19th Sunday of the Year

If we live in the past, says one writer, we tarnish the present and forget the future.

If you want to become depressed, reflect that people are constantly telling us that one out of two marriages in the United States end in divorce. And, if you want to reach for Prozac, listen to those who mournfully tell you how many couples are living together without benefit of marriage. Usually the doomsayers end with the line, “Give me the good old Church.”

One anonymous Christian calls this mentality a rearview mirror look at the Church. Was there any such phenomenon as the good old days of the Church? The answer is no.

The commentator advises us to check it out with Saints Paul and Luke!  In 1 Corinthians 5:1, Paul tells it like it is about sexual immorality. “I have been told as an undoubted fact that one of you is living with his father’s wife.” He calls the case “unparalleled even among pagans.” In 1 Galatians 1:6-7, he takes off after heresy. “I am astonished at the promptness with which you…have decided to follow a different version of the good news.” In Acts 15:1-2, Luke refers to the famous circumcision dispute that threatened to tear the young Church apart. Circumspectly he writes, “This led to disagreement…” The bottom line is these surely are not the best of times but neither are they the worst.

Dark pages are being written in the contemporary Church. But so too are splendid ones. Let me tell you about one of the latter. I am certain that were you to think about it, you could tell me of several more. No matter what you are told by your neighbor or read in the press, the Nazarene’s Church has not run out of heart. Nor should you run out of hope.

The marriage took place in a school chapel in Baltimore.

The handsome couple are Kate and Dave. Each is 23. Both are

graduates of New York’s Jesuit Fordham University. By choice, she is a teacher of inner city children. He works as a public defender for people without funds. His degree is from the  prestigious Columbia University Law School.

Kate’s parents, Willa and Brendan, operate a Catholic Worker house of hospitality for the poor in a “bad” section of Baltimore. It is named Viva translated as Alive. They have run it for the past quarter of a century. Husband and wife serve 350 meals daily. Their mentor is the late Dorothy Day.

The rehearsal dinner was held not in a posh country club but at the Catholic Worker house. The wedding couple and guests ate at the same tables where the poor had eaten earlier in the day.  The fare was simple and all home-made. Religious brothers in Vermont made the wine. Kate gave to her attendants as gifts articles that she herself had made.

On the wedding day, there was not a tuxedo to be seen. The male attendants wore their Sunday going to Mass suits. The maid of honor and bridesmaids wore any green dress their closets might own. The bride wore her mother’s wedding dress. Her father wore a suit and a blue work shirt. The bride’s stretch limousine was the van usually used to bring food for the poor.

The couple publicly took a vow of voluntary poverty so that they might become spiritually rich. The bride teared when she received a surprise papal blessing (remember those?).

Eventually they plan to settle in the Baltimore area so that they might assist with the Catholic Worker house of hospitality. They may some day run it themselves. This will be their gift from the bride’s parents.

The wedding reception was in the school cafeteria. The caterers were the guests themselves. Each brought food for the feast. As a wedding gift, money was unacceptable.

The bride shared with her guests a poem written for her by a boy in the fourth grade. It was titled My Heart. “If it is far away, I’m lost. If it is split apart, I’m apart. If it is lost, I’m not to be found. If it is in me, I’m peaceful. So far it’s where it’s supposed to be.”

A Church that can produce such young people has its heart where it’s supposed to be. Like them, be full of hope.