it surprised me to see some homeless people on the streets. I was thinking then that first world countries did not have homeless people.

In poor countries like the Philippines, it is so common to see homeless people littering the streets or living under the bridge. So it comes as a shock, but also an eye opener for me that homelessness is an issue that is very much real in North America and even in Europe.

Since Francis became pope, the role of the papal almoner has become more visible in the life of the homeless that populate the city of Rome. The poor have a special place in the heart of this pope. Of course, all the other popes before him had also the same concern. However, Pope Francis, who had been particularly close to the underprivileged when he was still the archbishop of Argentina, has made it especially clear that he would be close to the poor, both in the material and spiritual sense of the word.

In his apostolic exhortation, “The Joy of the Gospel”, the pope decried what he calls the “economy of exclusion and inequality” that relegates the poor to the margins of society.

 “How can it be that it is not a news item when an elderly homeless person dies of exposure, but it is news when the stock market loses two points? This is a case of exclusion. Can we continue to stand by when food is thrown away while people are starving? This is a case of inequality. Today everything comes under the laws of competition and the survival of the fittest, where the powerful feed upon the powerless. As a consequence, masses of people find themselves excluded and marginalized: without work, without possibilities, without any means of escape.

“Human beings are themselves considered consumer goods to be used and then discarded. We have created a ‘throw away’ culture which is now spreading. It is no longer simply about exploitation and oppression, but something new. Exclusion ultimately has to do with what it means to be a part of the society in which we live; those excluded are no longer society’s underside or its fringes or its disenfranchised – they are no longer even a part of it. The excluded are not the ‘exploited’ but the outcast, the ‘leftovers’.” (EG, 53)

Some of us, (myself included) sometimes become immune to the sights of homeless people around us, that they become invisible before our eyes. If the same indifferent attitude still afflicts us, it is perhaps about time that we have to change our perspective and look at these brothers and sisters “up close and personal.” Many of us may not have the financial means to help them out (although help can be done in many ways, not necessarily financial), we can at least recognize their existence. I believe the best thing we can do for them is to acknowledge that they do exist, deserving of every ounce of dignity befitting any human being.

And you know what? If we look at their situation with understanding eyes and compassionate heart, then we will be able to do something, even how little or insignificant it may seem.

"Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me." (Mt. 25:40)

The Spirit Blows Where He Will!

Opening session of the Extraordinary Synod on the Family
(Photo: Vatican Radio)

Random Thoughts at the Close of the Synod

I have just finished attending the Extraordinary Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, convened by the Holy Father, Pope Francis.  It was my privilege not only to listen to the debates and interventions.  I also had the privilege of addressing the assembly on the role of the clergy in family renewal.  Much has been written and reported on in respect to this event, truly momentous in the life of the Church.  It is my duty, as President of the CBCP, and as a Synodal father, to share with you these thoughts at the conclusion of the synod.  It is, as has repeatedly been underscored, only the prelude of more complete discussions in the future that we all eagerly await.

INCLUSIVE AND FAITHFUL LOVE

There are two concerns of the Church: first, the Church must be able to extend to all that hospitality, that care, that mercy that Jesus ordained would be the mark of his community, his Body, the Church.  None should be systematically excluded because of circumstances personal to the individual.  All should be aided in the path of constant conversion and renewal.  All should be offered the hope of the Gospel.  All should be comforted by the love of brothers and sisters in the One Body of Christ. In this regard, Pope Francis warned us of the temptation to be simply “do-gooders”, that in the name of a deceptive mercy binds the wounds without first curing them and treating them; that treats the symptoms and not the causes and the roots.

In the name of misplaced mercy Pope Francis said we face the temptation to come down off the Cross, to please the people, and not stay there, in order to fulfil the will of the Father; to bow down to a worldly spirit instead of purifying it and bending it to the Spirit of God.

