News from Sophia Christi

Mother Teresa once told this story about a family with eight children who had not eaten for days. A man appeared at the convent door one evening bringing news of the family, and Mother Teresa immediately gathered some food and went to the family home. “When I finally arrived,” she said, “I saw the faces of those little children disfigured by hunger, but there was no sorrow or sadness in them, just the deep pain of hunger. I gave rice to the mother and she divided it in two, then went out carrying half the rice with her. “When she came back I asked where she had gone and she answered, “To my neighbors—they are hungry also.”

In another story, a woman I’ll call Chelsea saw a homeless man begging outside a downtown McDonald’s recently and bought the man a cheeseburger. This wouldn’t be unusual except that Chelsea is also homeless and the 99¢ hamburger was a large chunk of the $7.50 she’d earned from panhandling that day.

A U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ survey of consumer spending found that the poorest fifth of American households contributed an average of 4.3% of their income to charitable organizations. The richest fifth gave just 2.1%–less than half that rate. The generosity of the poor is also higher in hard times than the generosity of the wealthy. Those in the bottom fifth of the income bracket always give more than their capacity, the next two-fifths give at their capacity, and the top two-fifths could give two to three times more than they do. Knowing what it is to have little or nothing, the poor tend to share what they have with those they see as less fortunate. (more…)

A couple weeks ago I read an article in the NY Times in which a young man said his was the first generation that believed it could change the world. He was speaking of the millennial generation, those born between 1982 and 2004 (roughly). How interesting, I thought. I remember people of my generation also believing we could change the world! In fact we thought we WERE changing the world. There were so many major sociological and theological developments in the 60’s and early 70’s that it did seem we might actually advance culturally, politically and spiritually. At least, the idealists among us had reason to believe, and to hope.

The Civil Rights Act of 1964 ended segregation in schools and facilities serving the general public and guaranteed equal protection to all U.S. citizens. It energized the women’s rights movement and led President Johnson to issue an Executive Order (11375) banning discrimination on the basis of sex in hiring and employment. That action, in turn, led to the Higher Education Act of 1965 that opened doors for women to enter every sector of society previously closed to them as the exclusive domain of men. It allowed women to dare and to dream, to follow their talents and bring their gifts to the world.

All this civil unrest gave rise to the Stonewall riots of 1969 that birthed the gay liberation movement. The fight for gay rights ultimately led to this year’s Supreme Court decision guaranteeing marriage rights to same-sex couples nationwide—something hardly imagined 50 years ago. And then there was the Second Vatican Council that revolutionized an archaic Church by throwing open the doors to ecumenical dialogue and discovery, accentuating the role of the laity as equal partners in spreading the Gospel, and recognizing the church as a pilgrim people called to serve, as Jesus did, the larger family of God.

What is painfully clear now, in retrospect, is the extreme and often malicious backlash following these cultural and spiritual changes. (more…)

“Who do people say that I am?” Jesus asks his disciples as they walk toward the next village on the outskirts of town.  The answers he’s given reflect the historic belief, and hope, that better days are just ahead.  The return of Elijah—the return of John the Baptist or one of the other prophets—any of these could imply a change in the political structure leading to the liberation of Israel.  When Peter answers the question by saying “You are the Christ” his expectation, based on his understanding of the Messiah prophecy, is that Jesus has come to restore the kingdom of Israel.

Jesus knows what Peter is thinking because he knows the Messianic promise as well as anyone.  That kind of liberator is not who he is.  So he warns the disciples to say nothing about his identity to anyone.  With their current mindset, their current beliefs and dreams about reclaiming their place in the socio-political world of the time, Jesus knows what they would tell others about him would be far from true. This isn’t the message he wants people to hear.  It simply isn’t who he is or what he is about.

Jesus lays the groundwork for a radically new understanding of God, a radically new understanding of that ancient Messianic promise.  He talks about suffering, about the rejection he will face from religious authorities, about the fact that, in the end, he will be killed. He speaks about all of this openly, matter-of-factly.  Peter doesn’t like it and doesn’t want to hear it.  He is angry and critical of Jesus, takes him aside and begins to berate him for saying such horrific things. But Jesus refuses to let this be a private matter between himself and Peter.  He turns around and addresses Peter while looking at the disciples. And what does he say?  “Get behind me, Satan.”  In other words, “put those ideas about Messiah as a king leading Israel to a place of prestige and power behind you.  This is not the role of the Anointed One, and it is not who I am.” Then he says an odd thing: “You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do.”  Huh?  Of course Peter is thinking like a human being!!!  How else can he think? (more…)