All is grace.
This famous line from the novel The Diary of a Country Priest feels like it sums up the past two days (if not the past two weeks or months) here at St. Martin de Porres House.
The past two days, as I pull myself out of bed (after the bell rings, I’ll admit) for morning Mass, I take a moment while putting on my shoes or crossing the quiet street to thank God for the little things: the crisp autumn air, the periwinkle sky, the waves of neighbors or the morning meows of our fierce rat-catchers (the cats) on the front steps: for the moment of peace.
The peace didn’t last long: this morning was a wild ride, driving multiple women across town to get to appointments and get their needs met. I hate that cars are so essential to our lives here in Harrisburg, but every time I drive the car, I’m reminded of the generosity of the Fox family, in making this transportation possible.
Fittingly, one of our errands this morning was to the car impound lot, where one of our neighbor’s cars had been towed to yesterday. She is the mother of two young boys: and if she did not get to the lot by 3:00 pm today, the $260 charge (which would overdraft her bank account) would have gone up $60. She had decided she would just pay it and overdraft her bank account (wracking up a $36 charge each day she was in overdraft) but Pete and the Good Samaritan team from St. Patrick’s Cathedral paid the bill for her. These are the systems that are designed to punish the poor for being poor: what may seem like minor fees and inconveniences snowball into larger and larger barriers. While what we do seems like very little, helping a neighbor when they are experiencing an emergency big or small can be that small little hand that intervenes in a mounting disaster. These small little acts can change the course of how a story might have gone.
Or not. Or not the first time. Maybe the 100th time.
It can be exhausting to keep giving and giving when the hole of neediness never seems to be filled. The problems never seem to go entirely away. Chaos and catastrophe always envelop people who are just doing their best.
And this is where I find myself so buoyed by the generosity of our community: nothing reminds me to give with joy like the joy of so many people who give so selflessly to the house.
Here are a few of the people we’re giving thanks for this season:
- Kathy Panza and the Second Graders and Seventh Graders at St. Catherine Labouré, who prepared Thanksgiving Meals for Paul Kisner and the house to deliver in the neighborhood.
- For the generosity of so many of our Pax Christi friends! Linda Brindle, Ann Marie Judson, and-of course-Dorothy Grimm, who began the process of restoring Saint Martin statue.
- For Laura and Luciano Perez, who painted the statues just in time for San Martín’s feast day!
- For St. Katherine Drexel’s Knights of Columbus Chapter for their generous support!
- For Patti Grady for her many donations, love, and care.
- For Pam Acri, the Roxman Brothers, and the Notre Dame Club for the NEW REFRIGERATOR!!
- For Bill Hayes and the many folks who have helped us clear out the back community farm and the Joshua House
- For John, our neighbor, who has generously donated food and clothing to the house.
- For Dan Cassidy’s endless care for the house and his insistence on climbing up ladders to fix things.
- For Bishop Timothy Senior’s prayers and kindness.
- For Salvador’s donation of laundry detergent just when we needed it!
- For Pete and the Good Samaritans down at St. Patrick’s Cathedral for their kind donations.
- For Carolyn’s Tuesday night dinners, which bring community and joy to our week!
- For Trinity High School’s Seton House, which has sorted donations and cleaned out our garden beds!
- For the Joshua Group students who helped with planting garlic in our garden beds.
- For our friend Patrick who has helped cheerfully with all sorts of heavy manual labor!
- For Lecia’s little gifts of food + coffee to brighten our day.
- For Meg & Tom, Rick & Irene, our board, our Allison Hill neighbors, and all the folks who pop by, call, or share their time, talents, treasure, and memories with us.
- For our parish, St. Francis of Assisi, and the priests there who provide us with a place of spiritual restoration, peace, and prayer.
We are very blessed by the generosity of so many people at St. Martin de Porres House. These are just a few who make up this large and loving community, who have welcomed us so lovingly to Allison Hill!
One last thought: Last night, at Food Not Bombs’ delicious Monday night vegan dinner, a fellow diner offered me a slice of red velvet cake.
I’ve noticed that many people feel eager to help others, but ashamed about needing help. Americans seem to sense that “accepting a handout” is somehow shameful, as needing help wasn’t the most defining trait of what it means to be human as soon as we enter the world. This man who offered me the red velvet cake was probably sleeping in a tent last night. And I was sleeping in a comfortable bed (thank you, again, to Patti and her friend Jerry for the generous donation!). Isn’t it wrong to take something from him, when I have more?
I think this is where the Catholic Worker challenges us to a new way of seeing each other: if we are all brothers and sisters in Christ, then there is no division between male or female, slave or free, rich or poor—all are one in Christ. We each have gifts to give one another. This is what Catholic Workers call mutual aid or the economy of gift. Instead of a world in which some people who have a lot give to the dispossessed, what if we created a world where we relied not on our possessions to keep us secure and provide for our needs, but our relationships? Our relationships with the earth, with our neighbors, and first and foremost with God?
And as I accepted the slice of cake from my new friend, I said: “You made my day.” And I think we can all understand that warm feeling of gratitude, when someone receives a gift we’ve given them—on the side of the road, under a Christmas tree—and give us thanks. There’s nothing like that feeling—except perhaps the feeling of when someone meets you in your need and gives you exactly what you have asked for. It feels like a little miracle, a bit of divine providence or grace.
We all may know the warm feeling of helping others. But one of the greatest gifts the Catholic Worker has given me is the gift of voluntary poverty: where I have learned how, in my smallness and neediness, God meets me in the guise of my neighbor. While sometimes the practice of voluntary poverty can be anxiety-inducing (and I’m still working on it), practicing poverty has helped my fearful and worry-wart heart see each day how much kindness and generosity people are capable of. People from all walks of life: from the PTA mom to the panhandler. And it’s softened my heart to give to others more generously as well.
People who are in need
and are not afraid to beg
give to people not in need
the occasion to do good
for goodness’ sake.
Modern society calls the beggar
bum and panhandler
and gives him the bum’s rush.
But the Greeks used to say
that people in need
are the ambassadors of the gods.
Although you may be called
bums and panhandlers
you are in fact the Ambassadors of God.— Peter Maurin, The Duty of Hospitality
So thank you to every neighbor who has offered us your two mites or your first fruits during this season! We are so grateful for you all.