The other concern is as legitimate as the first: that the Church must preach a message that is not just a concession to popular demand, but is truly Christ's, and that the Church must remain constantly docile to the prompting of the Spirit.  This is the reason that the Church must be unceasingly devoted to that discernment by which we all seek out the will of God and read from the Gospels, as interpreted by the Tradition of the Church in a living faith, a response to the questions of our time. There is also a temptation, according to Pope Francis, of  hostile inflexibility that is, wanting to close oneself within the written the letter and not allowing oneself to be surprised by God, by the God of surprises; within the law, within the certitude of what we know and not of what we still need to learn and to achieve. From the time of Christ, it is the temptation of the zealous, of the scrupulous.

HURTING FAMILIES

Filipinos who presently find themselves in irregular relationships -- live-in unions, de facto separation from spouses and partnerships with other persons -- must be helped by pastors particularly by the Sacrament of Penance, to follow the demands of true and unselfish love in the Spirit of the Gospel. We cannot presume to judge and condemn.  Rather, the presumption should be that there is a genuine effort on their part to live according to the demands of our faith.  The danger of scandal should never stand in the way of genuine charity, and the Catholic faithful must be reminded that much of what Jesus did was scandalous to the 'righteous' of his time.  Where, however, in the pastoral assessment of bishops and priests, the full and unqualified admission of persons in irregular unions to the life of the Church causes charitable and sincere Catholics to doubt and misunderstand the teaching of the Church, then some prudent arrangement must be worked out that will be beneficial to all.

PERSONS WITH SAME SEX ATTRACTION

Persons with homosexual orientation are sons and daughters of God; no less than any of us is.  Discrimination against them is contrary to the Gospel spirit. Verbal and physical violence against them is an offense against the good Lord Himself.  Through honest dialogue and pastoral accompaniment, it should be our goal to assist them to respond to the demands of chastity and that purity of body and heart that Jesus, in the Gospels, calls 'blessed'.  When they wish to make an offering to the life of the Church according to their talents, abilities and gifts, the Church as mother provides for them.

To the legislators who consider giving legal recognition to same sex unions, the Church declares there is no equivalence or even any remote analogy whatsoever between marriage between a man and woman as planned by God and the so-called same sex unions.

We can be tempted to neglect reality, making use of meticulous language and a language of smoothing to say so many things and to say nothing, said Pope Francis.

CHRISTIAN RESPONSE

In facing our Catholic brethren in painful broken marriage situations or our brothers and sisters with homosexual attraction quietly struggling to be chaste, Pope Francis said we must avoid two temptations: The temptation to transform stones into bread to break the long, heavy, and painful fast; and also to transform the bread into a stone and cast it against the sinners, the weak, and the sick, add to their already unbearable burdens.

Our Filipino Catholic laity must be fully engaged in the apostolate of the family for the family is precisely the competence of lay persons.  Active Catholic couples are asked to lead in initiatives that assist couples in living the reality of the sacrament of matrimony, and in the rearing of their families according to the spirit of the Gospel.  Our bishops and pastors encourage and support these lay initiatives.

I wish to borrow this prayer at the end of the Message to the People of God at the conclusion of the synod:

Father, grant to all families

the presence of strong and wise spouses

who may be the source of a free and united family.

Father, grant that parents

may have a home in which to live

in peace with their families.

Father, grant that children may be signs of trust and hope

and that young people may have the courage

to forge life-long, faithful commitments.

Father, grant that all may be able to earn bread with their hands,

that they may enjoy serenity of spirit

and that they may keep aflame the torch of faith even in periods of darkness.

Father, grant that we may all see flourish,

a Church that is ever more faithful and credible,

a just and humane city,

a world that loves truth, justice and mercy.

Rome, October 19, 2014

+ SOCRATES B. VILLEGAS
   Archbishop of Lingayen-Dagupan
   CBCP President

The love of the Father

Pope Francis (Photo credit: Zenit)

The gesture of Pope Francis towards the Iraqi priest ministering to thousands of persecuted Christians who had taken refuge in Ankawa brought tears to my eyes when I read about it.  I thought it was so fatherly, the action speaking more profoundly than any words can convey. For the refugees, the pope personally reaching out to them was a boost to their severely tested faith in the midst of persecution.

