St. Stanislaus

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cultural differences, Eastern European, family, hard work, integrity, moral corruption, openness, speaking truth to power, St. Stanislaus Kostka, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, values, welcoming

When I came to this lovely area of Central New York many years ago to teach in high school I was introduced to a wonderful community whose Eastern European parents and grandparents had come here to work in the shoe factories of the Endicott-Johnson Company. The Johnson brothers were benevolent visionaries who cared about their people, built houses for their employees to buy at reasonable cost and kept everyone on the payroll even after the stock market crash of 1929 and during the Great Depression. Polish and Slovak influence was felt everywhere, from the arches on east and west ends of Johnson City proclaiming it the “Home of the Square Deal” to the churches and grocery stores that carried pierogies, homemade sausage  and kolaczki that would melt in your mouth. Having been raised in an Irish ghetto, I was grateful to be welcomed into this very different yet similarly loving culture that even added a smattering of Polish vocabulary to my education.

One gap in that education, however, concerned the patron saint of Poland, St. Stanislaus Kostka, bishop of Krakow. I knew his name, of course, but that was the extent of my knowledge. Today, his feast day, I finally learned that his life was rather brief (1030-1079) because of his outspokenness about the unjust wars and immoral actions of King Boleslaus II. It is a testament to the integrity and beloved status of Stanislaus that when the king ordered his soldiers to kill the bishop they refused. Thus, the king killed him with his own hands. As a result of this outrage, the king was forced to flee to Hungary and spent the rest of his life as a penitent in a Benedictine abbey. The commentary about St. Stanislaus puts him in the category of John the Baptist, Thomas Becket, Thomas More and even Jesus himself who pointed out the moral corruption in the religious and political leadership of their day. “It is a risky business,” the commentary proclaims, and calls us to examine our willingness to speak out in our own time as the need arises.

Today is a day for me to touch back into those early experiences of my adulthood and be grateful for the influence of strong, steady, devoted people who built into this community the values of hard work, family and speaking truth to power. In addition to this experience of welcome into a heritage different from mine, I realize the necessity now of openness to a broader world where the immigrants come from more distant lands, seeking the same goal – a better life, yet perhaps as an escape from danger. Am I ready to open my heart to them? Do I welcome their stories, their cultural difference? Will I defend their right to the freedom I have always enjoyed? Ponderous questions, these. I had better get about my day…

Midweek Merton

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deep change of heart, metanoia, Peace, peaceful world, political distress, soften our hearts, terror, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, Thomas Merton, welcoming

In the face of all that has happened in the world in the last 24 hours of terror and political distress, just one sentence from Thomas Merton – out of much that he says to me this morning – suffices to focus my energy and resolve for the inner and outer tasks of this new day.

The real job is to lay the groundwork for a deep change of heart on the part of the whole nation so that one day it can really go through the metanoia we need for a peaceful world. (The Hidden Ground of Love, p. 92)

In the many years since Merton wrote these words, technology has brought us in touch nearly instantaneously to the whole world. As a result we must not only see and contribute to the groundwork of peace in our own country but also to soften our hearts for that goal of a peaceful world in more informed, expansive and conscious ways than were possible in Merton’s day. Welcoming those who live across the street and across the world is incumbent upon us in our thoughts, our discourse and our lives of prayer if true peace is to be achieved.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In and Out

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humility, Jesus, Luke, motivations of the heart, openness, parable, Pharisees, prodigal son, Scribes, sinners, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, welcoming

I know the parable of the Prodigal Son; I have read and pondered many different interpretations of that familiar story (LK 15:1-31). This morning when I saw it in the day’s readings, however, I found myself asking why Jesus told this story in the first place. The first sentence answered my question. Tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to listen to Jesus,, but the Pharisees and scribes began to complain, saying, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.”

This sentence makes me smile for the sound of immaturity coming from the very people who were supposed to be leaders in the community and who were obviously thinking that they were the ones on whom Jesus should be showering his attention. More importantly their question makes me wonder how the “in crowd” (Scribes and Pharisees) or Luke, for that matter, knew who the sinners were. I presume they were judging on the rules set down in Torah, but what about the inner laws, the deeper intentions and motivations of the heart? Can we really know these depths of another person unless they, themselves, reveal them to us? What are our own faults and addictions that are known only to ourselves – or perhaps not even to ourselves? Better not to judge what we cannot be sure of – or even what we think we know perfectly well. “The sinners” as well as those outcast tax collectors were most likely drawn to Jesus because of his welcoming demeanor and openness to them. A little humility might have helped the Scribes and Pharisees join the crowd and find the richness therein.

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