Above the link was the sentiment of one of my Facebook ‘friends’ that said simply, “Let’s just enable them more!”
As close as I am to this ‘friend’ and out of respect I am not divulging who it is. But I felt I had to respond to their sentiment, as I completely disagree. I wrote, “Showing compassion must never be mistaken for enabling. Now, if they were handing out drugs or booze as they entered the showers, then they’d be enabling.”
My friend responded, “I guess you would have to do some of the cleanup’s that the homeless leave behind. Destruction, thievery, stealing, and using the bathroom all over no matter where they’re at. They are menace here in my city, and they don’t want any help! Most are druggies and/or have ‘mental issues’! There’s plenty of help here for them but that would mean they would have to follow some rules and that doesn’t work.”
I do have loads of experience in cleaning up destruction and human waste left all over everything by apparently homeless people. I have been the victim of some of the theft and other crimes committed by drug addicts and poor souls with ‘mental’ issues, but I have also been a witness to some very kind acts of compassion and holiness by drug addicts and poor souls with ‘mental’ issues. It is, in my opinion, a grave sin to judge any or all of a segment of society with a broad brush, so I answered my friend’s concerns with the following reply:
“Maybe the perception is that “they” don’t want help, or “they” don’t want to follow rules because of a very visible relatively few who do fit those categories. I just prefer to see Christ in “them” even if it’s just a ‘whisper’. Who knows what caused their misfortunes? If we can make just one feel a little better about himself [by providing showers], isn’t that what Jesus asks us to do?”
At this point another follower of my friend joined in the conversation:
“Seems to me it is just another judgement from God for throwing him out of our society and living like the devil.”
I responded with, “I respectfully disagree. God is always waiting for us and waiting for our return. It is we who keep our distance from Him, not the other way around. God is not vengeful, only just.”
Note that I had not quoted Scripture once in any of my remarks. I had merely stated my understanding of a God who is kind and merciful. But this third party evidently didn’t agree with my understanding, because he wrote, “I think you have picked a couple verses u like and threw out the rest of the bible.”
I didn’t respond any further because he got me wondering: “Do I do what he accused me of?” I was actually very concerned that I was doing exactly what I advise others not to do—make decisions and judgments using Scripture verses out of context. As I was examining my conscience tonight, I believe I can answer truthfully that, while I may occasionally err, for the most part my meditations and blog posts and my very journey towards (hopefully) sainthood are based on the teachings of Scripture, Tradition, and the Catechism of the Catholic Church.
And, as a bonus to my meditations tonight, the Scripture readings for tomorrow’s Mass reinforce my opinions on the showers for the homeless and disabled, the sinful ‘labeling’ of individuals as a class of people to be despised, and my disagreement with the notion of a vengeful God.
In the first from Romans (Rom 14:7-12), we are reminded that whether alive or dead, whether on earth or in heaven, Jesus claims possession of us. And we must recognize that all around us are the brothers and sisters of the Lord. We are all His precious sheep whom He claims as His dearly beloved.
Some of these are 'the other sheep' whom we look down on. We forget that sometimes, we are 'the other sheep'. We must never despise those who have strayed from the faith, or even on those who ridicule the Church. God may change their hearts, and they may far surpass us in holiness and service. Someday we will stand beside them at the final judgment.
Perhaps we have not sinned as grievously, but almost certainly we have strayed through sin, through our indifference, through our pride.
We should humbly accept the Lord's ownership of our lives, and let Him nourish us, forgive our foolish ways, and let His mercy embrace us closely to His Heart.
The Gospel presents my favorite image of the Lord in the Gospels: The Good Shepherd (Lk 15:1-10). How consoling to realize that our God cares for us personally as individuals and not only as part of a community of believers. And even more consoling is the realization that our shepherd does not abandon and reject us when we go astray but goes out of His way to bring us back, “What man among you having a hundred sheep and losing one of them would not leave the ninety-nine in the desert and go after the lost one until he finds it?”
How sad that so many Christians imagine God and Jesus so differently. We imagine the Lord primarily as king, ruler or judge meticulously keeping a heavenly scorecard of our good and bad actions. Further we imagine the Lord as abandoning and rejecting and perhaps even punishing us when we go astray. We think that we must earn God’s love by fulfilling religious obligations.
But God’s love for us is unconditional and constant. Like the love of the good shepherd, God’s love seeks us out when we stray desiring only that we return home so there may be even more rejoicing, “Rejoice with me because I have found my lost sheep.”
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