The priest, by the name of Fr. Behnam Benoka, wrote to the Holy Father, narrating to him first hand, the difficulties they are experiencing in the refugee center where several thousands of Christians are living in makeshift tents amid dire conditions.

According to CNA News, more than 70,000 Christians who have fled from the Islamic State are in Erbil, the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan, which is within 50 miles of territory held by the Islamic State.

Like a typical father that he is, the Holy Father called up Fr. Benoka to assure him of the pontiff’s spiritual closeness amidst their suffering and his prayers for their safety.

The pope’s call came as a spiritual boost to the refugees at a time when they needed it most.

CNA reported that the people were “very happy” to know that the pope called up and talked to Fr. Benoka about their situation in the refugee center.

Pope Francis earlier has called on the United Nations for an international humanitarian intervention on the situation in Iraq. He also sent Cardinal Fernando Filoni as his personal envoy to Iraq to assess the situation and also as a show of his solidarity with the people there.

In the face of evil

What do we do when evil stares us in the face? Dietrich Bonhoeffer has something to say about it:  “Silence in the face of evil is itself evil: God will not hold us guiltless. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act.”

When the ISIS went on rampage and sowed terror among the Christian population and other minorities in Northern Iraq last month, the world simply looked and blinked.

It took a while before the leaders of nations realized that the forces of evil had been unleashed through ISIS who were bent on exterminating Christians and other minorities.

In a letter published by Vatican Radio, Iraq’s ancient Chaldean Catholic Church Patriarch Louis Raphaël I Sako chided the international community for its inaction amid the ongoing persecution of Christians and other minorities in Iraq and Syria.

The Iraqi Patriarch sadly noted that a month has already lapsed but no concrete action has been done by the community of nations to help the persecuted Christians and other minorities suffering at the hands of militants in Iraq and Syria.

“The curtains have been drawn on the painful events,” Patriarch Sako lamented, “and 120,000 Christians are uprooted from their historical homeland because the  Political Islam does not want them there, and the world is silent, standing still, either because it approves or because it is incapable of acting.”

He said because of the world’s inaction in the face of such atrocities inflicted upon the Christians, the ISIS are encouraged “to  move forward with its ferocious war  against  culture  and  diversity  and  threatening  the  intellectual  and  social  security.” The Iraqi patriarch warned that if not stopped, the ISIS’ atrocities may spilled out of Iraq to neighboring regions.

In fact, Lebanese Patriarchal Vicar for the Maronite Church, Archbishop Paul Sayah also voiced out the same fear.

In an earlier interview by the Vatican Radio, the archbishop said “I think everybody should wake up, otherwise, I think this fire will not limit itself to the region.”

“The way things are going in this part of the world is telling extremist Muslims that they can have their way and that moderation is not (accepted).  We want the international community to stop arming those people, to stop buying the oil they’re selling, to stop training their militants.  We want them - starting with Europe - not to allow them to recruit people.  It’s incredible that those people should be recruiting British and French and Americans and Europeans into their ranks.”

Thankfully, the United Nations is set to intervene on the worsening situation. The Vatican has been calling on the UN to do just that since the beginning of ISIS’ rampage. On Sept. 1 the UN Human Rights Council held a special session which was attended by Archbishop Silvano Maria Tomasi, the Holy See’s Permanent Observer to the United Nations. The UN body passed a resolution condemning the human rights abuses and “requested the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to dispatch a mission to Iraq.”

For the rest of us, we too can do our part even how little to show our solidarity and concern with our Christian brothers and sisters who suffer persecution. Prayer is the best weapon in the face of evil. Prayers coupled with sacrifices, even how little or may appear insignificant, matter a lot when these come straight from the heart.